2015 | DK (Dorling Kindersley) | DK FindOut

Finding the fun - Compelling qizzes drive further learning

Global Publisher DK's flagship reference platform: Find Out, used quizzing as a way to engage young learners with their growing knowledge platform. Through quizzes, children engaged with the DK FindOut information in new ways, exploring topics from nature to history, amphibians to Romans. consuming and understanding information in one are that was then used to show their mastery of the subject.

This was a key driver. Kids loved being able to demonstrate what they'd learnt. To compare not only their improvement with each time they played the quiz, but by also seeing how their scores ranked against quiz players from all over the world. We named this 'Showing What you Know' and turned a basic question and answer mecahanic into a more compelling game experience.

Finding the Fun

Engaging players in quiz is much more than writing a series of clever questions. Through repeated rounds of paper prototyping, a new rule set and game mechanics emerged, which made the game infinity mor playable but also fun, even for repeated plays.

Paper protyping was a key mechanism for quickly changing game mechanics and rule sets, to help find the game with the most fun.

Players progressed through 15 questions, with a new goal, not just to answer as many correct as possible, but to create a chain of correct answers. The longer the chain, invoked score multipliers, as well as cards, or power-ups, players could use if things got tough.

Players earned and spent game tokens to help answer questions and not break the chain. - Phone a friend, 50:50 and free turns- all well known mechanisms in gameshows

Chains of different lengths gave players the ability to remove incorrect answers, gave players free passes to guess an answer without risking their chain, and also the chance to jump back into DK Find Out content to search for the right answer. Creating a virtuous loop of quizzing and learning.

This nicely dove-tailed into game badges and point scoring, and players could see how they ranked with other DK Find Out quiz players around the world.

Wash-up screens help booked the quiz experience - by replaying the game performance. It is also an opportunity to provide compelling onward journey's so players can keep learning and keep quizing