Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Region VI – Western Visayas
Schools Division of Iloilo
SCHOOLS DISTRICT OF MINA
Rizal Street, Mina East
Mina, Iloilo

HOW TO PLAY “DAMATH”

What Is Damath?

Damath is a two-player board game used to teach basic mathematical

operations to students. “Damath” comes from the words “dama” (which is the Filipino
version of the board game checkers) and “mathematics.”

Aside from enhancing students’ mathematical aptitude, Damath also develops their
critical thinking skills and sportsmanship. To play Damath, you need 24 chips with numbers
or mathematical expressions (e.g., fractions, whole numbers, radicals, polynomials, etc.)
written on them. You’re going to place these chips on the Damath board that consists of
64 black and white squares. Each white square has its corresponding mathematical
operation. To win the game, one must get the highest score by capturing his/her opponent’s
chips.

Materials Needed To Play Damath

1. Damath Board
The Damath board looks like your ordinary 8 x 8 checkerboard but with math
operations written on its white squares. Shown below is the standard Damath board.

The Damath board also has the numbers 0 to 7 written on its margins. These
numbers serve as the indicator for each square on the board. To indicate a square
from the Damath board, we read it in a (column, row) manner.
 For instance, the marked square in the Damath board below, which is located
in column 1 and row 2, is identified as (1, 2).

2. Damath Chips
The chips used in Damath look similar to the ones used in checkers. However,
Damath chips have numbers or mathematical expressions written on them.

3. One-Peso Coin
You will toss this to identify which player will move first.

4. Timer
You can use your mobile phone’s stopwatch as your game’s timer.

5. Damath Scoresheet
Damath competitions use standard score sheets to record and tally the
players’ scores. Shown below is an example of a Damath Scoresheet.
 How To Play Damath (Damath Rules and Mechanics)

1. Starting the Game

Position the chips in the damath board. The positioning of the chips depends on
the Damath variant you’re playing. For instance, if you’re playing counting Damath,
the standard positioning is shown below:

2. Moving the Chips

Players can only slide their chips forward to an empty white square adjacent
to it. Backward slides are not allowed unless the player captures an opponent’s chip.
For instance, blue chip #10 in the image below is allowed only to move in the white
squares indicated by the arrows.

 Players take turns in moving a chip. Passing a turn is not allowed.

 “Touch move” applies to this game. That is, once a player touches a chip during his/her
turn, he/she is now required to move it.

 Players have 60 seconds each turn to move a chip.

3. Capturing an Opponent’s Chip and Scoring

 To capture an opponent’s chip, the taker chip must “jump” over its opponent’s chip
diagonally and land on the empty white square adjacent to the opponent’s chip.
Capturing a chip can be made by “jumping” diagonally forward or backward.

 Denying a capture is not allowed.

 Once a taker chip captures its opponent’s chip, the taker obtains a score. The score is
calculated using the mathematical operation indicated in the white square where the
taker chip lands. The indicated operation will be used to the designated numbers in the
taker and captured chips.
4. Earning the “Dama” Chip
 The dama chip is an “upgraded” chip that gives a player an advantage by moving
through multiple squares.
 Once a player’s chip reaches the following squares of its opponent: (1, 0), (3, 0), (5, 0),
(7, 0), that chip becomes a “dama” chip. Meanwhile, if one of the opponent’s chips
reaches any of the following squares: (0, 7), (2, 7) (4, 7), (6, 7), then the opponent’s chip
becomes a “dama” chip.

 A dama chip can be moved by sliding diagonally forward or backward. It can be moved
in any empty square, provided there’s no chip blocking its way.
 Same as with an ordinary chip, the dama chip captures an opponent’s chip by jumping
over it diagonally. The mathematical operation indicated in the white square where it
lands must be used to the designated numbers of the dama chip and the captured chip
to calculate the score. However, the sum, difference, product, or quotient made by the
dama chip must be doubled.

 The score obtained is also doubled if an ordinary chip captures a dama chip or when a
dama chip captures another dama chip.

5. Concluding the Game

 The game ends after 20 minutes or if one player cannot move any of his/her chips
because it is “trapped.”

 The scores garnered by each player by capturing its opponent’s chips are added
together to obtain the final score. The numbers indicated in the remaining chips on the
board are also added to the final score. Note that the corresponding additional score is
doubled for the remaining dama chips.

 The player that garnered the highest final score wins the game.

Tips and Warnings

 Always aim to capture high-numbered chips for addition and multiplication. If you have
to “sacrifice” or lose a chip, minimize your opponent’s score by forcing him/her to land
in a subtraction or division square.
 Be careful in recording your scores in the Damath scoresheet. Game facilitators might
penalize you for incorrect entries.
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region VI – Western Visayas
Schools Division of Iloilo
SCHOOLS DISTRICT OF MINA
Rizal Street, Mina East
Mina, Iloilo

SCORE SHEET FOR “DAMATH”

PLAYER A (First to move) MOVE SCORE

NAME:

GRADE:

MOVE SCORE

Remaining
Chips (RC)
TOTAL
Remarks: Winner Loser
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
Region VI – Western Visayas
Schools Division of Iloilo
SCHOOLS DISTRICT OF MINA
Rizal Street, Mina East
Mina, Iloilo

SCORE SHEET FOR “DAMATH”

PLAYER B MOVE SCORE

NAME:

GRADE:

MOVE SCORE

Remaining
Chips (RC)
TOTAL

Remarks: Winner Loser