The Unfair Game
With a Kagan Twist
Grade
BIG IDEA
The Unfair Game is a great review game to play with two or more teams as an alternative to traditional Jeopardy. Teams do not know how many points they will be awarded for a question until after they answer it, and the point value can be positive or negative.
What’s so unfair about that?
THE UNFAIR GAME 2.0
In the Unfair Game, each question is assigned a unique point value, and the point value can be positive OR negative. No one except for the teacher knows the value of the question until after the answer is given. Once the value of the question is revealed, the team can choose to keep the points or give them to the other team. Instead of determining the winner by whoever has the most points, the winning team is the one that has the positive score closest to zero. (For example, a team with a final score of +2 would beat a team with a final score of -1 because the winning score must be positive–even though -1 is closer to 0 than is +2.) Of course, if both scores are negative, then the winning score is whichever is closer to zero. The game is still unfair because you aren’t in control of your own score: another team can interfere with your strategy!
SET UP
Have a “game board” with numbers that correspond to questions. (Example below--a nine question game board. This can be drawn on your whiteboard or laminated for repeated use.)
Have questions written out with assigned point values. (example--Q2=+1 point, Q6= -5 points)
Assign each team a color and each student within the team is also numbered. (We use colored/numbered popsicle sticks.)
DIRECTIONS
Separate your students into teams. Then decide the order in which the teams will take turns.
The first team will choose a number from the game board. You will then take that card off of the board to reveal the question.
The team has 2 minutes to solve the problem together.
Here’s the Kagan twist --A number is called and the student with that number must report out the answer. This holds all kids accountable. We used the Random Number Generator in Google.
If they solve the problem correctly, you may reveal the problem’s point value. The team can either keep the points for themselves, or they can dish the points to another team, hence the “Unfair” game. Remember, the goal is to keep your team’s score as close to zero as possible.
If the team was to answer the question incorrectly, the next team in sequence would have the opportunity to “Steal.” If they answer the question correctly, they get to decide who gets the points and then proceed to take their turn.
Keep playing until all cards have been played or removed from the board. If you have two teams that have a score of -1 or +1 at the end of the game, the team with the closest POSITIVE number to zero wins.
When to Use
The Unfair Game can be used in any grade level and subject area. Use it to review for assessments (students could answer questions about "Romeo and Juliet" or "The Life Cycle of a Frog") or to practice a skill (each question could be a math problem, a verb to conjugate, etc.).