Tetradice

Introduction

With the game of TETRADICE the children will learn codes with different bases, from the binary code up to hexadecimal, including the decimal system. This one is a very simple game that three-year-old children can initiate and then rising its complexity as the children’s understanding increases. We suggest the children should play the TETRADICE at least for a period of three years.

Preparation

In the beginning the game board is prepared using the four basic colors, as shown in the diagram.

A tetrahedron must be with the four colors represented on the board on each of its sides: red, green, yellow and blue. This is the Tetradice.

Each one of the participant children will be delivered between eight and ten yellow chips that have a value each of one point.

One of the participants will play the dealer. In the beginning, the facilitator will always play as the dealer to show the rules and facilitate the process of comprehension to the children

First level

  1. Tell the children: This is the TETRADICE; it has a color on each of its sides, place a chip on the board upon the color that you think will be under the dice when I roll it.
  2. Children place their chips on the board. It is recommended to mention out loud the color on which they bet as a resource to reinforce their memory when the children are very young.
  3. The dealer rolls the Tetradice and shows the winning color (the color under the dice). Let’s suppose the winning color is green. Then the dealer places a yellow chip on each chip betting on green and retires the chips that are betting on yellow, blue and red. It is expected that the children should deduce the rules of the game.
  4. If participant children do not understand and the winner doesn’t take the chips, the adult should say Get what you’ve just won.
  5. The adult-dealer says place your bets, which color you think will be the winner. The children place their chips. The procedure is repeated and the adult tells the winner Very well, you’ve won two, you’ve won the double.
  6. The facilitator/dealer makes sure everyone has understood by repeating the game. When the rules are understood the facilitator steps back and the child to first run out of chips becomes the dealer. All children must play the dealer.
  7. Children will play in group or with their family. They should play until they assimilate the code. If the children began at the age of three it can take to them a year to fully understand this first level.

Second level

  1. The facilitator returns to play the dealer to introduce a new element to the game, the green chip. The dealer rolls the tetradice as usual when the children have finished betting.
  2. Imagine this time the winner color is green, and a child has bet two yellow chips on it. The dealer delivers two green chips instead of four yellow ones to her without saying anything and lets the children understand the new code.
  3. If the children do not understand the code, the facilitator can help their reasoning, with questions such as What do you prefer one green chip or two yellow chips?
  4. The facilitator remains playing dealer to make sure the code has been understood. The children can bet yellow or green chips, and they should be allowed to discover the code.
  5. When the game has been understood, a child should play the dealer.

Third level

  1. The facilitator introduces a new element, the blue chip. He puts it among the dealer’s chips, and after approximately two years playing the children will be able to imagine that this new chip is worth twice the previous one. At that moment children possibly bet using green chips.
  2. The facilitator plays dealer again and tries to speak as little as possible. When a winning child has bet two or four yellow chips the dealer will deliver the blue one. Probably it is enough to say look I am delivering you a blue chip!. The children who have followed the game will assimilate the new element.

Fourth level

  1. The children playing should now be at least five years old. Now the facilitator adds a new chip, the red one, which is worth twice the blue one. The process is the same as in the previous level: the facilitator plays the dealer and delivers the red chip when a winning child gets two blue chips or four green ones. The goal is to let the children deduce the code like in the previous level.
  2. It is convenient for the facilitator/dealer to let the children play with chips of all four different colors.

Testing the comprehension of binary code

When children have played for some time (it can be days, months or years, it depends on the age on which they started and the frequency of the experience), they should have mastered binary code. To test the comprehension of this code it is suggested to present the following challenge:

    The adult-dealer tells one of the players: If I want to change this Tetradice for 13 points worth of chips, what do you have to give me?.

    Children should give out one red chip, one blue chip and one yellow chip.

    The dealer then offers another value saying: What if I want to change 8 points?.

    The adult presents new challenges to the children, for example: What if I wanted to get only yellow and green chips? And what if I only wanted yellow and blue chips?

Fifth level: coming to new codes.

Cuando los niños y niñas han hecho suyo el código binario pueden llegar a nuevos códigos. El procedimiento del juego es el mismo, pero en juegos subsecuentes el banquero entregará el triple, el cuádruplo, el séxtuplo hasta llegar al código decimal y el hexadecimal. No necesariamente tiene que jugar con todos los códigos, con una muestra bastará.

Para cuando el niño o niña pueda jugar con el código hexadecimal, tendrá aproximadamente 10 años y utilizará el recurso del monedero que es un reto que se plantea en esta misma sección.

Another ampliation of the game: transforming the game board

When the child has enough experience, possibly during the second year of evolution with Tetrakys of for children of older age, the table or game board can be changed to obtain combinations of two colors. The Tetradice can be rolled twice or a cube with all 6 combinations of colors can be built. This way we can play with 6 or 10 possibilities.

Children with more experience could as well play with younger or less experienced children on an annex table.