Last week, the Dig-It! Games™ team invited family and friends—including our Ambassadors—to stop by Redwood, a local restaurant, and celebrate a belated launch party of both Roman Town™ and 3 Digits™.  With a spread of delicious appetizers and fabulous Dig-It! Games swag, the party was an absolute blast! We kicked it up a notch with an intense 3 Digits competition.

Interns, Ambassadors, and guests had a chance to try their hand at the app to compete for the highest score in a variety of categories. We didn’t go easy on these players—all categories were at the medium or expert difficulty level.

We’re proud to officially announce the winners:

Expert Difficulty Aged Under 16

Matt Schneider – 471,982

Medium Difficulty Aged 16+

Marcelo McAndrew – 3,372

Expert Difficulty Aged 16+

Greg Frock – 152,183

One of our competitors discovered a bug in the game (it has since been fixed and resubmitted to Apple). Unfortunately, during play, his score was negatively affected. His score—at the time of the bug—was high enough that he may have won the contest had the bug not appeared.  Therefore, we’re also considering Fordon Miller a winner.

Each winner will receive $20 in Apple gift cards.  To collect prizes, please email our producer, Dayle Hodge, at dayleh@dig-itgames.com to arrange pickup.

Happy Friday! It’s a holiday weekend—the last one before school’s out for summer—and we’re so excited to share with you a little bit of what’s happening here at Dig-It! Games. First, our intern Bo (you may have noticed his icon in the credits of Roman Town and 3 Digits) has finished up his semester with us. It’s been fantastic to have him with us, sharing his talents with the team! Second, we’re getting ready to head to Content in Context from June 1-3, where Mayan Mysteries is up for a REVERE award. Plus, our team is already hard at work on our next project (hint: science) and planning for Summer Learning Day in June.

If you’re looking for fun this weekend, check out our newest app 3 Digits—here’s 3 reasons why:

• Players can adjust the game for their individual difficulty level.

When it comes to math, second graders are just starting on their multiplication journey while eighth graders have mastered mental math skills and are beginning to wrestle with algebra. With 3 Digits, students must translate numbers into Maya glyphs using skills like addition and multiplication. The higher the number, the more difficult the translation.

For younger players—or players just getting started—the easiest level only goes up to the number 19. For more experienced players—or those looking for a challenge—the most difficult level introduces numbers up to 150,000. How high can you translate?

• Discover artifacts of the ancient Maya culture as you go.

3 Digits isn’t just asking players to think differently about math; the game also encourages exploration of the Maya culture. As players earn points and complete levels, they unlock different artifacts found in archaeological sites like Tulum (where our first Loot Pursuit series game is set) and can learn more about each item. The more problems players solve, the more their collection grows!

• Teachers can easily implement 3 Digits as a classroom resource.

Whether students are learning about the Maya or reviewing multiplication skills before an exam, 3 Digits allows players of all ages to consider math differently. Because the Maya used a base 20 number system, 3 Digits encourages kids to think outside the box, problem solve, and grow their mathematics skills. It can be played for just a few minutes, or can be practiced for a longer period of time—it’s perfect for a brain break or use in a center rotation model.

So take out your iPad, visit the App Store, and download 3 Digits for free today!

Being a teacher is not an easy job. Days are spent on your feet, nights are spent grading papers, and lesson planning usually happens on weekends. It is also an emotional job—connecting with students, learning about their lives, and building trusting relationships.

But being a teacher is rewarding. Check out this recent survey reported by T.H.E. Journal in which 1,002 K-12 teachers were polled about their jobs. Nearly three quarters (71 percent) said that seeing students grow is what they most enjoy about the job. More than half (68 percent) of those who entered the field in the last 10 years said they would recommend the profession to others.

As the field of education continues to change in vast ways—including the integration of technology and play in the classroom—Dig-It! Games wants to recognize educators for their work and ask them an important question: What do you want?

Image Credit to Clip Panda

At the recent Games for Learning Summit, U.S. Department of Education Director of Educational Technology Richard Culatta discussed the future of gaming for education. “Part of the message we are trying to send here is, if you’re building and designing games for learning, you have to connect and work with teachers and with school leaders to make sure you are building games that are meeting the needs,” he said.

We deeply care what educators think of our games. We invite teachers to Open House events or welcome them to stop by the studio to test our products. We’ve incorporated their feedback into games you see in the App Store today.

Our website offers lesson plans for both Mayan Mysteries and Maya Numbers. We are also preparing to launch a Pinterest page that we hope will make it easier for teachers to implement game-based learning in the classroom.

Last month, we hosted classes from Wheatley Education Campus in our studio. We taught game design to these students and had the chance to speak with their teachers. We would love to have other classes visit (just let us know at info@dig-itgames.com) to help them collaborate, learn about educational game development and build their own apps.

Now, we want to know what teachers are thinking; how they would like to use our games in the classroom; what games they’re looking for in the market. We want teachers to help us design the games we create—not just test them. We want to talk with teachers about the content within our games, to emphasize its accuracy and that our games meet the standards that teachers are looking for.

If you are a teacher, we thank you for all you do to encourage students to love learning and become critical thinkers and problem solvers. That’s our mission, too. We value your perspective, so contact us—let’s get together to help our students succeed.

