Maths Games For Kids: How to Play Buzz

This is a fun game to play when you have a few moments to spare as the sense of anticipation builds great excitement. It’s great for revising multiplication facts but it can also be played as a simpler counting game with younger children.

Maths Games For Kids: How to Play Buzz

Number of players: Can be played as a pair but larger groups work well too.
Equipment needed: None.

Instructions for play:

If playing in a group, it is generally easier if children sit or stand in a circle.

As a counting game:

Choose a number of the day, say 8. One child begins and counts aloud ‘One,’ then the next child says, ‘Two,’ the next child ‘Three,’ play continues around the circle with the children saying the next number in line as quickly as possible until the chosen number, in this case 8, is reached. Instead of saying the number aloud the child due to count says, “Buzz.” The next person starts at one again and play continues as before, the aim being to count in sequence, follow the play around the group and speak as quickly as possible without making a mistake. So in this example, play would go – 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,buzz! 1,2,etc

As a multiplication game:

As a variation for older children, tell the children that the aim of the game is to count to 50 – simple, right? Except all multiples of the chosen number must be replaced by the word ‘Buzz.’ For example, if the buzz number was multiples of 5, play would go – 1,2,3,4,buzz,6,7,8,9,buzz,11,12…etc. If a child makes a mistake play begins (for the whole group) again at 1.

For a harder variation, choose two sets of multiples to exclude – say multiples of 3 and of 5 – multiples of 3 are replaced with the word ‘fizz’ and multiples of 5 with the word ‘buzz.’ For numbers that are multiples of both 3 and 5, the respondent says ‘fizz-buzz.’ For this example, play would proceed as follows – 1,2,fizz,4,buzz,fizz,7,8,fizz,buzz,11,fizz,13,14,fizz-buzz,etc.

Looking for more multiplication games…