Dragonwood

This Labor Day weekend my son turned 8, and we celebrated the best way we knew how - out at the lake, grilling and swimming and playing backyard games.

When we got back in town, J got to open his presents, which included more than a couple board games. He immediately gravitated toward one game in particular. I don't know if he was drawn to the artwork or the sense of danger and risk-tasking, but I'm glad he was! This game has turned into a big hit around the household. Even my 5 year old daughter likes to play, as long as a parent is there to give her some advice.

The game is called Dragonwood.

What is Dragonwood?

Dragonwood is a card-and-dice game. You draw cards, trying to build flushes, straights, and sets of the same number.

Then you use those cards to purchase dice rolls. If you have a three-card flush, you can roll three dice. If you have a four-card flush, you can roll four dice instead.

You roll dice in order to capture various creatures that award you points. The more points you earn, the harder it is to capture the creatures.

The Grumpy Troll, for instance, is worth four points. In order to capture him, though, you must roll a total of at least 9 (or 11, depending on the type of cards you use).

Each player takes turns, either drawing cards or attempting to capture creatures. The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner.

Where's the Math?

There is a lot of interesting math in Dragonwood, but I'd like to highlight a specific area that I loved discussing with my kids: expected value.

Simply put, expected value is the average outcome of an uncertain event. The expected value of a lottery ticket is usually a few cents. Every once in a while you'll win a lot, but usually you walk away with nothing. Add up all the possibilities and find the average, and you'll have the expected value of the lottery ticket.

In Dragonwood, kids get to experience expected value informally from the very start. Remember, the dice contain the digits 1,2,2,3,3, and 4. Let's say you want to roll three dice. How likely are you to roll a total of at least 4? What about 7? What about 11?

You probably have an intuitive sense that 4 is a pretty likely total, while 11 is risky. After a few rounds, your kids will start to develop that sense as well!

After our first game, I spoke with my son about the expected value of the dice. We talked about what we could expect to happen: half the time we roll a 3 or above, while the other half of the time we roll a 2 or below. Turns out, the expected value of a die in this game is 2.5.

So rolling three dice to get a 7 is a good bet, barely. On average, you can expect to get 7.5 points on three dice.

Here is where I make a confession: I might have gone too far, too fast. I think it's valuable for kids to learn how to analyze games more rigorously - part of the pleasure of a game is cracking open the strategy and figuring out new techniques.

But this time I did the heavy lifting. I told my son too much, taking away that thrill of discovery from him. I wish I had held back a bit longer.

So I recommend that you prompt with questions instead of lessons. Ask your kids "I want to roll four dice to get a total of 8. Is that likely? Unlikely? Am I taking a big risk or a little one?"

Let your kids develop their intuition over time. These experiences will give them a real experience with probability that they can then apply in more formal settings later on.

See? I screw up this "teaching my kids to love math" thing all the time, and it's my main hobby! Glad I got that off my chest. 

Anyway, have fun with Dragonwood! It's a blast.

Click here to buy Dragonwood