Hollywood Squares Math Game

by Sue Gumm
(Seneca, IL)

I use "Hollywood Squares" (like the tv game show) to review for each chapter in my math book and the kids love it. I pick 9 students who are sitting in the middle of the room (3x3) as the "stars", and divide the rest into 2 teams, the x's and the o's.

I also draw a big tic-tac-toe board on the chalkboard. The first player from the x team picks one of the stars. I then read a review question to the whole class which they all work on. When the star has the answer he says it out loud. The x player then has to decide if the star is telling the truth or bluffing the answer. If he/she chooses correctly, the x team gets a designated number of points and gets to put an x in the star's box on the tic-tac-toe board. If he/she choses incorrectly, the star's square goes to the other team and becomes an o.

It then switches to the o team. Before each game I pick one of the "stars" to be the "secret square" and that star is worth double points when chosen. The play goes back and forth until one team gets a tic-tac-toe and wins that game. I then pick a new secret square and we continue with a new game. I keep the same stars for the entire class and switch the next time we review.