24 Game - Strategy

Strategy

Mental arithmetic and fast thinking are necessary skills for competitive play. Pencil and paper will slow down a player, and are generally not allowed during play anyway.

There are four-card "hands" when played with a standard 52-card deck. It is impossible to make 24 with some of these, for example 1,1,1,1 while others can be difficult, such as 3,3,8,8: (8/(3-(8/3))=24).

With practice, the ability to spot useful patterns increases. These typically target pairs of factors (2 × 12, 3 × 8, 4 × 6), obvious pairs of summands (6 + 18, 8 + 16, and 10 + 14 appear often) or combinations of these involving the number 1 such as:

The number 1 (or Ace) is also useful as a throwaway card. Since a number times 1 (or divided by 1) is itself, a solution in which only three digits are needed to create 24 is possible by multiplying the 1 by any of the remaining cards. If a 1 is not provided on the card, two numbers may be subtracted (such as 8-7) or divided (6/6) to make a 1.

Possible solutions can be found on the back of 24 Game deck boxes.