Brittany Westlund, a third-year graduate student in the University of Montana’s online MFA in Game Design and Interactive Media, is emerging as an innovative game designer, educator, and community builder. Living in Kalispell, she balances coursework, teaching online classes, launching Charmlab Studio, and creating emotionally driven games.
Read MoreGreat game design is an art that blends psychology, creativity, and technical skill to create engaging player experiences. Captivating games rely on understanding player behavior, balancing challenge and reward, and fostering emotional connections through well-timed feedback and immersive worlds. Effective design uses simple mechanics that deepen over time...
Read MoreDr Michael J. Dillon and Prof Laura Bowater explore how gamified learning can transform biomedical education by moving beyond passive lectures toward active, social, and experiential learning. As biomedical knowledge grows in complexity, gamification—through serious games and structural game elements—offers a way to improve engagement, understanding, and retention.
Read MoreBoard games and casual mobile games succeed by making the first action clear, feedback immediate, and return effortless. Simple mechanics reduce entry barriers without removing depth. Tables add social guidance, while phones rely on intuitive design. Both formats must respect players’ time, sustain attention, and make the next move feel worthwhile.
Read MoreA lung cancer surgeon has collaborated with the makers of Minecraft and the Ruth Strauss Foundation to create an educational game that helps children understand cancer and challenges its taboo status. The free UK school resource, Detect & Diagnose, places players in the role of a medical student exploring hospital departments, meeting patients, and learning how cancer...
Read MoreAWS BuilderCards is a strategic card game created by AWS Solutions Architect David Heidt to teach cloud computing concepts through play. Inspired by a misunderstanding of “battle cards,” the game translates AWS’s extensive service portfolio into accessible, educational mechanics that balance complexity and ease of learning.
Read MoreCognitive resilience refers to the ability to remain calm, adapt, and make effective decisions under stress, uncertainty, and information overload. Traditional training methods, based on predictable scenarios and fixed procedures, are increasingly inadequate for today’s complex crises.
Read MoreThis article argues that probability and risk are taught most effectively through high-stakes simulations rather than abstract formulas. Using roulette, slots, baccarat, blackjack, and corporate war games, it shows how learners experience expected value, variance, combinatorics, conditional probability, Bayesian updating, and tail risk in practical settings.
Read MoreOver the past 20 years, UCF’s Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy (FIEA) has graduated more than 1,000 alumni prepared for careers in the growing $450 billion gaming industry and beyond. While many work for major entertainment companies, others apply game design skills to “serious gaming” fields such as military and defense training.
Read MoreEducational games flourished from the late eighteenth to nineteenth centuries, reflecting new ideas about learning through play. Although women were largely excluded from formal education, educational games offered them creative and intellectual opportunities.
Read MoreThe article describes how clinical pharmacy specialists Deborah Booth and Allison Tempo use gamification to improve disaster preparedness education for pharmacists. They created a PowerPoint-based virtual escape room incorporating quizzes, puzzles, and cultural references to teach emergency management concepts.
Read MoreThe article highlights Dakota State University math professor Justin Schroeder, who combines mathematics, probability, and board game design to engage students and players. Inspired by childhood dice-based simulations, Schroeder created and published two games, Seventh Inning Stretch and Storybook Saga, which blend chance, strategy, and mathematical reasoning.
Read MoreSomething Something Soup Something is an interactive game set in 2078 where players act as servers deciding what qualifies as soup for humans, while aliens cook increasingly strange meals. Players must judge items such as batteries in liquid, rocks with garnishes, or frozen substances, choosing whether they are “soup” or “not soup.”
Read MoreScrabble is often stereotyped as a pastime for seniors, but it is a demanding mental activity beneficial for all ages. Far from being trivial, the game engages memory, attention, concentration, linguistic creativity, and strategic thinking, providing a full cognitive workout. Each turn activates the brain through rapid analysis and careful planning, comparable to mental exercise.
Read MoreTo address delayed speech among children with cerebral palsy at WKCP Yogyakarta, a Universitas Gadjah Mada student team developed Kata Kita, a digital learning game supporting speech therapy. The game integrates augmented reality, audio-sensory technology, and voice recognition to train oromotor and language skills in an engaging way.
Read MoreDama, a traditional Kurdish board game similar to Turkish Draughts, is more than recreation; it is a cultural ritual rooted in Chaikhanas across Kurdistan. Played orthogonally on an 8×8 board with mandatory captures, Dama emphasizes strategy, patience, and social equality, uniting people across class and region. Historically, it even served as a cover for political resistance.
Read MoreDuring the project week “A Different Kind of Game Jam,” TUM students Anie and Rai created This Place Saves Lives, a game exploring marginalized realities within supervised drug consumption rooms. Inspired by real stories and research on gender-specific needs in drug services, the game places players in the role of staff managing limited resources while engaging with users’ personal narratives.
Read MoreThe article explores why the United States failed to win the Vietnam War through the lens of the tabletop wargame Vietnam 1965–1975. Despite overwhelming military firepower, the game demonstrates how terrain, insurgency, population support, political instability, and limits of public morale undermined U.S. success.
Read MoreThe article critically examines gamification in contemporary digital culture, arguing that while gamification can enhance motivation and engagement, it is often used manipulatively in today’s attention economy. By applying game-like elements such as points, streaks, and leaderboards, platforms encourage desired behaviors while masking deeper purposes, such as data extraction and profit generation.
Read MoreThe global board game market has surged in recent years, driven by post-COVID home activities, crowdfunding, digital fatigue, and the rise of board game cafés. This growth reflects an “analog game renaissance” marked by social reconnection, inclusivity, and innovation across age groups.
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