NUMBERS AND PORTALS

Numbers and portals is a simple game of mathematics made to sharpen
one’s mathematical abilities in multiplication, addition, subtraction and division.

Pack of Sugru

Cardboard

LED’s

Jumper wires

Batteries

Tape

Small cardboard box such as little cornflakes box

Scissors

Markers

Pencil

Ruler

In preparation for this hack, the team met to make plans on
how the game should look and function like. The team made sketches on paper and also drawings in Maya software.

1. You start by marking your cardboard for cutting. Mark a 20cm*20cm square, cut this out. Again mark a 20cm*28cm rectangle, cut this out too. On the 20*28 rectangle, mark out 20cm*20cm. Divide the 20cm*20cm square into 25 squares each being 4cm*4cm. Number the boxes and highlight as shown below.

2. The next stage is joining these separate units. They are to be joined with the little cardboard box as the connector. Place this little box unit on the center of the 20cm*8cm portion of the 20cm*28cm. Hold it in place using tape and SUGRU for a strong connection. Now place the 20cm*20cm square on the top of the little boxes unit, connect it in the same way as the first.

3. Using Sugru, make little characters for your game; such as a hat , shoe, mortar, pestle, car, to mention a few. Use Sugru also to make two dice.

4. You can further enhance your board by placing some LEDs in the highlighted boxes to brighten things up.

The game starts from the lower deck zero (0).

The main aim is to get from one zero to the other with the first zero being on the lower deck and the final on the higher deck.

There are a number of portals, all lit up, that teleport you from one deck to the other; lower to higher and vice versa.

In addition to the zero number, four other numbers can be found on the board; 1, 2, 3, 4.

There is a programmed number generator, which generates 2 numbers at a time, such as 4 and 2, which means the player should obtain the number 4 in 2 moves using the numbers available on the board with a set of rules such as diagonal movement representing multiplication, vertical representing addition, etc.

Two dice of different colors can be used in place of the number generator.

The team played this game with a few others and found it more complex than it looked, it required a lot of thinking. The team aims to improve upon the game.

HELEN AFI AMORIN

AMADU ABDUL-LATIF

PETER O’HARA ADU

KWAKU ADJEI MARFO TABIRI