Grab the Dough

A Game of Skill
You will need about 250 small cubes or beads.

You are a baker making ten 400-gram loaves. You have just one minute to do it. We use cubes (or beads). Each cube represents 25 grams of dough. Your task is to make ten 400-gram portions (16 cubes) from the dough.

What to do

In one minute you have to try to make 10 equal piles containing 16 cubes each.

Will you have enough time in one minute to count all the cubes out? If not, you will have to estimate each pile of 16 cubes.

Scoring

You lose one point for every 25 grams (or cube) over or under the 400-gram weight (16 cubes).

Loaves which have not been attempted lose five points.

Total points lost = 27
Table 1 - One person's results at 'Grab the Dough'

Fines for Underweight Loaves
You are going to repeat the game. This time you are fined for 'underweight loaves'. Any pile which contains less than 16 cubes loses 10 extra points on top of those lost in the last game, so in Table 1, piles 1, 4 and 8 each lose an extra 10 points, making a total loss of 57 points.

Remember, a pile containing less than 16 cubes represents an underweight loaf.

If a baker produces underweight loaves, he may be taken to court and fined.

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