Treasure Hunt Game

What Is This About?

Computers look at lists of things.
Letters. Words. Or steps in a program.

Computers use a helper for this.
It is called a finite-state automaton.
That is a big name.
It just means: "follow steps, one at a time."

We will play a game like this.
Our game uses treasure maps!

What You Need

• Island cards
• A worksheet with a map
• A pen or pencil

The Story

You want to find Treasure Island.

Pirate ships sail between islands.
Each island has two ships.
Ship A. Ship B.
You pick one ship each time.

The island tells you where the ship goes.
You do not have a full map yet.
You must make your own map.
Draw it as you go.

Let's Try It Together

First, we look at three islands.
Pirates' Island. Shipwreck Bay. Dead Man's Island.

Start at Pirates' Island.
Ask for Ship A.
You go to Shipwreck Bay.
Draw this on your map.

At Shipwreck Bay, ask for Ship A again.
You go back to Pirates' Island.
Draw this too.

Now ask for Ship B.
You go to Dead Man's Island.
No ships leave from there!
You are stuck.

The Real Game

Pick 7 children to be islands.
Each child holds a card.
The card names their island.
The back has a secret ship rule.

Spread the children around the room.

Other children get a blank map.
They start at Pirates' Island.
They pick Ship A or Ship B each time.
They draw their path.
They try to reach Treasure Island.

Send children one at a time.
This keeps the paths a secret.

Try this: Can you find more than one path?

Talk About It

What is the fastest path?
What is a very slow path?

Some paths go in loops.
A loop means you go around again.
Can you find a loop?

Another Way to Draw a Map

Islands can be circles.
Treasure Island gets a double circle.

Ship A and Ship B are arrows.
The arrows connect the islands.

Different maps have different rules.
Some maps need an odd number of A's.
Some maps need A and B to switch back and forth.
Some maps just need one B, somewhere.

Make Your Own Map

Try drawing your own island map.
Make your own cards too.

Give a friend a list of A's and B's.
Can they find the right island?

You can even make words instead of islands!
Pick a path. Collect the words you pass.
This makes a sentence.
Try making a funny story this way!

The Mystery Coin Game

Some friends played a coin-flip game online.
A robot flipped a coin.
They guessed heads or tails.

At first, it looked fair.
Heads or tails. 50/50, right?

But then, they noticed something strange.
The coin flips seemed to follow a pattern!
Was the game tricking them?

They wrote down many flips.
They tried to find the pattern.

There is a simple map for this pattern.
It only needs 4 islands.
Can you find it?

Hint: Look at pairs of flips.
The first two flips in every group of three match!

Where Do We See This in Real Life?

Phone menus. "Press 1 for this. Press 2 for that."
Your button presses move you through steps.
Sometimes the steps loop and loop.
That is an error. It is annoying!

Cash machines. You press buttons.
The machine moves through steps.
Each step can do something.
Give cash. Print a paper. Give back your card.

Talking computers. Long ago, a program called "Eliza" was made.
It talked like a doctor.
It asked things like "Tell me about your family."
It didn't really understand.
But some people thought it was a real person!

Computer programs. Computers read program instructions.
They use these same kinds of steps.
This helps them understand what to do.