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Go Chemistry: A Card Game To Help Students Learn

Chemical Formulas
Todd A. Morris*
Department of Chemistry, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837, United States

bS Supporting Information
ABSTRACT: For beginning chemistry students, the basic tasks of
writing chemical formulas and naming covalent and ionic compounds
often pose difficulties and are only sufficiently grasped after extensive
practice with homework sets. An enjoyable card game that can replace
or, at least, complement nomenclature homework sets is described. “Go
Chemistry” is similar to the “Go Fish” card game in that students earn
points by using cards to correctly form the formulas of covalent and
ionic compounds and by subsequently providing the names of these
compounds. By playing the game, students practice identifying an
element or ion from its chemical symbol, categorizing elements as
either metals or nonmetals, determining whether elements will com-
bine to form ionic or covalent compounds, combining the cards in the
correct ratio for electrical neutrality for ionic compounds or valency for covalent compounds, and applying the nomenclature rules.
The difficulty of the game can be easily adjusted to match the course objectives and the knowledge level of the students.
KEYWORDS: First-Year Undergraduate/General, High School/Introductory Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Physical
Chemistry, Humor/Puzzles/Games, Covalent Bonding, Ionic Bonding, Nomenclature/Units/Symbols, Student-Centered Learning

T he incorporation of games in the chemistry classroom has

been well established as a novel method of helping students
learn and review material in a less formal, yet effective way.1 5
Pedagogical card games, in particular, are especially well suited
for this purpose because of their inherent adaptability for course
content and objectives.6 9 A card game called “Go Chemistry” in
which students earn points by using their cards to correctly form
the formulas and provide the names of covalent and ionic
compounds is described. By participating in the game, students
review how to identify an element or ion from its chemical
symbol, categorize elements as either metals or nonmetals, deter-
mine whether elements will combine to form ionic or covalent
compounds, combine elements or ions in the correct ratio for
electrical neutrality for ionic compounds or valency for covalent
compounds, and apply the appropriate rules for naming ionic or
covalent compounds. Once players are acquainted with the rules
and structure of the game, most games are finished in about
15 20 min.
’ GAME PREPARATIONS
Each group of 4 6 students uses one deck of cards. One side
of each card contains the chemical symbol and the rounded
formula weight of an element or polyatomic ion and the other
side of the card is blank. The cards can be printed on card stock
and cut to size. Alternatively, each card can be printed on office
paper, cut to size, and taped to one side of a blank index card.
Because the formula weight is the point value for correctly
playing the card, the formula weights have been rounded to
the nearest whole number to facilitate scoring. A deck list of
suggested elements and ions along with the recommended
number of cards for each element or ion, a template for generating
cards, a handout of the rules, and a scoring record for players are
given as Supporting Information.
’ RULES OF THE GAME
Before the first game begins, the role of dealer is determined
by each player drawing a card. The player with the card of lowest
value serves as the dealer for the first game. These cards are
discarded. The dealer will not compete in the game but will be
responsible for verifying the correctness of all responses. This
student may have access to his or her notes and textbook. The
player to the left of the dealer begins the game and play rotates to
the left. For subsequent games, the player to the previous dealer’s
left assumes the role of dealer.
The dealer deals each player seven cards face down. When it is
a player’s turn, he or she has three options. As option 1, the player
may combine two or more cards from the cards he or she is
holding to form the formula of a compound and provide its name.
If the dealer concludes that formula and name are both correct,
the player earns the number of points equal to the sum of the
formula weights appearing on the played cards. The player draws
Published: July 22, 2011

