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Tilt Trivia: A free multiplayer app to learn geoscience concepts and definitions

Debi Kilb·Alan Yang·Nathan Garrett·Kristine L. Pankow·Justin L. Rubinstein·Lisa Linville
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Abstract

Today’s technology is opening up new ways to learn. Here, we introduce Tilt Trivia, a suite of quiz‐style, multiplayer games for use on mobile devices and tablets (Android or Apple) to help students learn simple definitions and facts. This mobile device game was built using the Unity engine and has a multiplayer functionality that runs seamlessly, all day, every day. A single game consists of 6–10 questions that are selected at random from a base suite of 13–33 questions. A single Tilt Trivia game takes 3–7 min to complete and allows up to five players to play simultaneously in the same game space. To begin, players select a topical avatar to represent them in the game. While in the competitive playing field, players are presented with a question and then they simply tilt their tablets until their avatar rests on the correct answer marker (i.e., true or false). Because the playing field is constantly tilting, keeping your avatar on the correct answer requires a continual counter‐tilting motion of the tablet to maintain your position within the game. A countdown timer is incorporated requiring players to answer the questions as quickly as possible. At the end of the game, a leaderboard displays the players’ scores and rankings, a metric that motivates repeat play. Players have the option of jostling other players off of the correct answer in the hopes of netting the highest score. The game is configurable to any topic and currently there are games for eight different topics (see Data and Resources ).

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Debi Kilb, Alan Yang, Nathan Garrett, Kristine L. Pankow, Justin L. Rubinstein, Lisa Linville. 2018-07-18. Tilt Trivia: A free multiplayer app to learn geoscience concepts and definitions. https://doi.org/10.1785/0220180049

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