My solution is to cut out all but the essential parts: the deck of "Like Terms" cards, having students create groups of 3-4 like terms, and adding or subtracting them (simplifying) when the game is over.
Simplified Rules for Like Terms
- Deal 7 cards.
- Players lay out their hand face up in front of them for all to see and arrange them into groups of like terms.
- Each player draws one card and tries to make a set of 3-4 like terms.
- Repeat until one player has a group of complete sets.
- The winner adds all of their terms together, but the losers add complete sets and subtract incomplete ones.
- "Killer" cards - Add cards that don't have any like terms in the rest of the deck, essentially ending a player's chances of winning since you can't complete a set. Maybe there's two like terms, but a third or fourth matching card doesn't exist (i.e. z2, x2y2, a4, etc)
- Skip, reverse and wild cards - My students may not know rummy, but they do know Uno, so you could add these to the deck as well.
- "Steal" cards - Action cards that allow players to steal one card from any other player that they need to complete a group, making the game a bit more competitive.
If you have tried the original Like Terms card game in class or try out this new version, please email me or leave a comment. I want to continually improve the ideas posted on this site and I need your feedback to help me and the other teachers reading teachforever.com!