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Untangle
Introduction
In this activity, players solve a puzzle by untangling lines between circles. There are two versions of this game. The first has circles of one color, and the second has circles of two colors. The second version is intended to put players in situations where they need to coordinate and communicate if each is assigned one color of circles to move.
Grades: Second grade and above.
Funcioning level: Verbal, medium to higher level functioning.
Skills: Talking aloud in order to cooperatively solve the puzzle, fine motor skills, turn-taking
Materials: Multitouch tablet, untangle software

Description/Procedures

  1. Click the icon. Double click the Untangle icon.
  2. Choose version. In the first version, all the circles are the same color. This version is the most flexible and could be played by up to four players. In the second version, half of circles are pink, the other half is green. One player could be assigned one color, and a second player the second.
  3. Choose the level of difficulty. 10 circles is the easiest, 25 is the hardest.
  4. Play game. When a line crosses another, the two nodes are tangled, and a red triangle appears at the crossing. It is the task of the players to untangle the nodes so that none of the lines cross and the red triangles disappear.
  5. End game. The game end screen will appear when all the circles have been untangled and there are no crossing lines.
  6. Exit the program by pressing the Esc key.

Hints
-Wiggle a circle to see which two circles it is connected to.
-Move the circles to the edges of the screen to see where the line crossings are occurring.
-Remind children to speak to each other about strategy. In the two color version, a child who wants to move a circle that is not theirs should verbally ask their peer to move the circle.


This is the initial menu.


This is the beginning of a game.


This is the end of a game.


Questions? Contact Prof. Juan Pablo Hourcade at juanpablo-hourcade@uiowa.edu.