Copyright r 2011 American Chemical Society and

Division of Chemical Education, Inc. 1397 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed100661c | J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 1397–1399
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as many cards as he or she has played, and it is the next player’s
turn. If the formula is incorrect, the player earns zero points,
returns the cards to his or her hand, and it is the next player’s turn.
If the formula is correct but incorrectly named, another player
may earn 25 bonus points by correctly naming the formula of the
played cards. The person to the player’s left has the first
opportunity to correctly name the formula and receive the bonus
points. If this person cannot correctly name the formula, the
student to this person’s left has an opportunity and so on. If the
correct name is not given after all players have had a chance, the
dealer provides the correct name. Before play continues in this
third scenario, the player who played a correct formula but
incorrectly named it discards the played cards, draws an equal
number of cards from the deck and earns zero points for his or
her turn.
As option 2, if a player anticipates being able to complete a
formula by obtaining a particular card, he or she may ask one
other player for that card. If the asked player is holding the
requested card, then the card is surrendered to the asking player
who then may play a formula as in option 1. If the asked player
loses a card this way, he or she may immediately draw a card from
the deck to replace it. If the asking player unsuccessfully requests
a card, he or she may draw a card from the deck but may not play a
formula until his or her next turn.
As option 3, if a player feels that he or she needs more than one
particular card to play a formula, the player may discard any
number of his or her cards and then draw an equal number of
cards from the deck to replace them. The player, however, may
not play a formula until his or her next turn.
Play continues until one player has accumulated 500 points. A
piece of candy or extra credit may be awarded to the winning
student.
’ VARIATIONS
The difficulty or goals of the game can be easily adjusted by
changing the types of cards in the deck and the information
provided on the card. For example, the polyatomic ion cards
could be excluded from the deck if these ions have not been
discussed in class. As suggested here, only the transition metals
and polyatomic ions have their charges indicated. Including the
charges on the group 1 and 2 metals would lower the challenge.
On the other hand, the charges on the polyatomic ions could be
omitted to challenge the students to recall their specific charges.
In addition, the rules for correctly naming compounds could be
made more or less strict to match the level of the students. For
example, CuCl is properly named copper(I) chloride or cuprous
chloride. However, some instructors may accept “copper chloride”
as a correct name if it matches the course’s content and
objectives. The inclusion of wild cards is also an option for
playing the game. These cards are blank and may be used to
represent any element or ion in the formation of a compound
(analogous to blank tiles in the board game Scrabble) but have no
point value. The number of wild cards in the deck should be kept
low to maximize their impact on the game and the student’s joy
upon drawing them.
’ OTHER NOTES
To maintain a reasonable pace in a game, it is suggested to
not allow students use of their notes or textbook. However, a
periodic table could be made available. To assist the students
in asking for a particular card (as in option 2), each group
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should be given a deck list that shows the number of each type
of card present in the deck.
’ DISCUSSION
At least two other chemical formula card games have been
reported in this Journal.6,7 These games are similar to “Go
Chemistry” in that students compete by forming chemical
formulas with cards bearing the chemical symbols of elements
or ions. Players are awarded points based on the molar mass of
their played chemical formula7 or its complexity.6 In contrast,
players are awarded points in “Go Chemistry” by both correctly
forming and naming a chemical formula. This fundamental facet
of the game along with option 2 and the possibility of earning
bonus points (see option 1) help promote verbal interactions
among competing players. As a result, the game play remains
lighthearted and keeps the students actively engaged in learning
chemistry even if it is not their turn. In addition, the instructor
can easily determine if a particular group of competing players are
on task by listening to their conversations. Because the point
value for each formula is its approximate molar mass, the game
may also serve as an introduction or review of the concept and
calculation of molar mass.
Although a successful player must know the rules to form and
name compound formulas, winning a game of “Go Chemistry” is
also product of the student’s strategy and luck. One risky strategy
of play is to forego the playing of the most highly valued formula
possible and to save certain cards in the hopes of being able to
complete a higher valued formula later. For example, a player
holding a chlorine card, two sodium cards, and a phosphate card
may choose to not play NaCl for 58 points but save the two
sodium cards and hope to obtain another sodium card in order to
play the 164-point formula Na3PO4. Alternatively, a player may
choose to frequently utilize option 2 during his or her turn. As a
result, the player will collect more cards in his or her hand than
the other players. Although this strategy will improve his or her
chances of playing highly valued formulas, it is also carries with it
a high risk of earning zero points for a turn. Luck may also play a
significant role in the game. Similar to holding all vowels in Scrabble,
it is possible for a student to hold a bad hand (e.g., all metals) for a
time. The instructor should encourage the student in such a
situation to utilize option 2 (asking for the most common card that
will work) or option 3 to eventually play out of the predicament.
This game has received a generally positive response from
introductory chemistry students at two colleges. Although it
takes a half of a game or so for most students to understand the
objectives of the game, most report enjoying the game and
understanding compound formation and nomenclature better by
their participation. As an example of its effectiveness, several students
have asked to borrow the deck of cards as a study aid for the exam.
’ ASSOCIATED CONTENT
bS Supporting Information
A suggested deck list (of 104 cards); a scoring sheet for the
players to keep record of their points; a rules handout; and a
template for the creation of the cards. This material is available
via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.
’ AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail: todd.morris@bucknell.edu.
dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed100661c |J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 1397–1399
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1399 dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed100661c |J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 1397–1399