What is Gerrymandering?

Gerrymandering is the dividing of a state, county, or other region into election districts so as to give one political party a majority in many districts while concentrating the voting strength of the other party into as few districts as possible.

Teach Gerrymandering to Students of Age 12 and Up

The Distrix Puzzle Book is an excellent resource for middle school, high school, and university instructors looking for new ways to connect with math and social studies students.  The puzzles are easy to understand, allowing students to get started in minutes with no prior puzzle solving experience.  Most puzzles have multiple solutions, so there are opportunities for classroom discussion about different answers.  Unlike most puzzles, solutions are found using a guess-and-check method.  This levels the playing field, allowing weaker students to get involved and shine.  Click here to place an order.

The following Distrix expansion games* are also excellent classroom tools:

• In the game Divide & Conquer, students compete under time constraints to see who can best gerrymander the 9 election districts in Matrixland.  During the game, students see how the same region can be rigged in favor of Red or Blue.  This one-hour game is for 2 or more players, each of whom has Distrix or Distrix Set B.
• In the game Fair Maps, students compete under time constraints to see who can create the fairest set of 9 election districts in Matrixland.  The game shows that it's possible to make fair maps that equalize the advantage of Red and Blue.  This 30-minute game is for 2 or more players, each of whom has Distrix or Distrix Set B.

* Instructions for all expansion games are contained in the Distrix Expansion Games booklet which is sold separately.  
   Expansion game instructions are not included in Distrix or Distrix Set B.

Discounts are available for purchases of 10 or more games + books for educational purposes.  Email us at [email protected] to request an educational discount.