Geography Drive

Title: Geography Drive

Bibliographic information:

Creator: Spinlight Studios

• First Published: November, 2012
• Language: English

Reader's Annotation:  Geography lessons feel like a game show with this entertaining app which allows you to see the US  and answer questions for gas money and fun.  

Interest Level: Ages 8-9+

Awards, if applicable: N/A

Play summary: You start out as a plain little car in your own garage.  If you want to leave your state and color it in, you have to answer three trivia questions correctly.  Answering questions will earn you gas money.  Answer incorrectly, and you aren’t able to leave.  When you have completed your questions, you can select one bordering state, and travel there and repeat the process.  Some states include other challenges, such as the Nebraska “State Fair” where you match states to their capitals; and Arizona “Flag Staff” where you match state flags to their state shape.  

Critical review:

This app turns geography quizzes into a game.  Some questions focus on geography, some on history - but a user who works through the game for a certain number of hours will develop some familiarity to US geography.  It is an entertaining game, and acquiring new states will quickly become a challenge.  

Why include it?

It’s a challenge to find educational games which find the right balance between games and educational.  I think that this one has managed to achieve that balance using a mix of a game play that is easy to understand with the facts of geometry to balance it.