If you are seeking a fun game app that is sly about being educational, Filler, an online flash game developed by Simian Logic.
I showed it to my 7-year-old nephew while waiting at a bowling alley for a lane to open, and Blowfish kept his attention until it was our turn to roll. He got a kick out of the game’s goal and laughed at its sound effects and animations. He really liked the facial expressions of the blowfish, deeming them “really cute.” The blowfish give looks of bereaved shock when popped. Fully inflated blowfish look sickly or irritated if they are pelted in succession by too many urchins.
On the surface, Blowfish seems to be a time-waster game you can play while bored in a waiting room. The game’s secondary aim, whether intentional or not, is to teach the people who play it about spacial relations. Children as young as 4 years old (according to Trippert Labs) can ascertain the maximum area each blowfish can and should occupy to complete each level. It also provides a visual element to learning percentages.
Blowfish may be eerily similar to Filler, but it has superior graphics and different game-play elements. This adds personality and dispels any notion in my mind that Blowfish is an uninspired knock-off. Plus it’s kid-friendly.
