This free printable tally score sheet can be used for tournament games of progressive euchre, bridge, and canasta. It can also be used for fun classroom test-prep review games.
How to play as a class:
First, you will need question cards. Try printing some of our cards, or make your own. You might even have the kids each make ten or so question cards from a study sheet.
Have prizes ready and clearly marked. You can do first-, second-, and third-place prizes (with something small for "everyone else"). You can also do prize ranges based on point totals (kind of like the tiered prizes offered at festival games).
- This particular tally sheet works for student players totaling multiples of 12 (12, 24, 36, etc.). With 12 students, you will need 3 tables, followed by 6 tables for 24 students, 9 tables for 36 students, etc. (four student players per table).
- If you have 6 or 9 tables going, randomly divide the class into color-coded teams. Print each team's tally card on colored copy paper.
- You will also need a score writer/question reader for each table. This job can be done by "extra" students, teachers, parents, etc. (Note: If the students are playing for prizes, be sure to offer good prizes to students who volunteer for this job.)
- Questions can be answered and scored different ways. (1) The "reader" can read the question, then have students slap the table, raise a hand, or ring a buzzer. The first correct answer gets the point for the question. (2) All students can have 15-20 seconds to write the answer to the question. The "reader" checks the answers and gives a point to each student with a correct answer.
- Each tournament lasts eleven rounds. If you instruct the students to do ten questions per round, each round should be done in about five minutes or less. This totals 55 minutes.
- To keep kids moving quickly, try ringing a bell. After 4:30, ring the bell and say, "Thirty seconds left." After 5:00, ring the bell and say, "Move onto round ___." The 5 minutes-per-round time limit will keep students focused because the kids will want a chance to earn all possible points for that round.
In this tournament, students have no choice regarding their partners. Each student on a 12-person team will have a chance to play with every other person on her/his team. This means, particularly if students play as partners at each table, no "two troublemakers" will be partners at the same table more than once. There is simply no time in this game for kids to drift off or become behaviorally inappropriate.
