Qwixx

Man, do I love a game that cleans up easily.

Some of my favorite games are an absolute pain to clean up. Like Ticket to Ride with its hundreds of cards, or Blokus where you've ruined the game the moment you misplace a single piece.

Also, space is becoming a premium at the Haines household. I'm not saying that I have a problem, but our game collection has officially conquered two linen closets and a bookcase in the dining room. I can quit anytime though, I swear.

Point being, small games are very exciting to me right now.

So when I put out a call for game ideas on twitter last month, I tried to pick up some of the smallest games I could find (and a couple that were big but sounded awesome).

That's how I found Qwixx.

How to Play

Qwixx is a dice game akin to Yahtzee, where each player has their own scorecard and people take turns rolling the dice. But I'd contend that Qwixx is even more fun that Yahtzee.

The goal of the game is to cross out as many colored numbers on your scorecard as possible. The challenge is, you can only cross out numbers going from left to right. So if you've crossed out the green 5, you can no longer cross out the green 2, 3, or 4. 

So how do you cross out numbers? Each turn, one person rolls two white dice, as well as dice that are red, blue, green, and yellow. Then the roller adds up the white dice and calls out the sum. Every player can (but doesn't have to) cross that number off any of their colored rows.

After that, the roller gets to pick a white die and a colorful die to add together. So if they rolled the dice shown, they could add the white 2 with the blue 4 to get a blue 6, which they could cross off. Note that only the active roller gets to do this extra move.

Then play moves to the next person. There are a couple of extra rules, ably explained in this quick youtube tutorial. But the idea is roll, add, cross off. You score points based on the amount of numbers you crossed off in each row.

Where's the Math?

Qwixx has math all over! 

For younger kids, Qwixx requires a ton of simple one-digit addition. My 6 year old daughter had to do nine addition problems each round - adding the two white dice together, and then adding each white die with the four colored dice. This is a great way to get your kid to develop fluency with their addition facts, by embedding them in a game that they love playing.

Like many dice-based games, Qwixx is structured on probability and uncertainty. Your child has to make decisions based on their intuition about how likely different outcomes may be.

Let's say they have no numbers crossed off in the red row. They have the opportunity to cross off a 5. Should they do it? Well, on one hand that means that they'll never be able to cross off the red 2, 3, or 4. On the other hand, if they wait for that perfect roll they might wait too long and end up with an empty red row at the end of the game! 

The game doesn't require an explicit calculation of the odds, but your child might notice how comparatively hard it is to roll a 2 or a 12, compared to a 6, 7, or 8. In fact, it is much harder to roll those high and low numbers! Why is that? Maybe your child could make a list of all the ways to roll a 12 and all the ways to roll as 7...

Questions to Ask

One question I found to be particularly helpful was "What do you hope to roll?" This is helpful because it gives your kids a chance to examine their scorecard before they roll. They'll notice the ideal numbers that they hope to roll, and then they can use those numbers as a way to evaluate how good their actual options turn out to be. 

Another fun question: "Do you earn more points by getting 12 x's in a single row, or by getting 5 x's in each row?" Your child might be surprised to learn that the 12 x's give you more points! This leads to a follow-up: "Which one is easier to accomplish in a typical game?" 

You could even choose a row at the start of the game and try to fill it completely, demonstrating to your child how challenging that goal is!

Qwixx is fun, fast, and cheap. The perfect combination for a math game.

Click here to buy Qwixx on Amazon (affiliate link)