3 Ways to Adapt Rummy Game into a Math Game

The rummy card game has countless variations, and making it into a math game will give it educational value. Playing rummy, your child may never know they are doing additional math homework!

Rummy Game Rules

Use a conventional deck of cards for rummy. Deal thirteen cards to each child and stack the remainder in a pile on the table. Flip the top card above. The objective in the rummy game is to get a meld of either three or four cards of the same value, or three or more cards in numerical sequence. Aces can be counted as one or one above the King. Take turns picking up cards from the closed deck or the one facing up. Set up cards in your hand in possible sets/sequences. In a rummy game, once a player is done with their turn, the other player gets their chance and picks a card from the discard section or from the closed deck.

Math Variation 1: When they place the meld down in rummy card game, they must do something with the numbers. At first, it will be adding or counting them. As they get older, it might be multiplying. For a set of three fives, a child under ten can opt to add and could say, "Five plus five plus five is fifteen."

Math Variation 2: You can give them multiplication families or factors to work on to kids above 10. Add the three cards collectively and express all the multiplication facts that have that same answer. A, J, Q, and K makes 36. So the player needs to come up with 6x6, 9x4, 12x3 and 2x18.

Math Variation 3: Play the rummy game and add points as usual. Spread all their cards on the table and see how many diverse math family groupings can be created. Give bonus points for each collection. For this, the Jack is 11, Queen 12 and the King is 13. A group with a 3, 5, 8 is a collection 4, 9, K is a collection. They must point out the group and all the information that can be made with them, 9+4=13; 4+9=13; 13-4=9; 13-9=4, etc.

Taking the rummy game and transforming it into a math card game makes math more fun for your child. Children in one family at distinct grades could play the same game with different expectations; the younger ones count, the older ones add or multiply or even estimate probability.