Learning through Games

My 7th grade history teacher was named Mr. Tinkham. I loved his class and used to stay late with my friends working on our project "War Lords" which was a game he designed (on paper!) to help us learn Japanese history, where we each were regional nobility deploying Samurai to conquer other teams' land.


We had to strategize with Japanese geography, learn culture to earn points, and design our own methods to dominate our region in feudal Japan. I loved learning about the Samurai, but even more I loved to have the freedom to have fun with my education and self-direct the path my research and game design took.

I was in Tinkham's class before the bonna-fide Internet age, but he was definitely a Globaloria prototype. The "War Lords" game showed me that education could be fun and instilled in me a passion for history that transcended Tinkham's class. To this day, I still love learning about Samurai.