Explore 7 Empire Building review games designed by a teacher to engage students and reinforce curriculum. When students are having fun, they forget they are reviewing, making games a great way to practice Social Studies.

• The BIG TERRIBLE Game keeps the whole class involved as up to eight teams answer together and watch their scores swing above and below zero.
• TRASHKETBALL™ gets teams racing to answer correctly, then rewards them with shots at the trash can to score points.
• SCOOT combines review with movement as students rotate between desks and work their way through a set of topic-specific task cards.
• In The TERRIBLE Game, teams answer questions to reveal mystery scores, then decide who gets the points as everyone battles to finish closest to zero.
• Turn review into a classroom battle with GRUDGEBALL, where correct answers earn attacks and successful baskets give teams extra shots at their opponents.
• In BUMP, correct answers earn students shots at the platform, where they can score even more points by bumping off opposing teams.
• In FRAZZLED, teams answer questions to uncover mystery points, but one wrong answer or unlucky bomb can completely change the game.

Review doesn’t have to mean another worksheet, especially when a game can get the whole class involved. Before long, students are cheering, discussing answers, and asking to play again—even when their team didn’t win. Over time, that excitement carries beyond the game itself, as students start preparing because they want their team to have a better chance of winning next time.

And it isn’t just something I’ve seen in my own classroom—research has found significant learning benefits from using educational games with students. See the research.