Insana Alea

This game is another recent addition to my repertoire.  Like several other games I have described, it was plucked from the internet by my sharp-eyed colleague, Jill Jackson, who has a real knack for finding stuff that works.  If you are lucky or unlucky enough to teach other subjects in addition to Latin,  you will find that you can easily adapt this game to just about any subject and any level.  It's that flexible as well as wildly entertaining. 

Pre-Game Preparation:
Put your class into groups of 3-5 students.  Four is really the optimum number here, if that is possible.  Homogeneous grouping is best for this game since each students will be playing against other students in the group. Acquire one six-sided die for each group and a tray to roll the die into.  Create 2 worksheets: each with enough problems that can be done in about 20 minutes. It helps if the questions get progressively more difficult and require definitive but short answers.

How to Play:
Students sit together in their group.  Each student in the group has a copy of the worksheet. In this game, students compete against each other.  Each student in the group takes turns rolling the die into the tray.  When one student rolls a "6," then he or she stops rolling and starts doing the worksheet as fast as he or she can.  The other students continue to pass the die and when one of them rolls a "6", then the student doing the worksheet must stop immediately and the student who most recently rolled a "6" starts doing the worksheet.  Again,  the remaining students continue to pass the die, each one of them taking turns rolling the die until another students rolls a six.  Once again, the student doing the worksheet stops and the new student starts work.  The goal of the game is to be the first one in the group to  finish the worksheet correctly.  
Once a student has completed the worksheet,  he or she brings it to the teacher who anoints him or her the winner if it is correct.  However, if there are mistakes,  the teacher highlights the mistakes.  Now the student goes back to the group and continues to roll. When he or she rolls a six, now they correct the worksheet.  

Tips to Make this Game Work:

• Use the trays - baking trays, paper bowls - anything to keep the die from sliding off the desk. Otherwise, the game becomes one of dive-under-the-desk-and-find-the-die.  
• To reinforce the idea that the die must be rolled in the tray, bowl etc - explain to students that a die rolled out of the tray will not count.
• Tell students to turn over the worksheet while they are not working.  This will prevent cheating although they are pretty good at monitoring this themselves.
• Finally, this game can get very loud - especially with a large class.  A math teacher who adapted this game renamed it "Silent Sixes," (a great name but Tacita Sex is problematic in Latin).  Her rule was that the game must be conducted in complete silence and any group that made any noise at all would lose their die and tray for 2 minutes.  Students tapped on the desk twice to signal that they had rolled a "6."  She reported that for 40 minutes,  the only noise in classroom was rolling and tapping.  Awesome. 
• Students who complete the first worksheet should start the game again using the second worksheet.  It is likely that not all will complete two rounds of the game in 40 minutes. 
• Allow students to use their, charts, notes and other resources if they need them.  You don't want them to get completely stuck and give up. 

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