Gimkit, Blooket, Kahoot, and GooseChase are the four games we are going to play at the PNCFL Virtual Regional Conference this Friday night, March 5th at 7:30pm. Come experience how to play these games with your students and win prizes while learning. These are among my favorite games to play with students and here is why.
Gimkit is a gamified experience to help kids review terms. Basically, you can play several different games with a set of questions, problems, or vocabulary words. It is $59.88 per year, but I think it is worth it. They offer a 30 day free trial, with no credit card attached, and they allowed me to extend my free trial at least once. I love that GimKit was created by Josh Feinsilber when he was a junior at Issaquah high school in Seattle for a high school project. One lucky participant will win a year subscription to Gimkit in our raffle.
Classic Gimkit is similar to Kahoot but with more options. Students can compete in teams or individually. Student try to earn the most money by answering questions correctly. They can shop for power ups to receive more money per question, or buy insurance against wrong answers.
Teachers can also use the assignment feature to give homework. You set a due date, and students work through the kit at their own pace, answering questions until they reach a set goal.
What I like best about Gimkit is the different games you can play with the same set of questions. Trust No One is the new game mode in Gimkit very similar to Among Us. The objective of this mode is simple: locate the impostors and vote them off the ship. The core of this mode is the same as all other game modes: students answer questions at their own pace. However, instead of earning cash, students earn power ⚡️. The more power students acquire, the more they can help their side win!
Crewmates can use their power to run investigations on other players. Investigations help crewmates identify other crewmates. With enough investigations, you can rule out enough people to eventually find the impostors. Impostors can use their power to sabotage crewmate operations or blend in as a crewmate with investigation removers, fake investigations, and disguises. When it’s time to vote someone out, the teacher or a student can call a meeting. This is where students can discuss their observations, suspicions, and evidence. When the discussion ends, it’s time for students to vote on who they think the impostor is. The student with the most votes gets ejected off the ship. Students ejected can still participate in the game. Instead of using their power on normal actions like investigations, they’ll be able to donate their power to teammates to help their side win.
The Floor is Lava is another game mode in Gimkit. As much as they love to compete against each other, they are even better when they work together. All students work together for a common goal: to stay above the lava as long as you can!
There are other games in Gimkit we are still exploring: Humans vs. Zombies, Boss Battle, Infinity Mode, Super Rich Mode, Drained Mode, Hidden Mode.
KitCollab allows your students to create the Kit together. After students join the game, they will submit a question to be added. You can accept/reject the questions that come in. Then, you play a game of Gimkit with the Kit the class just made. This would be a great get to know each other activity by having students contribute 2 truths and a lie. A new feature on Gimkit is Ink, a place for students to publish their writing.
Blooket is another fun way to have your students practice different skills by utilizing various games modes to keep them engaged while learning. https://www.blooket.com/ Blookit is free, you can pay to upgrade, but you can do a ton with the free version. Students can play various games with the same set of flashcards or questions. Question sets can be imported from Quizlet. Sets can be assigned to individuals as homework or played as a class. Each game provides a quick tutorial. Again the classic version is a lot like Kahoot. Factory, Cafe and Racing seem to be the most popular games with students.
The games in Blookit include: Cafe, you have to feed your customers by purchasing food and serving them in a timely manner. In Factory you purchase characters who earn money for you, it includes glitches so you can mess with other people. In Battle Royale the class is in teams and races to answer questions fastest. There are power ups and slow downs. Tower of Doom is solo mode, students work through 3 different maps. Gold quest is another game in Blookit that is popular with my students.
Kahoot is an oldie but goodie. What sets kahoot apart from the rest is the ability to teach while playing the game. The teacher can control the speed of the game and stop after certain questions to explain answers or give examples. Kahoot is my favorite for formative assessment as we can see how many were right or wrong immediately while playing. Also, kahoot is the only one of these games where students who are not logged in can still see the questions and answers and therefore can still participate by writing their answers in the chat or on a piece of paper. Kahoot is still basically free and you can search and use sets from other teachers. Kahoot now has some new interactive features. You can add slides, embed videos and add multiple choice, true or false, open-ended, or puzzle type questions. You can teach from the kahoot or assign it as individual work.
GooseChase is an online platform that helps organizers create and run digital scavenger hunt experiences for team building, learning, public engagement, or a variety of other events. Each GooseChase game has a list of missions for participants to complete. You can create your mission list using a bank of 100+ tested missions or by designing your own from scratch.
Missions have a name, description, point value and an optional link or photo to provide extra information. Sometimes participants submit a photo or video, while other times participants check-in at a specific location or solve a puzzle or riddle.
Gimkit, Blooket, Kahoot, and Goosechase are great games for the classroom or distance learning and kids love them. Come and experience them with your colleagues this Friday night, 7:30 (PT) after the PNCFL general membership meeting. And tell us, what are your favorite games to play with students?