Explore 7 Songhai Empire review games designed by a teacher to engage students and reinforce curriculum. Turn Social Studies review into a game and give students a reason to get excited about showing what they know.

• GRUDGEBALL turns review into a battle where correct answers earn cannon shots to sink opposing teams before they sink you.
• The TERRIBLE Game adds strategy to review as correct answers uncover positive or negative points that can help your team or hurt your opponents.
• SCOOT combines review with movement as students rotate between desks and work their way through a set of topic-specific task cards.
• In TRASHKETBALL™, students compete to answer questions quickly and correctly to earn chances to shoot and score for their team.
• 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.
• In FRAZZLED, teams answer questions to uncover mystery points, but one wrong answer or unlucky bomb can completely change the game.
• In BUMP, correct answers earn students shots at the platform, where they can score even more points by bumping off opposing teams.

Review works a lot better when students actually want to participate, and games give them a reason to jump in. The competition gets students paying attention to every question, communicating with their team, and getting genuinely excited when the answer is revealed. 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.