THE PROBLEM WITH MOST REVIEW GAMES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
And how a pirate-themed resource management game brought the energy we were looking for
It's the day before the exam. You've pulled up your trusty Jeopardy template. You've reminded yourself it'll be fine, but you end up letting them use their notes to play the game anyways.
By round two, half the class has mentally left the building. The same four kids are buzzing in. The kids who actually need the review are very quiet, very checked out, and no closer to remembering the causes of WWI than they were yesterday.
Here's what I kept running into: review games tend to reward students who already know the material. The ones who need it most go quiet. And by the end of the period, you've spent 45 minutes on something that maybe helped three people. But what else could you possibly try?
SO, I BUILT SOMETHING NEW
The Kraken's Curse is a pirate-themed resource management game. Students track doubloons, cannons, treasure chests, and sea glass while answering content questions - whatever you're reviewing, whatever subject you teach. You type your questions into an editable Google Slides deck. And print the student gameboards. That’s it; that’s the extent of the prep for you.
While they're playing, rival pirates attack. The Kraken surfaces twice and raises the stakes. Students are managing resources, making actual strategic decisions, and answering your content questions the entire period.
That's the version of exam review I'd been looking for.
SAY LESS, TAKE ME TO THE KRAKEN’S CURSE REVIEW GAME
It’s built more like the games they’re already playing
I’m not trying to rag on Jeopardy. But let's be honest - it was designed for a television audience in the 1900’s (hahah, I had to, they love to clown me with that one). The kids sitting in our rooms were raised on Minecraft and Fortnite. And as we know, students engage more when they see visuals they’re familiar with.
That's why I built The Kraken's Curse with colorful slides, shiny Aztec coins, and a student game board that mimics what they’re seeing on screen. I built in surprise attacks to bring in the excitement, I limited their resources , and brought in the element of making a choice. The content review is happening the whole time - it's just wrapped in something that actually feels familiar to a 16-year-old in 2025.
You don't have to choose between rigor and relevance. I built this game to have both.
EVERYTHING YOU NEED COMES IN THE BOX
If you've got an exam coming up and you're tired of watching half your class mentally check out, The Kraken's Curse is in the Deeply Human Teaching TpT shop. It comes with a full teacher guide that walks you through the rules and how to play, plus color and black-and-white versions of the game board so you're covered whether your printer is cooperating or not. Grab it, type in your questions, and let the Kraken do the rest.
Drea