Dig-It Games- Schoolhouse Review

As a kid I remember playing various educational history based computer games with fondness. I don’t know how much I actually learned from them, but I had fun playing them. As summer approached, I was excited for the opportunity to review a Dig-It Games game about the Mayan civilization. June was so crazy with end of the year things that I thought Mayan Mysteries Online Game would be a fun change to our learning time. Mayan Mysteries is designed for children in grades 5-9. It is available either as an iPad game or online. The online version can be played both on a computer and a tablet. We used my Kindle Fire to play a few times.

Mayan Mysteries is an adventure game where students travel to different geographical regions, interview people, read information regarding the Mayan civilization and archeology, take short quizzes in the form of a game, excavate artifacts and discover who the thief is. Games include working with Mayan numbers and learning the calendar, decoding glyphs, and exploring and identifying artifacts.

Tiger really enjoyed playing Mayan Mysteries. In the past he had studied the Mayan civilization so not everything was brand new, but this was a good review and opportunity to learn a lot more about the Mayan civilization. It also provided him with an educational opportunity while we were visiting family. Tiger needs to do some learning every day or he tends to get unhappy. He didn’t want to go and sit and study while we were visiting cousins, but he didn’t mind playing a game while the cousins were napping.

This game is definitely easier to play on a computer, but it worked to play on the Kindle Fire. On the tablet, the entire screen was not always visible. As a result, a couple of games were very difficult to scroll around the screen to play. Also, some parts had complex details and the pictures were a little small. On the computer this would be no problem. A couple of times Tiger had to repeat a game because he clicked back instead of continue (he didn’t see the continue button) and this frustrated him, but overall he loved the game. I really liked the variety of games and topics covered. Everything from daily life to calendar and math to religion. He also learned a little about the geography and trade routes of Central America.

Mayan Mysteries is available for $21.99 for a 1 year license. The game has approximately 12 hours of playing time. I thought this game was well put together and played well. Unlike the educational games of my day, I think Tiger actually learned something from playing the game. I can’t wait to check out Dig-It Games other games too!