Print it at home, put it in a folder, hand it over

Print the whole pack

Everything is on this page already, in the order it goes in the folder. Press the button, and the only scissors work is thirteen cuts at the kitchen table.

A4 black and white single sided the full pack

How much cutting, honestly

What comes out	Cutting	What you do with it
The round cards 36 pages, four cards a page	None at all	These are his reading sheets. He holds them, the students never touch them. Straight into a display book as they come out. Cutting 144 cards out would be over a hundred cuts and would gain him nothing.
The crew role cards one page per crew	2 cuts a page	Four cards in a square. One cut down the middle, one across, and that crew has its set. Six crews is 12 cuts, about four minutes with kitchen scissors.
The Bank card and the bet card one page, printed once	1 cut	Two cards side by side. One cut down the middle.
His pocket card, the ladder, the script, the note	None	Each is already its own A4 page. The pocket card can be trimmed if you want it to fit a shirt pocket, and it works folded in half just as well.

The whole job

Two cuts per crew, plus one. Six crews comes to thirteen cuts. Four crews comes to nine. Everything else goes into the folder as it comes out of the tray, and the whole job is one sitting at the kitchen table.

Print the role page more than once

The role cards page is a set for one crew. Print that page as many times as there are crews, six is plenty. Everything else in the pack is a single copy.

Single sided, and here is why

Cutting a double sided sheet destroys whatever is on the back of it, so the two pages you cut have to come out on their own sheets. If you want to save paper, print those two single sided and set the round cards to double sided on a second pass.

The seven page version

If 43 pages is more than you want to run off, print only the first seven: his pocket card, the role cards, the Bank and bet cards, the ladder, the script and the note. He then runs the questions off the screen and never needs the other 36. That is the whole system on seven sheets.

If you would rather not cut anything at all

Skip the role cards entirely. He writes SPEAKER, SCRIBE and CHALLENGER on the board and says the names out loud each round. The cards make it easier and the game runs fine without them.

1. The card for your pocket

Cut it out if you like. The whole game is on it.

STAKESYears 7–9 · field card

CALL. Read the topic only. Never the question.
STAKE. Fingers up: 1, 3 or 5. Say each crew's number out loud. Locked once shown.
WORK. Two to three minutes. Each crew hears only the question at the level they took.
CALL IT. Speaker answers. Right wins the stake. Wrong is minus 1, never the whole stake.
STEAL. A crew that got theirs right may take a wrong crew's question for plus 1. Challengers only.

Roles, rotate each round SPEAKER answers.
SCRIBE writes.
CHALLENGER calls steals and disputes.
Out of role is minus 1 to that crew.

Last Call, final round Bet anything up to your total.
Written down, not fingers.
One question. Then the bell.

If it stalls Loud room, stop counting and stand still: "Stakes are closed. No round."
Student who will not join a crew: "You are the Bank. Up the front."
Crew miles ahead: run The Chain, five in a row, everyone answers, worth 15.
Out of cards: run Blind Stake. You read the answer, they build the question.

Say it like this "Topic is ______. Stake now. Fingers up."
"Crew 2, five. Brave."
"No. Minus one. Anyone who got theirs right can steal it."
"Last Call. Bet anything you have got. Write it down."

2. Crew role cards

One set for one crew. Print this page once per crew. Two cuts: down the middle, then across.

Print once per crew · cut down the middle, then across · two cuts

SPEAKER

The only one who answers

You give the crew's answer out loud. Nobody else in your crew talks to the teacher this round.

If someone else answers, your crew loses a point.

SCRIBE

The only one who writes

You do any working out on paper and you write the crew's bet in the Last Call.

One pencil for the whole crew. That is enough.

CHALLENGER

The only one who argues

You call a steal when another crew gets it wrong, and you are the only one who can dispute a ruling.

One sentence. Then the ruling stands.

CREW

Everyone else

You work out the answer and you tell the Speaker. You do not tell the teacher.

Cards move one seat clockwise every round.

2b. The Bank card and the bet card

Print once. One cut down the middle.

Print once · one cut down the middle

THE BANK

Not in a crew

You keep the score on the board and you rule on any dispute between two crews.

This is the job for the student who will not join a crew. It is the only job in the room with power over other people.

Your ruling stands, even against the teacher.

THE BET

Stick this on the wall

1 safe · 3 fair · 5 steep

Right wins what you bet. Wrong costs one point, whatever you bet.

You bet before you hear the question.

3. The term ladder

One per class. One line per lesson.

SCHOOL ______________________ CLASS ______________ TERM ______

Date	Crew ____	Crew ____	Crew ____	Crew ____	Crew ____	Crew ____	Mode












TOTAL

Modes: Stakes · Grid · Last One Standing · Blind Stake · Chain · Build

4. What to say, the first time

Before the bell. Write this on the board, big, before anyone sits down.

STAKES CREW 1 CREW 2 CREW 3 CREW 4 CREW 5 CREW 6 1 = safe 3 = fair 5 = steep

At the door. Do not wait for silence. Normal speaking voice.

"Right. Bags down. We are playing today, and it counts." "Sit where you are. You do not need to move."

Crews. Use the seating that already exists. Cut the room into fours and fives with your hand.

"You four are a crew. You five, crew. You lot, crew." "Ten seconds. Pick a crew name. Nothing I would have to explain to a deputy principal."

Take the names as they are shouted and write them up. If a name is a problem, say "No. Next one." and keep writing. Do not stall.

The whole explanation. Three sentences. Do not add to it.

"I give you a topic. Before you hear the question, your crew bets 1, 3 or 5 on your fingers." "Get it right, you win what you bet. Get it wrong, you lose one point. Only one." "One person per crew answers. Everyone else talks to them, not to me."

Round one. Pick a 1-pointer they can all do. Point at each crew and say their number out loud.

"Topic is ______. Stake now. Fingers up." "Crew 1 says three. Crew 2, five, brave. Crew 3, one. Right."

Scoring it. Fast. Speed is the whole thing.

"Crew 3, you took a one. Answer?" "Correct. One point. On the board." "Crew 2, you took a five. Answer?" "No. Minus one. Anyone who got theirs right can steal it for a bonus. Hands."

At the bell, while they pack up.

"Crew 4 finishes on top. Those numbers stay. Next time I have you, we pick up from there."

The three things that will go wrong. Everyone stakes 5 at first, so let them lose twice and they will start thinking about it. One crew shouts every answer, so say "That is not your Speaker. Minus one, Crew 4" and write it. One student refuses to join a crew, so say "You are the Bank. Come up the front, you keep the score and you rule on disputes." That is a promotion, and it is the only job in the room with power over other people.

5. The note you leave behind

If a head teacher walks in, say this in a normal voice and keep the round running.

"Structured group work on [topic]. They choose their own level of challenge and commit to it before they see the question."

For the regular teacher, two or three lines, left where they left the work for you.

[Class] [Date] [Period] Set work: [what you did with it, honestly] Also ran: STAKES, [topic], 4 rounds. Outcome [code]. Crews and scores are on the sheet in the folder. Worked well: [name a student who did well, by name] Watch: [one behaviour thing, flat and factual, no adjectives] [Your name]

Say what happened to the set work first, even if the class never touched it. Name one student who did well, by name. Keep the behaviour line factual, with no opinions about the student. And never write anything you have not already reported through the school's own process.

The one thing not to do: never run the game instead of set work that is being assessed. If the regular teacher left a test or a task going into a report, that comes first and the game fills whatever time is left.

6. The round cards

All six subjects. The answers are on every card, so you never need to know the subject beforehand.