Hercules J. Isadore... IS... The Majestic Mathuno!

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It's ironic because I loved Snapple. Used to drink it all the time...

but more so...

...

You look at the blue five on the table before you. Lay your red one card on top of it. Then lay the Yellow six card on top of it. 5 ---} 1 ---} 6. And you say out loud: "Five plus one equals six." The colors are irrelevant. Now you have played two cards. And you one step closer to losing all your cards and thereby winning, than you would have been had you lazily set down your five or blue card.

But you can do better than that with this hand. (Hand: (1) Green five. (2) Blue two. (3) Red one. (4) Yellow six, (5) zero, (6) four, (7) Draw two. And a blue five on the table.)

Look at the 5. Slap down your four. Then slap down the two, and then the zero.

And you say: "Five times four equals twenty!"

Not bad you just got rid of three cards. Now another player leans forward to play a card or card set, but you extend a hand to stop him say. "Sorry folks... I'm not done yet," you say majestically.

And no... indeed you're not. -flip to-...-flip fro-

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It's a snapple bottle. A glass snapple bottle he wants me to tell him he won't break over my head.

... Wants me to tell him he won't, so that he can. Ironic. I'll get to how so in a minute.

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The rules were... I am proud to boast: as simple as they were inspired. None of that ridiculous number or color stacking, the kids like to play with. The only stacking is through math.

Say a blue five was laid down. And you had these cards in your hand.

(1) Green five. (2) Blue two. (3) Red one. (4) Yellow six, (5) zero, (6) four, (7) Draw two.

Like in any Uno game you could lay the green five, on top of it matching the number. Thereby losing one card. Or you could play your blue two, thereby matching the color, and lose a card that way.

But if you want to win at Math Uno. Playing like that won't do you any good at all. To win at Math Uno you've gotta stack like mad, using creative mathematics. Here's a simple mathematical example: -flip to-...-flip fro-

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"You think that's funny Mothafucka!!! Say I won't hit you with this bottle!!! Say I won't do it!!!"

This is what I have to put up with.

Chapter 1
BEFORE YOU PLAY THE GAME

It all began with a simple game. I created the first version of it for my students. At that time it was just a simple variation on Uno entitled: "Math Uno" It took off pretty quickly. The students would rather play Uno (even if it involved some math) to avoid their usual workload, and I'd rather play Uno with them then try and force said workload on them. With this in mind, Math Uno satisfied all parties involved.

You must be thinking at this point that I must've been a pretty lousy teacher. To have to bribe my students to half-assedly learn math through a card game, rather than the old fashioned way. So I'll mention at this point: the fact that I was amongst the most pitiable animals in the universe: a sub. Getting through to the students was not an option. I needed something to get through the day without strangling a small child. And Math Uno was it. -flip to-