The purpose of this Warm-up is to elicit ideas about the elements that make a good game, which will be useful when students design their own game in a later activity. While students may notice and wonder many things about these images, constraints that make a game challenging, rules that make the game fair, and the way someone can win the game are the important discussion points.

• “What makes a good game?” (It’s challenging, but not too hard. The rules are clear. You improve at the game the more you play.)
• “How do you think you might win each of these games?” (Get the most pennies in the cup. Roll the marble the farthest or closest to a certain number on the tape measure.)
• “What are some ways you could design each of these games to make them challenging and fair?” (You have to stand far enough from the cup to make it challenging to get the penny into the cup. Everyone gets the same number of pennies to toss into the cup, so they get the same number of turns. Everyone has to use the same type of tubes to design their marble run. Everyone gets three tries to try to make their marble go the farthest.)