Here are some free games that garnered awards from the 2020 Serious Play Conference.
Word Beach by Kooaps
Word Beach recently won a Bronze Awards from the July 2020 Serious Play conference. It is a free crossword puzzle game for mobile device where players must solve puzzles using a Boggle-style circular letter bank.
It is targeted toward K-12 students, primarily elementary-level English learners, but the game’s scalable difficulty is accessible to all ages. It utilizes daily puzzles to reward frequent players and reinforce learning. Word Beach was developed by Kooapps. It is usable on mobile devices and can be found through the App Store or at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kooapps.wordxbeachandroid&hl=en.
Win the White House by iCivics
Win the White House (https://www.icivics.org/games/win-white-house), won a Gold medal at the 2020 Serious Play Conference. It is an interactive game developed to help students understand the voting system in the United States. It challenges players to manage a hypothetical presidential campaign, learning about the electoral process and influences on public opinion along the way.
It is part of a wider set of games offered by iCivics. Educators and parents can create a free iCivics account to save student scores and progress. These games are offered in an iCivics Game Odyssey (https://www.icivics.org/game-odyssey), which lets students play their way through a series of games each week, claim badges, and learn important civics lessons.