It continues to be time for mid-year “Best” lists.

You can see all my previous Online Learning Games “Best” lists (and there are a lot since I’ve doing this since 2007) here. Note that they’re also continually revised and updated.

Here are my picks from the first part of 2023:

Timeguessr takes geography games to a different level. You’re shown an image, and have to identify both the location where it was taken AND the year it was taken. I’m adding it to The Best Online Geography Games.

Duonut lets you create online learning games.  It appears to have a fairly generous free trial period.

The American Museum of Natural History has a ton of online games.

Quizalize is probably the least sophisticated of the online game sites (which include Quizizz, Kahoot, Blooket & Gimkit).  However, they are the first of the bunch to incorporate using AI to help make games.

The game “Taboo” – or a variation of it – is often used in ELL classrooms (see here for lots of ways it’s used). The latest very creative version of it is called Taboo.AI. In it, you pick a category, and are then shown words in that category.  You are challenged to write a question/prompt that will get the AI to come up with that word. Even better, you can submit your own category and word list that they will consider uploading to the site. I could see playing in class by having students in small teams; each group has a mini-whiteboard; and they are given chances to come up with questions that another student, peer tutor, or I input.  A team would get a point if their question is successful.  We’d do it in order so everyone would have the same number of chances to score a point. It could be fun!

Tusmo Games let players compete against each other, and there are some word games there that might have classroom value.  I’m adding it to The Best Online Games Students Can Play In Private Virtual “Rooms”

Doodlocracy is a Pictionary-like game that uses Artificial Intelligence.  You can create your private virtual room to invite friends – or your students – and then each person is given a prompt.  Once you draw it, AI embellishes it, and people have to choose what it is from a list of prompts, including the correct one.  It’s a creative idea.  Unfortunately, the prompts seem to me to be too complicated and strange (not “inappropriate) to make it a workable game in the classroom.  I’m still going to add it to The Best Online Games Students Can Play In Private Virtual “Rooms” in the hope they’ll figure out a way to simplify the prompts.

StudyBop joins the fairly crowded field of Quizizz/Kahoot/GimKit/Quizalize-type games where students can learn and compete against each other. Their library of games, and the types of games you can play, are still pretty limited, but I don’t think there can ever be too many of these kinds of sites, especially when they are free (like StudyBop is). I’m adding it to The Best Online Games Students Can Play In Private Virtual “Rooms” and The Best Websites For Creating Online Learning Games.

Hidden Door wants to turn fiction into immersive roleplaying experiences is from TechCrunch. I’m adding it to The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories.

The Climate Game is designed by the Financial Times to challenge players to mitigate climate change. I’m adding it to The Best Sites To Learn About Climate Change and  The Best Places To Read & Write “Choose Your Own Adventure” Stories.

Frankenstories is a Quizizz/Kahoot-like game for writing. You provide a prompt, players respond to it, and then players vote after each “round” about which response they think is best. You can get a free account to try it out for thirty days (without all of its features), and then it costs $100 per year (in Australian dollars – not sure the U.S. exchange rate). I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Creating Online Learning Games. I think it’s an interesting idea, though probably not that useful with English Language Learners.

EconEdLink’s Most Popular Economics Games of the Year is from Richard Byrne.