GAMES FOR A CHEMIST'S PARTY WILLIAM E. CALDWELL Oregon State College, Corvallis, Oregon
TWO games which have been found entertaining and somewhat instructive, and which are especially suited for a social gathering of chemists, are herewith described. One game might be termed "chemical lotto" as it is an elaboration of the older .game. Chemists not familiar with the game of "lotto" may have knowledge of the card and kernel games of "bingo" or "keeno" as played a t carnivals or fairs. A list of about one hundred chemical formulas having corresponding chemical, mineralogical, historical, or trade names is chosen. The names are written on small pieces of cardboard and placed in a container to be drawn from. Assorted form& are printed into ruled squares on pieces of cardboard or stiff paper about 3" X 6' in size. A sample card is shown in the accompanying diagram. Twenty or more such cards are prepared from the one hundred formulas. Each player is furnished with a card and a number of suitable markers. A caller draws from the namecards in the hat and calls the names of the substances written thereon. Each player having the counterpart Q formula puts a marker over this formula on his card. When a player fills a row of five with markers, he makes himself heard, and has his card checked. He may then be declared the winner. The cards may be made more or less difficult accordmg to the breadth of chemical knowledge of the chemist players. The counterpart names chosen for the formulas on
NHnCl
NsO
Pb30,
&Nos
CaCOs
CHa
MnOa
Yb
KC1
CN.NH2
SOzClz
CCla.N02
cH80cH3
HCN
S
OH
the card illustrated may be: chloramine, red lead, calcite, pyrolusite, ytterbium, laughing gas, lunar caustic, mesitylene, sylvite, cyanaxhide, prussic acid, brimstone, catechol, sulfulyl chloride, chloropicrin. A second game which has been found amusing, and which is not original with us, is "chemical dice." Symbols of metals may be placed on the faces of each of three wooden cubes, each face haying one symbol. Symbols for nou-metals or non-metallic radicals are placed on faces of three other cubes. The six dice are rolled some given number of times and the player tries to match up top faces to obtain molecular formulas. Fun and trouble for the player may be caused by putting symbols of rare gas or rare earth elements on some facets. Sub-numerals to cause valence difficulty may be used beneath symbols.
