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  • Early Years Foundation Stage

Poker Bingo

Age 5 to 11
Challenge Level Yellow star
  • Game

This game is played with a standard pack of cards and can be played as a solitaire or by any number of players. Each player has a 5 by 5 array. As the cards are called each player either puts a card or writes the corresponding number in one cell of the array. (Kings are entered as 13, Queens as 12, Jacks as 11 and Aces as 1). When the 25 cells are filled the players score each of the rows and columns and the two main diagonals according to the scoring table. The highest score wins.

In the example given the pair of 5s is worth 10 points in the third row and the pair of kings on the diagonal are worth 20 points and the total score is 570.

Ace Ace 7 Ace 7 (80)
2 10 2 King 2 (40)
5 Queen King 5 7 (10)
3 3 3 Jack 3 (160)
4 Queen 4 King Queen (20)
(20) (50) (10) (0) (10) (10) (160)

SCORING TABLE
POINTS
Row or column Diagonal
1 pair 10 20
2 pairs 20 30
3 alike 40 50
3 alike, 1 pair 80 90
4 alike 160 170
5 consecutive numbers 50 60
3 aces, 2 kings 100 110
ace, king, queen, jack, 10 150 160
4 aces 200 210

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The NRICH Project aims to enrich the mathematical experiences of all learners. To support this aim, members of the NRICH team work in a wide range of capacities, including providing professional development for teachers wishing to embed rich mathematical tasks into everyday classroom practice.

NRICH is part of the family of activities in the Millennium Mathematics Project.

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