What we love…
Fun way to learn US geography and State facts, retro graphics, beautiful map, two ways to play and varying difficulty levels.
What we’d love to see…
Multiple player profiles and ability to play as multi-player game.
Summary
Overall, this is a very fun and engaging way to learn about US geography and State facts that can otherwise be rather dry and dull to learn.
Our Rating
State Bingo and Road Trip US is an iPad only app and a fun way to learn about US geography and State facts. It was created by Californian developer Niyaa, who are best known for their bi-lingual storybook apps. This app was developed in collaboration with teachers to align with Common Core Standards. The app is accompanied by lively background music, and has delightful Retro graphics. There are two games in the app: Road Trip and State Bingo. I’d recommend starting with Road Trip as it is easiest. Both games have 3 difficulty levels and you can “send States to Statehood” by successfully completing games in either one.
Road Trip – here you can choose from 3 difficulty levels: Easy (unlimited lives), Medium – game ends after 4 flat tires (wrong answers) and hard- game ends after 2 flat tires. First you choose which route you want to take: Eastbound, Westbound, Oregon Trail, Lewis and Clarke Trail or the Pony Express Trail. There is a blank US map with the shapes of the States outlined on it and flags showing your start and end point. Pep is a cute red car and your guide on the route. States adjacent to the one Pep is in are colored, and the student can choose which of these Pep visits next. To move to the next State the student has to correctly answer a question about that State -picking the right answer from 3 possible choices.
Bingo: This is a classic Bingo game – the Bingo card shows 16 States, you need to turn over 4 in a row to get Bingo! There are 3 levels of difficulty -Easy, Medium and Hard questions. If the student gets stuck they can look at a reference map for clues – the map is fully illustrated in the 2 lower levels and just has State names in the hardest level. The student is asked a question and has to pick which State is the right answer – if they pick the right one the card turns over, if it is the wrong one they are told the correct answer and get a new question. In the 2 lower levels the State cards show the outline of the State and it’s name, in the hardest level just the outline. Once they get a Bingo they can see how well they did and send another State to Statehood.
Overall, this is a very fun way to learn facts about US geography and State facts that can otherwise be rather dull and dry subject. I like having two different ways to play, and the fact the map builds as you play in the road trip. The map is bright and colorful and I like being able to study it with my children and point out places of interest. The different historical routes included are also a nice stepping stone to talk about American history and pioneer days. I especially like the graphics in the app – they have a very cool, Retro, 50′s feel to them. As I am from England there is a lot of State trivia and geography in this app that I don’t already know, and I enjoyed learning from it. My nine-year-old son also enjoyed playing it, and found it quite challenging. The developer says this app is for age 7 up and I think that is about right – I think students from 2nd grade up to adults will enjoy playing it. The one thing I would like to see in a future update is the addition of multiple player profiles – and an option for players to take turns competing against each other in the road race, or to get a Bingo. Then it would make a great fun learning game to play on a family game night instead of a board game.
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State Bingo and Road Trip USby Niyaa LLCCategory: Education, Kids, Games, Family Requirements: Compatible with iPadMini4G, iPadFourthGen4G, iPadThirdGen4G, iPad 3G, iPadThirdGen, iPadFourthGen, iPad 2 3G, iPad 2 WiFI, iPad WiFi, iPadMini Size: 88.16 MB |
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Screenshots for iPad
(Click to enlarge)
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NOTE: A fee was received to expedite this review to the top of our waiting list but this payment has not influenced the objectivity of the review and all opinions have been offered honestly.
Giveaway
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Mary
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Alison, Amanda, Grace and Mary are four mothers from different parts of the world dedicated to educating parents about the best digital stories, educational apps, fun games and technology products available for their children. We also offer the latest news in apps for kids, interesting articles, developer interviews, free apps and regular giveaways!
I always have such problems with the sharing part. I do it but can’t find out how to tell IMums I did. Plus I can’t figure out how to pin and post.