The History of Learning Games

Brian Alspach

Digital learning games have shaped what happens inside and outside of classrooms. They've led to some of the game industry’s most fascinating successes and failures. And they have important lessons for us about teaching and learning. Join learning game maker Brian Alspach as he covers the history of this influential videogame genre and the classic titles we've played to learn.

Episodes

  1. 09/08/2025

    Ep 5: The Oregon Trail

    Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential video games of all time, 1971’s The Oregon Trail has educated and delighted players for over half a century. Before the game became a fixture of 1980s school computer labs—in all its black‑and‑green Apple II glory—it began its life as a student‑teaching project for a young educator and his computer‑savvy roommates. Try not to die of dysentery before you hear about the pop icon who acted as an early playtester.  Royalty free music from https://www.FesliyanStudios.com

  2. 08/25/2025

    Ep 4: The Sumerian Game

    1964's The Sumerian Game is recognized as the first educational videogame, but due to its numerous and often overlooked contributions to games as a whole, it's also been called "the most important videogame you've never heard of." What started as a research project is responsible for more than its share of game industry firsts, including the first game designer: a teacher who began her career in a one-room schoolhouse, Mabel Addis.

  3. 08/11/2025

    Ep 3: Kriegsspiel

    During the Napoleonic Wars, a German “board game geek” set out to make a tabletop wargame that accurately simulated real combat in a way that earlier games in the genre did not. His son picked up development in the 1820s, and through what we would today call an “iterative design process,” created the game of Kriegsspiel (literally “war game”). An explicitly educational game, Krieggspiel was used as a training tool for officers in the Prussian military, contributing to its dramatic victories in several late 19th Century wars and, perhaps, indirectly to some of the 20th Century’s darkest chapters. It also introduced a number of crucial game design innovations that have unlocked entire popular genres we still play today.

  4. 07/29/2025

    Ep 2: Snakes and Ladders

    Snakes and Ladders is familiar to Western audiences as a simple childhood game. But it has its origins in India, where it developed as an educational allegory rooted in Hindu moral philosophy. We'll break the game down and look into how all the elements of its design -- particularly its play and learning mechanics -- work together to impart the lesson it's trying to teach.

  5. 07/27/2025

    Ep 1: Introduction & a Nickel Tour of the History of Games

    Brian introduces the series with info on his background, then outlines the podcast's mission: providing an historical overview of digital learning games. Then, we're off on a "nickel tour" of the history of games going back to antiquity, all the way through the early days of videogames, to provide the backdrop for what's to come.

  • 5 Episodes

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About

Digital learning games have shaped what happens inside and outside of classrooms. They've led to some of the game industry’s most fascinating successes and failures. And they have important lessons for us about teaching and learning. Join learning game maker Brian Alspach as he covers the history of this influential videogame genre and the classic titles we've played to learn.

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