In the meantime, we know that 91 percent of teachers spend their own money (NPD Group) on supplies and resources in the classroom. For Teacher Appreciation Week, we’re offering some of our most popular educational games at a discount. If you visit the App Store today through 5/15, you’ll see that 3 Digits, Roman Town, Mayan Mysteries, Loot Pursuit: Pompeii and Can U Dig It! are all $0.99 for the full app—including all in-app purchases. Help blend fun and learning for your students!

Today, we’re excited to release a new game for all ages, 3 Digits: Translate Maya Numerals And Think Differently About Math!^TM The new app challenges players’ critical thinking and math skills while teaching the ancient Maya’s revolutionary number system.

3 Digits turns math skills-building into a fun, fast-paced learning game that encourages players to think outside the box using addition, subtraction, and multiplication. The app, free to download via the iTunes App Store, immerses players in the base-20 Maya number system. A detailed tutorial introduces glyphs used for the three Maya digits: a shell for zero, a dot for 1 and a line for 5. Players can choose from four levels of difficulty based on their experience and the age of the player. At the easiest level, players only receive numbers up to 20. At the most challenging level, the numbers will reach 150,000.

“Games like 3 Digits allow players of all ages to hone skills and discover new information in a way that blends both fun and learning,” said Suzi Wilczynski, founder and president of Dig-It! Games. “A first grader, middle school student, and an adult can each play 3 Digits at an age-appropriate difficulty level, allowing for a family-friendly educational experience that challenges its learners to think differently about our number system.”

In either timed or untimed mode, players are presented with randomly generated numbers to convert into ancient Mayan glyphs. 3 Digits offers children and adults the unique opportunity problem-solve using place value, inherently testing and improving their math skills. Designed exclusively for the iPad, this companion app to Dig-It! Games’ award-winning Mayan Mysteries™ game provides an entertaining and educational experience.

Meant to be played casually or used as a fun, engaging classroom supplement, 3 Digits is the latest app from Dig-It! Games to address the educational needs of students and is free to download on the iTunes Store. Roman Town™, Artifact Snatch™, Loot Pursuit: Pompeii™, Loot Pursuit: Tulum™, Mayan Mysteries, and Can U Dig It! ™ cater to the learning needs of middle school children. All six iOS apps are free to download through the iTunes store. Maya Quiz™, a companion to Mayan Mysteries, is available for purchase on the iTunes store.

Five years ago, we released on CD-ROM our very first educational game, Roman Town, which received critical acclaim from parents, educators, and students. On Tuesday, we celebrated Rome’s 2,768^th birthday with the release of a new modern version of the game, now available for free download on the iPad.

Game development has come a long way in five years, particularly as technology has continued to evolve in education and tablets have become more mainstream (almost 40% of educators use tablets for game access, according to the Joan Ganz Cooney Center)

Whether you’re in the classroom or at home, the team at Dig-It! Games is excited for you to play our newest app, and here are our top five reasons why:

1. Roman Town brings history to life.

History is not about fact-memorization and dates; it’s about the culture and learning how people lived in the ancient world. Roman Town is a part of our goal to make history come alive for students, and with its basis in accurate and detailed information, the game allows for players to become immersed in the culture while being entertained. Through conversations with characters, players will learn facts and accurate information about the ancient Roman culture.

2. Don’t worry teachers, it’s aligned to standards!

Roman Town’s completely authentic content aligns to National Council for the Social Studies Curriculum Standards, World History Standards, and Common Core State Standards for Language Arts and Mathematics. If you’re an educator planning a unit on Romans, this game is perfect for your students. It can be played through in just a few hours and can be assigned as homework or weaved into your lesson plan as an in-class activity. Learn more about standards here.

3. There are 11 different games, and two of them are based on real games the ancient Romans played.

Have you ever played Jacks or Connect 4? That’s what Knucklebones and Calculi are like, just the ancient versions. We’ve made it a little more challenging. In Calculi, you aim to get five in a row before your opponent. In Knucklebones, a game of probability, you guess your future sum and roll the dice marked with Roman numerals to determine the total. If you guessed right, you win the round. Additional games include Artifact Identification, Dots and Boxes, Roman Numerals, Concentration, Code Breaker, Jigsaw, Pipes and Maze.

4. Play as either Fiona or Charlie to explore the ruins of Pompeii—the games you play will match the character’s personality.

Fiona is adventurous and fearless, always in a hurry to move to the next challenge. Catching looters and beating them at their own game are Fiona’s favorite hobbies. It’s no wonder that the games Fiona plays are timed—she’s impatient and ready for what’s coming next. Charlie is thoughtful and meticulous. He likes to take his time and think things through. When playing as Charlie, you’ll need to beat puzzle- and logic-based games. You must play as both characters in order to reach the end of the game.

5. Collect clues with Team Q to discover the location of Ladrone, the notorious thief from Mayan Mysteries.

Each tourist holds a clue left behind by Ladrone, but they won’t give it you easily. In order to earn the clue, you—as Fiona or Charlie—must beat the mini-game the tourists present. If you don’t win, you can try again. As you collect clues, the picture will become clearer to identify Team Q’s next mission. Where is Ladrone headed? We’re not telling; play Roman Town to find out!