Students build and iteratively improve their team's tactics with IF/THEN rules, watch their team
get better, and compete in a class cup. A project of flexible length: you decide how far to take it.
🗓 Flexible length👦 Ages 10–14💻 Browser, nothing to install🆓 Free · no student email
In Tactics, students don't control the players — they program them with
IF (condition) THEN (action) rules. The heart of the project is the loop: test → watch the replay →
improve a rule → test again. Students literally see their team play better as their logic gets better, and
when the teams are ready the class cup begins.
The angle: this is not learning a programming language (no typing, no syntax to
memorize). It trains the foundation coding is built on — logical thinking — so that any language is
learned quickly afterwards. Removing syntax is on purpose: students focus on the logic, with no syntax errors to
frustrate them.
What students learn
Conditionals: IF (condition) THEN (action).
Boolean logic: And / Or / Not when combining conditions.
Rule order / priority: the first rule that matches wins — changing the order changes the behaviour.
Debugging & iteration: watch the replay and use the inspector ("why did it do that?"), form a hypothesis, change one thing, test the result.
What you need
One device per student or per group (phone, tablet or laptop with a browser).
Your teacher account with a verified email (only the teacher needs this, to create the cup). When you create it, leave "I'm playing too" unchecked to just manage (no team to build).
A few minutes to create the cup and note the code.
Students sign in without email: just a username, a password and the code.
How to organise the class: individual or in groups
The cup is a round-robin (everyone plays everyone), so the number of matches grows fast with the number
of teams. To keep the tournament manageable, aim for few teams (6–10).
Teams in the cup
Matches (round-robin)
4
6
6
15
8
28
10
45
Individual mode (1 team per student): best for small classes (≈6–10) or independent students.
Group mode (3–4 students share a team): best for large classes and for teamwork. Each group uses one
account/login and collaborates on the tactics. Fewer teams = a playable tournament.
Limits: max 10 participants per cup; a student can be in up to 5 cups. If your class is over 10
(individual mode), create several cups. Rule of thumb: aim for 6–10 teams per cup (a class of 30 in group mode
≈ 8 groups = a perfect tournament).
The project in three phases
Phase 1 · Get started (≈ 1 session)
Goal: every student/group creates their team and sees it play for the first time.
On the board, introduce the idea: "You don't move the players — you write their instructions." Teach IF (condition)
THEN (action) with a football example. Ask the hook question: "Does the order of the rules matter?"
Students sign up with username + password + cup code (no email), create a team (7 players) and position them.
On creation the team already comes with a base tactic assigned to all 7, so it can play from
the very first moment.
They run an Autotest against a system team, watch the replay and read that base tactic together:
what does each rule do? That's the starting point for improving it in Phase 2.
Phase 2 · Improve — the heart of the project (1+ sessions)
This is where the learning happens, and it can span several classes. Students repeat the loop:
test → watch the replay and the inspector (why?) → find the weakness → change a rule or its order → test again
Give milestone challenges so progress is visible and motivating:
Make the striker shoot only when in range; otherwise advance.
Add a goalkeeper with a different tactic.
Add passing when a teammate is ahead.
Manage energy: don't run non-stop (running tires the player and slows it down).
Give each player a role-specific tactic.
Beat the medium, then the hard system team.
To test, they run an Autotest: against themselves (their team versus an identical copy) or against
one of the system test teams (increasing difficulty). They can also challenge each other in friendly matches,
refining their logic each time.
Phase 3 · The cup (when teams are ready)
Once all teams are ready, press Start. Everyone is already in it (they joined with
the code). You can launch the matches yourself from the projector, or let each student launch theirs; the
standings update automatically. At the end a champion is declared if one team finishes with the most points (a tie at the top means no single champion).
Watch key matches together. Discuss: "Which tactic won and why?" (usually the one that decides best, not the most complex).
Wrap-up: swap two rules' order live and show how the behaviour changes → that's exactly how a program works.
When you're done, you can remove the cup (bin icon): only the champion's trophy remains, and it frees a slot for another.
Starter / solution tactic (for the teacher)
A simple striker students can start from and improve. Rules are evaluated top to bottom; the first that matches wins:
IF (IHaveBall And IAmInShootingRange) → Shoot
IF (IHaveBall) → RunTowardsOpponentGoal
IF (IAmNearestToBallInMyTeam) → RunTowardsBall
ELSE → WalkHome
The teaching gem: if you put RunTowardsBallbeforeShoot,
the striker never shoots (it always chases the ball). Order matters.
Improvements to challenge them with: passing —
IF (IHaveBall And AnyTeammateAhead) → PassToAheadTeammate; goalkeeper —
IF (BallIsNearMyGoal) → RunTowardsBall; ELSE → WalkTowardsMyGoal. There's no steal action:
just get close to the opponent carrying the ball (e.g. RunTowardsBall) and you dispute it automatically —
you can win or lose it, and the carrier has the advantage.
Conditions and actions (reference)
Conditions (a selection): IHaveBall, MyTeamHasBall, IAmNearestToBall, IAmNearestToBallInMyTeam,
IAmInShootingRange, IAmNearToOpponentGoal, AnyTeammateAhead, IAmNearOpponentWithBall, BallIsNearMyGoal,
MyTeamIsWinning/IsLosing, MyEnergyIsHigh/Medium/Low, LessThan20SecsLeft. Combine with And, Or, Not.
Actions (a selection): Shoot, ShootAndRun, PassToAheadTeammate, PassToNearestTeammate, Cross,
RunTowardsBall, RunTowardsOpponentGoal, WalkHome, WalkTowardsMyGoal, RunOpponentHalf, Stay (plus walk/run variants in the 4 directions).
Assessment ideas
What is a condition? Give an example from your tactic.
Why does the order of the rules change the behaviour? Give a case.
Show two versions of your team and explain what you changed and why it improved (this is the core skill: iteration + debugging).
Combine two conditions with "And" and explain when it is true.
Privacy & FAQ
No minors' data: students sign in with just a username and password, no email, no personal data. Privacy-friendly by design (GDPR).
Free, in the browser, nothing to install. Languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese.
If a student forgets their password, the teacher (cup organiser) can reset it from the cup management screen.
Fits the Hour of Code (December) as a proposed activity or project.