One of the many things that makes our Adult Day Health Care service so special is how program staff creatively engage and brighten participants’ days no matter what memory issue or physical limitation they might have. This creativity was recognized recently by Creative Forecasting magazine, a trade publication for recreation therapists.

Arlene Williams, a program assistant at our Lewinsville Center, submitted her original game, the “Lucky Eight Game,” to a contest at the magazine – and won. The Lucky Eight Game helps engage the decision making and math skills of participants, and also gets them talking, laughing and enjoying one another’s company.

“The ‘Lucky Eight Game’ is a favorite among our participants. It really helps them flex their cognitive muscles. Our participants come from a generation where board games and card games were common staples at the kitchen table with friends and family, so it also helps ground our participants in something familiar. We’re really proud of Arlene for developing this creative game, and the recognition she received from Creative Forecasting,” said Karen McKeon, Recreation Therapist at Lewinsville Adult Day Health Care and Arlene’s supervisor. 

You can play the ‘Lucky Eight Game’ too! Here are the directions:

LUCKY EIGHT GAME 

Created by Arlene Williams, Program Assistant, Lewinsville Adult Day Health Care Center
Recognized in Creative Forecasting magazine, September 2019 

“I developed this small group game for the participants at Lewinsville Adult Day Health Care. The Lucky Eight Game helps enhance decision making, counting and basic math skills. Feel free to adapt it, as needed.” – Arlene Williams

Objective: The object of the game is to be the first player to have exactly one dollar left. 
 

Supplies: 

• Game boards (Each game board is a different color with printed numbers 1 - 8 on a sentence strip) 
• 4 sets of cards, each set numbered sequentially 1 through 8 (for a total of 32 cards) 
• 8 one dollar bills for each player (you can copy and laminate one dollar bills) 
• 1 poker chip per player 
• Optional prizes for the winners 

How to Play and Rules: 
Each player chooses a game board and is given one poker chip and eight one dollar bills. Mix or shuffle the number cards and stack them face down in a pile. Designate a place to keep the discarded card pile. Also, find a place in the middle of the table for the "pot" to place the discarded one dollar bills. At the beginning of each round, every player chooses a number from his or her game board and places a poker chip on it. Decide which player will go first. For a person's turn, the player draws the top number card from the deck and then determines the difference between the number drawn and the number he or she selected on the game board. The player puts in the pot that number of dollar bills equal to the difference and puts the number card in the discard pile. If the number card equals the number selected on the game board, he or she does not have to put any money in the pot that round. 

Examples:

• If the player puts a poker chip on the number 5 on his or her game board and draws a number 4 card, one dollar goes into the pot.
• If the player draws a number 8 card and has a poker chip on the number 2 on his or her game board, six dollars goes into the pot. 

After each round, give the players an opportunity to select a different number on their game boards and to share how many dollar bills they have remaining. If at any point in the game a player loses all of his or her money, he or she is out of the game. The game continues until one of the players has exactly one dollar left. In the event that all players lose their money before a player ends up with one dollar, the last player to have lost money wins. If desired, award the winner of each round a prize.

Have fun!