In 2005, Tabula Digita hired 21-6 to build a first-person shooter that taught math. The game was originally called Evolver and consisted of a series of single-player story-based missions that taught the core concepts of Algebra to players. Since then, we have continued to work with Tabula Digita to create many different multiplayer variations of the game now called DimensionM.

In recent years, DimensionM has been played in schools all across the country and is becoming a staple of classrooms in the New York school system. Large cross-school tournaments called the MegaBowl show how invested kids get with the game and learning their math subjects so they can do well when playing against their friends.

DimensionM was used in a “game-based learning study” that included 250 students, 10 teachers, and lasted 26 weeks. The results were overwhelmingly positive: 90 percent of students indicated that some or most of the activities were fun; approximately 67 percent felt the activities were just right in their level of complexity, and about 89 percent believed DimensionM allowed them to demonstrate some or most of their mathematics skills and knowledge.

During the post-research focus group, teachers were asked if they thought the relationship had changed between them and their students as a result of integrating the educational game. All teachers, 100 percent, answered that the relationship had changed, indicating that many felt that the students now saw them in a different way.

21-6 is honored to be part of such an amazing project and story. We are looking forward to continuing our commitment to Tabula Digita, DimensionM, and the mission of educating our society through entertainment.