Splashdown is designed to hone letter identification skills.

This is a game for two people. It uses a deck consisting of 30 cards, each containing 4 different lower case letters.

The deck is split between the two players. On the count of three, the players turn over their top cards. The first player to spot a letter match on the 2 cards slaps his/her card. If s/he can name the matching letter, the player takes those 2 cards as a “trick.” Many times, there will be no match when each player flips over the top card. They continue to flip onto this pile, so when a match is ultimately detected, there’s a bonanza of a win: the top cards plus all the accumulated cards underneath. The winner is the one with the most cards taken when all the cards have been played. It’s a quick game which leaves time for multiple rounds.

I’m sure there is a mathematical formula for determining optimal combinations of letters so that a match will be found in three flips on average. I have no idea what that is. Using trial and error, I’ve come up with cards which make the game interesting–where a match is found often enough, but not on every turn. Of course, if there are particular differences you’re trying to highlight, such as between b’s and d’s, t’s and f’s, n’s and u’s etc., you’ll have to tailor the letter combinations.

Letter Combinations

v, k, l, i                 d, o, r, p                k, u, z, l

e, r, y, f                e, q, f, m               j, q, o, t

a, y, m, x             t, h, s, c                 i, u, p, b

g, h, s, e               a, b, f, g                s, y, w, p

u, z, o, c               j, l, e, h                o, p, w, u

c, d, s, q               n, k, z, l                a, c, x, b

a, x, y, d               f, i, j, w                m, g, n, o

r, w, t, b              v, b, r, q               n, s, l, a

m, v, p, n             h, t, j, i                g, e, d, c

m, k, x, u             i, t, v, k               y, h, u, r