We have purposefully limited the games in this wiki to those that are educational, digital, and free to use.  We understand the power of all types of games to teach, including, but not limited to, traditional board and card games, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) computer games, and COTS console games.  There is just too much about educational game play to share in one wiki.  You can find resources on the web that explain how other genres of games can be used to teach.  A good place to start would be FutureLab's Teaching With Games or Social Studies Central Video Games in Education Links.  We also recommend the Genesee Valley BOCES School Library System Game Library, which not only lists board games, but also ties their use in the classroom to NY State teaching standards.

Our wiki of free educational digital games does list many different genres of games including flash games, simulations, sandboxes, virtual worlds and role playing games.  Other genres of educational games that we would like to highlight on this page but are not on our wiki are games for interactive white boards, GPS games, cell phone games, and augmented reality games.  We mention them because they represent newer genres of games.  Many are just being developed and they hold great promise for new ways to approach learning.

Interactive White Board Games

Some of the games on our list can be played on your interactive white board. You will most likely find information about how to do that under teacher resources for the particular game.  You also might want to go to the Cobalt-Eduism site. They have created a "3D multi-user virtual world platform and authoring toolkit intended for your classroom interactive whiteboard."

GPS Games

FutureLab has successfully tested their GPS game called Savannah, "a strategy-based adventure game where a virtual space is mapped directly onto a real space. Children 'play' at being lions in a savannah, navigating the augmented environments with a mobile handheld device. By using aspects of game play, Savannah challenges children to explore and survive in the augmented space. To do this they must successfully adopt strategies used by lions." The success of this test means you should soon be seeing more games developed for the GPS.

Cell Phone Games

I See Ewe is a toddler learning game and an example of the educational game applications that can be purchased for the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Persuasive Games has created the iPhone game Jet Set which describes itself as the first mobile game for business travelers.  It uses the iPhone's GPS capability to link the game to the airport where the player is located allowing players to win special local souvenirs.  Again, look for more games to be released that require players to interact with their surroundings. 

Augmented Reality Games 

MIT's Augmented Reality Site  explains how they are developing "'Augmented Reality' simulations to engage people in simulation games that combine real world experiences with additional information supplied to them by handheld computers."  Total Immersion is a private company that is has developed augmented reality enhanced mass market products.  While they have not developed educational games with their interactive 3D virtual images, if you watch this YouTube video demonstration, it does not take much imagination to see the potential for modeling and 3D play using this type of augmented reality.