TLDR: Play this game. Learn stuff. Tell me what I got wrong. Desktop is best.
For the past few weeks I've been working on a game, inspired by the Tuttle Twins early American history curriculum my kids are using this year. It's called The Printer's Daughter. The player is the daughter of a Philadelphia printer during the revolutionary years of 1776 to 1791. It begins with the printing of the Declaration of Independence, goes through the British occupation of Philadelphia, the changes with France entering the war, discussions of women's rights and slavery, the death of the continental dollar, and ends with setting the Bill of Rights in type. It's from a girl's perspective again, because frankly, my kids are girls. For those that saw Little Victoria last week, I promise, these will get more masculine when my little goober comes into his own. In the meantime, you can play as a girl. You're not that insecure. :)
The game is not small (a few hours of gameplay), so you can save the game and come back. Also, I tried to sneak in a lot of interdisciplinary stuff.
There are a lot of Tuttle-Twins style critical thinking questions.
It will test your grade-school level math skills for sure.
That said, the plot is pretty involved, and I think grown-ups (who aren't easily offended by moral ambiguity) will enjoy too. You'll meet famous people.
It addresses the soft money crisis that almost wrecked the early USA.
Kids will be confronted with the issue of slavery in that era. There is also a lot of debate about gender.
I worked pretty hard at getting all the facts right and showing the actual debates from the era. But I also tried to not tell the player what to think. I'm curious what stackers think. I actually still haven't shown this one to my kiddos yet. My wife has played a decent amount, but I'm looking for some more objective feedback before putting this in front of actual children. What are your thoughts? Did you get stuck? Bored? Offended? Did I get the facts straight?
We're not insecure...hahahaha...I have a daughter, I'll see what she thinks and let you know.
I was pretty proud of that line. ;)
Thanks! Let me know what you guys think!