The newest game in our range is described as a ‘shape, colour & number puzzle for little ones . . . and adults!’.
5teaser was designed and produced in 2011 by Paul Godding and is the junior version of the ever-popular 7puzzle, therefore being suitable for players aged 5 and above.
The game contains an initial 30 challenges involving shapes and colours, while a further 100 challenges utilise the numbers on the playing board. The last section of those challenges require use of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, which makes the game playable for older children, 7 years and above, and quite challenging for the more experienced puzzle enthusiast.
As with 7puzzle, the contents of the game are packaged in our distinctive eco-friendly black bag. This keeps the playing board clean and tidy as well as making it extremely difficult for the owner lose the playing pieces.
The playing board is a 5 by 5 grid of 25 squares, each containing a number, colour and shape. When taking on the challenges, players must place all 10 playing pieces onto the board, therefore leaving five spaces uncovered. The simple intention is for these five spaces to contain a certain element, which may be a particular colour, shape or series of numbers, depending on the challenge.
Shape & Colour Challenges
These consist of 30 challenges that are ideal for introducing younger children to some simple shape and colour puzzles. We always advise parents to help out.
Firstly, there are four different shapes represented on the board – squares, circles, stars and diamonds. Attempting one shape at a time, players are required to cover everything except each of those four shapes, thus allowing the player to become familiar with the concept of the game.
When these have been completed, we move onto the colour challenges. Initially, the challenges are similar to above, aiming to leave each one of the four main colours – Red, Blue, Yellow and Green – uncovered, again one at a time.
The next section of colour challenges requires the player to leave five different colours uncovered when placing down all 10 playing pieces. As well as the four main colours mentioned above, there are three others on the board – Orange, Lilac and Silver. The instruction sheet informs the player which five to leave uncovered for each of the 21 tasks. By this point the challenges are getting a little harder.
The final colour challenge is the only one in the whole game where only nine of the playing pieces should be placed down, not ten. In doing this, there will be seven gaps remaining uncovered, thus the player will need to leave uncovered one of each of the seven colours represented on the board!
Number Challenges
After completing the shape and colour challenges, it is the number aspect of the game which now comes into play! The board contains just five numbers, 1 to 5, each appearing five times, and once in each row and column.
As above, there are four sections of challenges, which increases in difficulty as players progress. The first two sections entails leaving odd and even numbers uncovered as well as each of the five numbers, one at a time. A good introduction to basic number work for the young learner.
Now the arithmetic takes over. The third section of challenges informs players to leave five numbers uncovered so they add up to certain totals, a mixture of shape & space and basic numeracy. The lowest total is 5 while the highest total possible is 25. All 21 of these totals must be left uncovered in order.
The final section is for the slightly older player who is able to use all four arithmetical operations. The target numbers continue from 26 up to 100. It is impossible to arrive at any of these figures simply by adding, so you are able to use subtraction, multiplication and division too!
We hope you enjoy 5teaser.
What next?
All in all, there are 130 challenges for players to complete, a nice mixture of activities and something for everyone, whatever their age and ability. We hope you enjoy the game and recommend it to friends and teachers for use in the classroom.
So what is the next step?
If we have whet your appetite and still wish to undertake similar tasks, but a little more advanced, the natural step is to try 7puzzle. Please visit the page to see full details!
The 2-player game
Before moving away from 5teaser, you should also try out the 2-player game. Both players need 10 counters of a particular colour (which are not included in the bag).
Player 1 starts the game by rolling the die and is only allowed to place a counter on that particular number on the board.
The eventual aim for both players is to be the first to achieve 4-in-a-row of their coloured counter (which can be vertical, horizontal or vertical), so when deciding where to move, Player 2 may either decide to start his/her own row or, alternatively, try and block their opponent.
The board only contains numbers from 1 to 5, so if a ‘6’ is rolled, a player is allowed to ‘knock off’ any one of their opponents’ counters and replace it with their own counter.
If there is no place to go after rolling the die, the player simply misses their turn.
For younger players, or for a much quicker game, you may want to play 3-in-a row. In this version, rolling a ‘6’ means the player just misses their turn instead of the above ‘knocking off’ rule.
Purchasing Options
Please get in touch if you wish to purchase 5teaser. The retail price is £18 per game, but there are additional options available if you wish to buy multiple copies.
All sets come packaged in one eco-friendly bag:
- family set (2 copies): £35
- mini classroom set (4 copies): £68
- full classroom set (6 copies): £99
The above prices do not include postage/delivery.
Finally, if you wish to purchase both 5teaser and 7puzzle, one copy of each game will be packaged in the same eco-friendly black bag, retailing at £37 plus postage/delivery.
© the 7puzzle company 2012 paulgodding.com