¡Quince! Race to 15 in This Quick Dice Game for Spanish Class
I must give credit to my oldest son, Nathan, for helping me brainstorm the ins and outs of this game. It’s become a true favorite and one that my students BEG to play!
At the time, Nathan was a junior in college and had broken his ankle. He couldn’t drive with the cast, so I needed to bring him from campus to the ortho and back again several times that semester. During one of the long car rides, he helped me with an idea I had been working on for a reading game that incorporated strategy and used dice. He’d taken Spanish all through high school and could easily imagine the scenario.
¡Quince! is the result!
Game Set-Up
Since this is a variation of the quick game Blackjack (a card game race to 21), it’s quick to explain.
¡Quince! - interactive “Blackjack” inspired dice game
Super Low-Prep Materials:
Any printed-out text with line numbers on the left margin. Pro-tip: it works best when sentences aren’t split over two different lines.
1 game board (download freebie below!)
1 or 2 dice per group
How to Play:
Form groups of 2.
Divide students up into pairs. Students decide who is Person 1/Person 2.
Persons 1 & 2 randomly write 5 line different line numbers each in their prep columns (see image).
The teacher reads a sentence (or phrase) from the story in English or in the target language. As a variation, ask a question in the target language.
If the line number of that sentence is one in the prep box, that student says “I have it!”and gets to ROLL: ONCE, TWICE, or PASS. Strategy matters!
After 5 turns, the person closest to or at 15 (but NOT over) wins the round.
IMPORTANT: If a player goes over 15, their score resets to 0. They should cross out all previous points.
More thoughts and a Free Download…
I’ve attached a FREE DOWNLOAD of the ¡Quince! instructions and a blank game board when you sign up for the newsletter below. Included are instructions for how to modify the game to make it student-led, if that is something you’d like to try!
You’ll also find a growing collection of ready-to-use stories with line numbers in my TpT store, CI Cuentos.
For example…
Check out this compelling story that comes with the game ¡Quince!
Will Juan give Inés the Valentine? Resource includes the Tic-Tac-Número Game!
Featuring o-ue present-tense stem-changing verbs, this funny short story features Donny, a kid who’s crazy dog won’t sleep because it’s raining. Donny gives him a variety of treats to help him calm down, but what happens when his dog appears to be lactose intolerant?
If you try this, pop back here and let me know how it goes!
Wishing you all the very best,
Catherine
email me! I’d love to connect with you and answer any questions you may have: connect@frenchtoastcuentos.com
shop here: CI Cuentos Store
Join our Facebook group here: French Toast Cuentos World Language Collaboration
Check out this previous post about the re-reading race game I made called ¡Agarra el Número! It’s SO easy to play, low-prep, and has the bonus effect of reviewing numbers - includes a free download too!
Read, Write and Race!
