Are you looking for a fun game to practice skip counting and multiplication? Bugs may be just the card game you’re looking for!
While I’m not a fan of the premise of the game, that you’re trying to be the first to clear your yard of bugs, I do love the math involved. Most of the cards are bug cards, and each bug card has a number on it. There are nine 1s, eight 2s, seven 3s, and so on until you get to one 9. Each number has a different bug on it.
Non-number cards
There are also two outbreak cards, three net cards, three repellent cards, and one exterminator card. The exterminator resets the swarm to zero (but all bug cards stay in the center). An outbreak card can be used as an extra bug card (of a kind you’re already putting out). The net lets you skip your turn, and the repellent reverses the direction of play (without you having to play).
This game kind of reminds me of a game I used to play as a kid. We called it “Booger,” but I think its actual name is “Presidents and Assholes.” In both of these games, the object is to get rid of your cards. You can play one or more cards at once, and the amount you play has to be greater than the amount played previously.
How to play Bugs!
So, if I were starting and had just one 2, I would start with that. If the next player had two 2s, they could play those, so now the “swarm” size is 6. If the next player didn’t have any 2s, they obviously wouldn’t be able to play any, but could play any combination of cards that equaled more than 6. So if they had one 7, they could play that. Now, if the fourth player had three 2s, they couldn’t play them (as that’s only 6), but if they had the rest (five 2s), they could play those as that equals 10.
If you can’t play any cards, you have to pick up the whole stack in the center. This may seem terrible, but can often be a good thing. If you are starting off the pile fresh, and have all of one type of bug (like all nine 1s, for example), then you can lay them all down, say the total, and then clear the cards away to the discard. This is called a Wipe Out.
Multiplication practice
Obviously, Bugs! doesn’t cover the entire multiplication table. After all, there’s only one 9 card. But, we have found it to be a great way to practice skip counting and multiplication. If you’d like more practice, I encourage you to check out Dragon Times, which is great for all multiplication up to 10×10.