Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Parker Kiser of Beaty-Warren Middle School keeps his fingers on a 24 Game card Thursday during the Warren County School District 24 Game tournament. At the table with Kiser were (from left) Ellise Wilson of Warren Area Elementary, Mason Smith of Sheffield, and Grant May of Youngsville.

Usually, pencils are down at the end of the test.

For the Warren County School District 24 Game competition, pencils, pens, and other writing implements are not allowed.

The game is a mental math challenge.

On Thursday, groups of students from all over Warren County were seated around tables. A 24 Game card was placed in the middle and the students had to use math to get the four numbers on the card to result in 24.

For example, if the numbers on a card were 6, 5, 2, and 1, a competitor might start with addition — 5 plus 1 is six. That takes care of the 5 and the 1, but all numbers must be used. Subtracting 2 from the resulting 6 yields 4. Finally, 6 times that 4 is 24.

Champions from Eisenhower, Sheffield, Warren, and Youngsville gathered at Beaty-Warren Middle School for the district tournament.

The fourth- and fifth-grade school champions were:

¯ Beaty (fifth) — Parker Kiser, Carissa Smith, Bentley Sherry, and Peyton Vincent;

¯ Eisenhower — Liam Hanson, Paul Mandeville, Mitchell Owens, and R.J. Frederick;

¯ Sheffield — Riley Grubbs, Mason Smith, Anna Dysinger, and Lucian Charleux;

¯ Warren Area Elementary (fourth) — Ashton Carrington, Ainsley Schuler, Ellise Wilson, and Owen Damcott; and

¯ Youngsville — Collin Havers, Grant May, Landon Haight, and Ryker Chase.

For sixth grade, the school winners were:

¯ Beaty — Gabriel Dougherty, Timothy Giger, Heath Genis, and Shawn Lang;

¯ Eisenhower – Sophia Wallace, Meredith Smyth, Alexander Lund, and Ryan Huck;

¯ Sheffield — Tucker Johnson and Rowan Lester; and

¯ Youngsville –Aiden Eger, Riley Lauger, Samara Salva, and Gabriella Hodak.

The champions among the seventh- and eighth-graders were:

¯ Beaty — Aubrey Carrington, Quintin Norris, Aiden Stewart, and Brynn Norris;

¯ Eisenhower — Olivia Wallace, Carly Russell, Lainey Font, and Joseph Gigliotti;

¯ Sheffield – Isaac Hammerbeck and Zeke Lindsey; and

¯ Youngsville — Hannah Gentz, Bowen Lindell, and James Soltis.

The top competitors at each level will move on to the regional tournament Wednesday, May 25, at Intermediate Unit 5 in Edinboro.

For the fifth and sixth grades, those students are Hanson, Ashton Carrington, Sherry, Smith, Owens, Mandeville, Vincent, and Kiser.

Sixth-graders moving on are Dougherty, Lang, Sophia Wallace, and Hodak.

Representing the district’s seventh- and eighth-graders are Gentz, Brynn Norris, Quin Norris, Aubrey Carrington, Olivia Wallace, Hammerbeck, Russell, and Font.