Estimation Game
May 6th, 2005
A Java game that pits you against the clock in a game of estimating. Estimation is something people get into a pickle about so a quick burst of this as a warm up in an IT room might get students more ready to make quick guesses. The Java game sometimes gives problems like 567 + 2, but most of the time, they are three full digits in the 100s.
What I like about the game is the combination of working against the clock and being as accurate as possible – the points depend on both. This feature of the game play may lead to reflection on the best calculation strategy for a given purpose – e.g. in a meeting, it might be important simply to know if the total cost of some project is 1000 or 2000, but later, precise costs will have to be recorded.