Set is a near-perfect brain-engaging game for kids

Set is a near-perfect game for growing children’s brains without them knowing.

We run a weekly after-school program, where we teach new games to 10 kids. The rotation changes slightly each session, but Set has stayed a staple. Not every kid likes it, but most kids hit a moment where the game “clicks” and they score a few sets.

What is Set?

Set is a card game where players attempt to create sets of three cards from a grid of 12-15 communal cards. Each card has a set of shapes that have four attributes: shape type (oval, squiggle, diamond), color (red, green, purple), count (1, 2, 3), filling (filled, empty, lined).

To qualify as a set, all three cards must have each of those attributes matching each other or completely different (all red or all different colors; all 1 count or with each count; all empty or one of each filling type; all ovals or an oval, a squiggle, and a diamond).

It’s not necessarily an easy game to explain in text, and it’s not necessarily easy to explain with the cards, but I’ve taught it to kids as young as six, and after some trial and error, most kids will get it.

The game can be played with almost any number of players, which makes it well suited to family play. It is also possible to play “solo” with just the grid of cards and your mind.

What makes Set an ideal family game?

Set is a mind builder. It’s not teaching anything as concrete as math or reading, but it’s building all sorts of new pathways in your brain. As an adult, I can feel my brain struggling; it’s almost painful. For kids, it’s a great experience in slowly growing better at something.

Some people will start with an innate feel for the game. I’m not one of those people. They just click with the pattern matching aspect and find sets almost as fast as cards come out. I taught a 7-year old recently who grabbed almost half the cards in one game. Other kids will be a little slower. It takes a little time, but almost every kid I’ve taught has had a moment where it “clicks” for them.

More than anything else, waiting for this “click” moment is a great lesson in patience in education. Not everything will come easily. When it doesn’t, if you keep at it, eventually you can conquer anything you set out to learn. Set also teaches resiliency in learning. For the most part, I don’t stop kids from the pattern of “Set! No… wait… Set! No… that’s not right. Set! No…” It’s the repetition, the trial and error, that really helps lock in the lesson of perseverance.

In an age of immediate gratification, a game that kids want to play and work to be better at is better than almost any other lesson.

You’ll get there eventually. You’ll figure this out. Just give it time and practice. Often, that practice pays off in 5-10 minutes of gameplay.

One small note on gameplay with an unbalanced table: If you’ve got one kid that excels and one that is struggling, let the child that excels get a little lead, and then have them wait to find more and provide a very small hint. “I see one with all threes;” “I see one with all purple;” “I see one that’s all diamonds,” etc. It keeps them engaged while you let the other kids at the table work through the intricacies of the pattern matching.