Lu-lu Dice: A Fun Math Game from Hawai'i

You and your kids may have never heard of Lu-lu Dice, but brace yourselves because you are about to discover an awesome new game that sneaks in some math practice.

It's a win-win situation: your kids will be occupied playing a fun game and learning something, will you will get some much needed time to finally finish that cup of coffee.

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Lu-lu dice is an easy to learn game from Hawai'i, but what makes this math game so great to add to your arsenal of DIY games is that it gives kids a little brain break from strategy games.

Unlike strategy games such as tapatan and len choa, Lu-lu dice is based on pure chance, like Chicago dice and martinetti dice. That's not a bad thing! It means everyone is on equal footing so it gives siblings with differing skill levels the opportunity to practice good sportsmanship.

MORE: Tips for helping sore losers gain sportsmanship skills

How to Make Lu-lu Dice

Before playing you need to make your dice!

Traditionally the dice were made from stones. But you probably do not want your kids tossing rocks around your living room. (Ahem.) You can easily make the dice from small discs.

Materials

Depending on your method, you may not need all of the following items:

• Small wooden craft discs like these, or cardboard. You will need sets of 4 dice for each player, so plan accordingly
• Scissors
• Our printable (see below for the form to get it)
• Glue
• Pens

Method 1: On each wooden disc, draw bisecting lines dividing the disc into quarters. Next, on each disc you will draw a specific quantity of dots. For the single dot, place it in the center of the disc. For 2, 3, and 4, draw the dots in the quarters.

How to Play Lu-Lu Dice

Learning how to play lu-lu dice is easy!

What you need

• Four dice for each player.  Each dice has a quantity from 1-4 showing on one side only. The opposite side is blank.
• A pen and paper for each player (colored Flair pens are our favorites!)
• A small cup (optional)
• 2 or more enthusiastic players.

Instructions

Objective: to be the first player to reach 100.

Rules: Each player gets two tosses per turn.

The first player tosses his four dice down on the table. Optional: shake dice in small cup before throwing them down.

Next, he picks up any dice which landed face down (no points showing) and tosses them again.

If all the dice land face up, he is allowed to pick all the dice up for his second throw. Thus, the maximum score for one turn is 20 (two perfect throws).

Count the total points showing and record on score sheet. Play then continues clockwise until one player reaches 100.

MORE: Best Dice Games for Kids

Extensions

As with all traditional games, there are often different sets of rules, so don't be shy about making up your own rules. You can vary the score, or how many throws each player gets.

For further math learning, ask kids:

• What are all the possible scores a player can get in one turn?
• How many different ways can each score be obtained?
• How many turns would a player need to reach 100 if he got the maximum number of points per turn?
• Ask kids to keep track of how many points they still need to reach the goal at the end of each turn.

MORE: See all our traditional games from around the world (you can make yourself!)