Educational Game Development
Games provide memorable learning experiences and appeal to students no matter the age, offering challenge coupled with joy.
Who this is for:
Schools
Organizations
Teachers
Parents
Students
Game-based instruction helps students develop empathy, build a higher-level understanding of content, improve their ability to transfer skills and content across contexts, and maximize their engagement. We have many existing games available for purchase and use in your school. Explore the gallery below to see the games on offer. If none of those games fit your needs, we are also actively developing new games and are happy to partner with educators to design something new. We will create games for any subject for students aged 12 and up. If you are interested in either option, click on the button labeled “Contact Us” at the bottom of the page.
8th-grade student
“I had so much fun learning through games and still learned what I would have with a normal class, if not more.”
8th-grade student
“Playing more games helps a lot because it keeps me engaged and wanting to learn more.”
12th-grade student
“My favorite activity was definitely the recording activity because...well, did you hear what we turned in? We took those voice memos on my phone and I will NEVER delete them! It was also a super cool topic looking at muckrakers and their role in society. This project led us into talking about the Pentagon and Afghanistan Papers which I hadn't realized have such an influential role in how we receive news today. It all really ties together to to the idea that looking at the history is the answer [to why things are the way they are today] staring people in the face that they always seem to miss.”
Existing Games
-
![]()
So You Want to Be an American? (board game)
Content: U.S. immigration system (civics, U.S. government, U.S. history)
Focus Skills: Empathy, recognizing bias, analysis
Grade Levels: 7-12
This board game takes students through the U.S. immigration system. At the beginning of the game, they are given identity information and must try to navigate the system, choosing the pathways that make sense for them. The game is statistically accurate to the immigration system as of 2018, in terms of checkpoints, years spent, and obstacles encountered. Students see how the system works for different people differently, and are able to identify biases, injustices, and impossibilities within it.
This game has been vetted by people who have experienced the U.S. immigration system firsthand, and is recommended for students who are birthright citizens.
-
![]()
U.S. Healthcare System (simulation)
Content: U.S. health insurance (civics, U.S. government, economics, health)
Focus Skills: Empathy, recognizing bias, creative problem-solving, analysis
Grade Levels: 8-12
In this simulation, students are assigned an insurance plan, and they use the plan information to calculate their costs from a series of medical experiences. They are able to see the ways in which different plans are better than others, and how some people may be forced to forgo health care because of inadequate insurance. The activity invites students to consider concepts of fairness and justice, and how a better system might be built in which everyone can get the care they need without breaking the bank.
-
![]()
Mossadegh Project (reenactment/simulation)
Content: Iran-U.S. Relations, Cold War, Investigative Journalism (U.S. history, world history, journalism)
Focus Skills: Recognizing bias, synthesis, analysis. collaboration, communication
Grade Levels: 8-12
This reenactment/simulation includes built-in opportunities for differentiation for advanced students. After receiving background information, most students work on newspaper teams to investigate the 1954 coup that overthrew democratically-elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. They do so through a series of information releases that they must investigate for evidence that will help them construct a narrative. They also get the chance to interview people from the time period, played by students who are not on the newspaper teams. They must figure out what questions to ask and how to ask them, who might be lying and why, and how this all fits together to form the true story.
-
![]()
Ancient Egypt Assessment (escape room)
Content: Ancient Egypt (Ancient civilizations, world history)
Focus skills: Creative problem-solving, collaboration
Grade Levels: 5-7
This escape room assesses student understanding of ancient Egyptian history, including geography, religion, and technology. Students must work together and pull information together in new ways to complete the activity.
-
![]()
Muckraker Recordings (reenactment/simulation)
Content: Muckrakers (U.S. history, journalism, environmental studies, economics)
Focus Skills: Creative problem-solving, synthesis, analysis, collaboration, communication
Grade Levels: 10-12
On teams, students create a series of “wiretapped” recordings for another team to investigate as muckrakers. They uncover as much of the story as they can and present their findings, with the goal of getting their “editor-in-chief” (the teacher) to allow them to pursue their story.
This project is an enormous amount of fun for students. It has even motivated seniors in late spring!
