Make Fifteen Card Relay
A moving version of the card game scopa: one at a time, each runner goes to the center table and takes any cards that add up to fifteen together with their own. Students practice quick decisions, mental math, and orderly relays in a small space.
How to play
- Push desks aside and leave one table in the center with 4 cards face up. Make 4 teams of 6 behind cones 5 m (16 ft) away, each with a face-down pile of 9 cards. Remove 8s, 9s, and 10s: Ace is 1, Jack 8, Queen 9, King 10 (2 min).
- On the whistle, the first student takes a card, power-walks to the table, and looks for cards that make 15 with it. If they find them, they carry them back to the cone.
- If not, they leave their card face up on the table for any team and walk back to high-five the next teammate.
- Clearing the table is a “sweep”: the team keeps one card sideways, worth 2 points. No more than 2 runners at the table at once.
- Play 2 rounds of 7 minutes, switching cones, and score 1 point per card and 2 per sweep (2 min to count).
Rules
- Power-walk between furniture; anyone who runs goes back to the cone.
- Touch only your own card and the cards you take.
- If the math is wrong, the cards go back and you leave your own card on the table.
Variations
Easier
Make 10 using Ace through 7, and runners may bring a helper.
Standard
Make 15 with the 40-card deck.
Harder
Change the travel each round (sideways, hopping), and a sweep counts only if called first.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: move the table closer or make the student the scorekeeper who checks sums, with their own turn.
- Autism or shyness: show the turn order ahead of time and play a practice round with no clock.
- Fitness: more challenge with 5 squats before going; less load starting halfway.
Learning goals
- Make quick decisions that combine math and movement.
- Respect turns and the shared table space.
- Accept their own and teammates' mistakes.
Equipment for a class of 25
- Deck of playing cards: 1
- Cones: 4
- Classroom desk: 1
Teacher tip
Post the Jack, Queen, and King values on the board to avoid arguments, and keep the table away from desk corners.
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