OBJECTIVE OF VINCULUM: To be the first to recognize and gather in as many equivalent tiles as possible.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 to 6 Players
COMPONENTS: 51 standard fraction tiles, 10 advanced fraction tiles, a storage bag and a rule book
TYPE OF GAME: Educational (Mathematics) Board Game
AUDIENCE: Ages 8 and Up
OVERVIEW OF VINCULUM
Vinculum is a fun game of fractions where players race to gain as many tiles as possible depicting equivalent fractions
SETUP
Separate the standard fraction tiles (which have the lower denominators) from the advanced fraction tiles (which have the higher denominators).
Using the bag, shake the 51 standard fraction tiles in a bid to shuffle them and then pour the tiles out on a flat surface area or table. Ensure all the tiles are face down and that none overlaps the other.
Return the advanced fraction tiles to the storage bag.
Flip one tile over.
GAMEPLAY
The first player then randomly chooses a tile and quickly flips it over. To ensure that all the players see the fraction at the same time, the player lifts the tile by the edge farther from them and flips it.
All the players then look at the tile just flipped over and compare it with the initial tile that was flipped over during set up and try to mentally calculate if they are both equivalents.
If they are, the first player to realize it quickly slaps the first tile to be flipped over, leaving the recently flipped tile. It doesn’t matter who flipped the tile, all players aim to slap the correct tile.
For example, if at set up, ½ was the tile flipped over and the first player then flips over 2/4 on his turn, the first player to realize they are both equivalents slaps the ½ tile and claims it, leaving the 2/4 tile face-up on the table.
When a tile is slapped, the other players need to confirm that the tile is indeed equivalent before it is claimed. All claimed tiles are stacked face-down in front of each player.
Play continues clockwise with each player slapping as many correct tiles as possible until all the tiles have been flipped over.
Players must use the same hand during the game and the hand must be flat on the table whenever a player is about to flip over a new tile.
It is most advised to flip the tiles close to you, but when not, a player that chooses a tile that is far from them must slide the tile towards themselves before flipping it over.
Players must slap tiles quickly and before the next player takes their turn.
On rare occasions where the tiles are not quickly seen or recognized before the next player flips over a new tile and this results in more than one matching fraction pair on the table, all the matching tiles can be slapped by the players.
There are no penalties for slapping a wrong tile, play simply continues.
ADVANCED PLAY
When playing with older kids or even young kids who feel they have become familiar with the basic game, the advanced fraction tiles can be added. This makes it more challenging
END OF GAME
The game comes to an end once all the tiles have been flipped and there are no more pairs to claim. The winner is the player with the most tiles.
