We have been set fans for over 20 years! Here's a house rule we use when playing with people of multiple ages. Each set has a "difficulty factor," which is determined by how many traits are different. A set can have one, two, three, or all four attributes different--this translates into difficulty factors of 1, 2, 3, or 4. When playing with the whole family, only young children are allowed to claim sets of difficulty 1 (or higher, of course). Older children can claim sets of difficulty 2-4, while teens & adults can claim only level 3 or 4 sets. As a result, it often happens there is a set on the table, but only the youngest player is allowed to claim it (while the rest of the family is forced to wait until he does). This is a great equalizer, as sets that have more similarities are generally easier to spot. And older players have the added task of determining a set's difficulty before claiming it. (Love your A&P videos, BTW! Thanks for helping your fellow A&P teachers!)
Hey Lisa, thanks for the comment! I really like the rule you described. I'll have to try that next time we play. It would definitely make my brain work a little harder trying to determine the difficulty factor of a set. We'll have to definitely restrict my brother-in-law Jim to just difficulty 4 sets, haha! Glad you find the A&P videos helpful!
In the example at 2:30 there are 2 commonalities ( same colour same number ) then 2 factors that are not in common (shape and shading) - this seems to be at odds with the instructions rule of 3 etc ?
No, each attribute has to be all the same or all different. It could be that two attributes are all same and two attributes are all different…that would still be a match.
We have been set fans for over 20 years! Here's a house rule we use when playing with people of multiple ages. Each set has a "difficulty factor," which is determined by how many traits are different. A set can have one, two, three, or all four attributes different--this translates into difficulty factors of 1, 2, 3, or 4. When playing with the whole family, only young children are allowed to claim sets of difficulty 1 (or higher, of course). Older children can claim sets of difficulty 2-4, while teens & adults can claim only level 3 or 4 sets. As a result, it often happens there is a set on the table, but only the youngest player is allowed to claim it (while the rest of the family is forced to wait until he does). This is a great equalizer, as sets that have more similarities are generally easier to spot. And older players have the added task of determining a set's difficulty before claiming it. (Love your A&P videos, BTW! Thanks for helping your fellow A&P teachers!)
Hey Lisa, thanks for the comment!
I really like the rule you described. I'll have to try that next time we play. It would definitely make my brain work a little harder trying to determine the difficulty factor of a set. We'll have to definitely restrict my brother-in-law Jim to just difficulty 4 sets, haha!
Glad you find the A&P videos helpful!
I like the new rules! Some players find a set in seconds; this rule will slow them down
5:52 These three cards form a set, don't they?
1 outlined purple diamond
3 filled red squiggles
2 striped green ovals
Yep, they do!
Actually when you said, there is no more sets, there was one more set!!!!
5:07: about time, that trivial one was already there from the beginning! You should not have reached 15 cards before!
In the example at 2:30 there are 2 commonalities ( same colour same number ) then 2 factors that are not in common (shape and shading) - this seems to be at odds with the instructions rule of 3 etc ?
No, each attribute has to be all the same or all different. It could be that two attributes are all same and two attributes are all different…that would still be a match.