Bookworm Adventures

Kids can learn from video games. Seriously, they really can! Here's the trick to making a video game that's educational: it should be so much fun for kids they don't even realize that they're learning. That's something independent developer Popcap Games is particularly good at. As a sequel to their excellent "Bookworm" puzzle game, "Bookworm Adventures" wraps a fantasy quest with mythological monsters, around the puzzle to try and trick kids into learning their vocabulary, while they think they're just having fun.

Picture "Boggle," now imagine that above the letter jumble is a two-dimensional fantasy backdrop with a bright green worm on one side -- that's Lex, the character you play. A strange monster is on the other side. Each character has a number of hearts, representing their health. The monster can do a certain amount of damage per turn, but you can do more or less damage depending on the length and complexity of the words you find on each turn. Sort of like a combat version of Scrabble, there are even power-ups that act like triple word scores (well, triple damage at least).

Parents take note: Kids, if they give this a chance, will love this game. But most will take one look at this crude little two-dimensional word game and immediately reach for something cool, or if allowed to, something bloodier. So how do you get them to spend time on a word puzzle game? Maybe trade bad video game time for good video game time? You'll probably find yourself addicted even if your kids turn their noses up at helping a worm spell his way to victory. Their loss can be your gain!

Buy Popcap's Bookworm Adventures Deluxe (or just check out the demo) here.

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