A moving numbers game
You can play this game by yourself, on the floor or on a table. You need
only five playing cards—an ace, 2, 3, 4, and 5. Lay the cards out just
as they are shown in the picture at the top of this page.
To play the game, you move the cards, one at a time, until you get all
the numbers in the right order—the ace (1), 2, and 3 in the top row
and the 4 and 5 in the bottom row. But you can’t simply pick up a card
and put it wherever you wish. You can only slide a card into an empty
space that is next to it. For example, at the start of the game there is
an empty space at the end of the bottom row. You can slide the 5 down
or slide the 2 across. But you can’t move any other card because no
other card is next to the empty space.
After you move a card into an empty space, you’ll then have a new empty
space into which another card can be moved. Each time you slide a card
into a space it counts as one move. It is possible to put all of the
cards in order in only ten moves—but it may take you a lot more! Try
the game out for awhile. If you find you can’t put the cards in order in
ten moves, look on page 21 and see how it’s done.
