Tetra

Tetra - Plays similar to Yahtzee, fun-shaped pieces to manipulate.

In the box: 1 score pad, 8 plastic tetra pieces

I had never heard of Tetra before today. I picked it up second-hand and my mother-in-law promptly beat me at two games, after which I excused myself to "go blog about it".

Tetra is a fun game that is similar to Yahtzee, except that it uses different pieces to throw than dice. As the name implies, each piece has four sides and four colored balls that look like a group of atoms. The pieces are identical and the four colors are red, green, blue and yellow. They are made of plastic and on each turn you will throw all eight of them. It is a handful for me and I usually held them in one hand and cupped the other hand over the top to shake.

  
The score pad is very similar to the Yahtzee score pad with a few unique differences. 
 

Score pad.

Object:
Have the highest score at the end of the game.
 
Set Up:
Place the eight tetras in the playing area. Give each person a sheet from a score pad.

Play:
You will play one column per game. At the top of the score pad you will see game 1, game 2, etc. Each player gets up to three throws per turn. Throw all eight pieces. Sort the pieces by color, depending on the top circle of each Tetra that is thrown. For instance, in the picture above, there are two greens, two blues, two yellows and two reds. Look at the score pad and decide what you will try for (four of one color, two of each color, etc.). Throw up to three times to try and get what you are looking for. Leave out any of the pieces that are already what you want and throw the rest. Change your mind if you want and try for something else depending what comes up on subsequent throws. At the end of your three throws (or sooner if you get what you want) you must either enter a score on the pad for a level that you have achieved, or cross off one of the boxes if you were not able to throw a combination that you needed. All players will end the game on the same round. The person with the largest score is the winner.

If you would like to read more about games that require writing or drawing in some form, check out my post Games That Require a Writing Tool.

Try this:

• Make a copy of an unused score sheet before you run out them. I don't think you can buy just the score pads and it is different from Yahtzee (which you can buy separately).
• Hold the number of pieces in one hand that you need for a challenge, such as a full house. See if you can bring them to your fingertips, one at a time, and place them upright how you need them on the table top. If eight is too many, start with fewer and work your way up.
• Pick them off the table to throw by picking them up one at a time and squirreling them in the palm. Then shake and throw.
• Cup your hand and separate your fingers so you can hold them all in one hand. Carefully shake without dropping any. Continue to cup your hand each time you pick up the pieces and shake to throw.
• Cup both hands, one on top of the other while shaking.
• Set a timer for a half minute and throw as many times as you want instead of stopping at three throws. 
• Keep a calculator handy if you are not good at mental math.
• Work on visual discrimination, manual dexterity, palmar arch development, in-hand manipulation, writing tool use, practice writing in limited area, socialization skills, process skills, executive functioning skills, play and leisure participation and exploration