Ploomp: Fun math board game

Rules for playing Ploomp – a fun math board game

Here you’ll find the rules for playing Ploomp and you can even download gameboards.

Download gameboard for Ploomp

This game can be adapted to different ages and difficulty levels. Below you can download two different gameboards – one made for kids 9-12 years old and one for kids 5-8 years old.

Download the 42 square gameboard here!

Download the gameboard with 18 squares for younger kids here!

Rules for Ploomp

This is a game I’ve played many times with my students in scool and it’s always a hit. The game is called Ploomp and it’s a fun math board game. The aim of the game is to use the dice to add, subtract, multiply and divide to get points on the gameboard. Lots of fun!

This game is tailored for kids ages 9-12, but can be fun for everyone who can use arithmetic operators!

PS… if your kids are younger, we’ve made an easier game board for them as well!

regler plump

You’ll need:

🟨 Game board with 42 squares.
🖊 Pen.
🎲 Three dice (if you don’t have three dice available, you can download a dice app!)


How to play:

🟨 Print the board with 42 squares or draw one yourself.

📝 Write the players’ names to be able to keep track of points.
🎲 Roll all three dice at once. Using the eyes on the dice, you need to do a calculation. If the dice show 2, 3, 4, you could can for example think 3-2+4=5, 4+2+3=9 or 4*3+2=14.

☑️ You’re allowed to use all four arithmetic operators, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. When you’ve decided on a number, write an x in that square. The first crossed out square awards the player one point.

👆 The first player can only get one point, but going forward the possibility for getting more points per round increases. If you can cross out a square that neighbors a square that is already crossed out, you get an extra point. If your new x is set in a square that touches two other squares you get three points, three squares touching your square awards you four points, four other crossed out squares you get five points and so on. You can get a maximum of nine point per round.

😨 If you’re not able to find an uncrossed square using the four arithmetic operators with your dice numbers, you get one Ploomp. Four Ploomps means you’re out!

🏆 The person with the highest score wins

For younger kids you can use a smaller board with 18 squares and use only addition and subtraction.

Here’s how play and learning are connected:

Mathematical skills practiced: 👩‍🏫

➕ Addition.
➖ Subtraction.
✖️ Multiplication.
➗ Division
🤔 Using all the operations together to find possible solutions

Other skills practiced:

🧠 Concentration.
🌲 Taking turns and game rules.