Educational Value of “Link Five” the game...

Every educator that has played it agrees that “Link Five” is in fact the equivalent of a textbook that teaches Logical and Abstract thinking to school age children, as well as, Teamwork due to the way our game leagues are run. Link Five, the game, is Exercise for the mind that encourages Concentration. It’s the only educational tool that kids fight to use.

The board game brings back the person-to-person contact rapidly diminishing from our society. The game designed for today’s generation; plays fast and generates instant gratification.

Practically 100% of all that play it once, love the game, regardless of the demographics. Educators agree that children must first learn how to think before instructed on any subject.

When referring to schools, “Link Five”, the game must be seen in a different perspective. The game although an incredibly effective tool which promotes the abstract and logical thinking process, is also fun and entertaining. This serves as an incentive for the student to learn as they feel they are having fun and not performing a scholastic task.

“Link Five”, the game is nothing short of Exercise for the mind. Children still in the developmental stages of thought process, enjoy the game competition as they learn or practice Logical & Abstract Thought, Concentration and Teamwork. Parents who are concerned about the development and education of their children, value and appreciate “Link Five”.

Logical Thought...

The “Link Five” game board consists of 81colored blocks. The majority of them have as many as 8 surrounding blocks or directions in which chains can be created. This means that you must create a grids work of connections to prevent the opponent from blocking your winning strategy. The number of possible grids is endless. In order to create these grids, a systematic, methodical and consistent way of reasoning is required. Decisions as to what block you should select to obstruct the progress of the opponent or to advance the winning strategy, must follow a valid method of deductive reasoning based on the opponent’s grid of connections and your strategy along with possible future selections available and the number where both players are at. The rules described above, are basically the definition of logic.

Abstract Thought...

The “Link Five” game board although appears to be two dimensional is in fact, a three dimensional game due to the number value of the blocks. This transformation occurs in the minds of the players. Since opponents must anticipate moves, the players visualize what in fact, is not there.

Concentration...

The “Link Five” game board has 282,429,536,481 possible sequences, making it impossible for a participant to play the same game twice. With every match played, concentration plays a determining key factor in winning. Concentration is practiced with every match. “Concentration is the eternal secret of every mortal achievement.” (Stefan Zweig, 1881-1942 Austrian)

Teamwork...

Students must be treated individually in order to judge their separate abilities and accomplishments. Other than the students who play organized sports, which are a low percentage of the entire student body, teamwork in today’s school system does not receive much attention. Educators are aware that teamwork plays a major role in life unfortunately, due to the lack of tools given teachers they are unable to put forth more effort into instilling teamwork to their students.

The “Link Five” Leagues are played in two person teams. The teams win by the total of points accumulated by the team in matches. The teammate serves as a coach supporting the player. This makes team practice extremely valuable. These competitions facilitate students in learning how to think.

There is no task in life, including good jobs or academic subjects studied in schools, that do not require the ability to break down problems, anticipate how something is going to look or function?

We know that “Link Five” is not the only game that may help to improve the ability of a child to think logically or abstractly. Chess can also accomplish it. So a good question would be, do people that play chess, play chess because they are intelligent or are they intelligent because they play chess?

The problem with chess is that it was invented 6000 years ago, when there was no effort to be inclusive, no one cared if it was liked by everyone or if it could be taught to very young children of average or even below average intelligence, so that their intelligence could improve.

“Link Five” can be taught to children who are in the first grade, learned by every kid, plays fast and it‘s exciting. In addition it helps with four traits that help individuals throughout life, Logical & Abstract Thought, Concentration and Teamwork.

All these points describe the magic of the game and allow us to create Special Relationships with schools. Everyday more and more schools are adding “Link Five” to the tools that educators need to advance the Human mind to the levels of today’s technology.

According to the above report, in 2001 young adults 18 to 24 years old NOT enrolled in school and NOT high school graduates averaged 13.5 percent nationally.

What would it be like if “Link Five” would have been around 30 years ago?

		Our main venues are schools. Link Five’s education value is that it teaches children Logical & Abstract Thinking, Concentration and Teamwork. The most important fact about our program is that it is Free to the School. The sponsors will pay for everything. They will be rewarded with advertising in the Full Color Link Five Magazines produced for each individual school. (Click on the image to see a larger and full version of a Magazine.) See Details about the “Link Five” School Affiliation Program.