Dig-It! Games, an independent developer of educational, interactive games founded by a former archaeologist and middle school teacher, introduces Loot Pursuit: Tulum, its latest free app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch that blends fun and learning for kids 11 and older. The game gives calculating a new meaning when players put their Common Core math skills to the test to protect rare artifacts from cunning looters enlisted by Ladrone, the master thief featured in the award-winning game Mayan Mysteries.
Loot Pursuit: Tulum is a fast-paced game that challenges 5th, 6th and 7th graders to solve curriculum aligned math problems—ranging from arithmetic and long division, to place value and comparison problems—in order to recover historically accurate artifacts stolen from the Maya site of Tulum in Mexico.
“For Loot Pursuit: Tulum, we’ve created an intuitive, easy-to-use interface that allows players to focus on Common Core content, a vital component of the middle school curriculum, while still playing a fun and challenging game,” said Suzi Wilczynski, president and founder of Dig-It! Games. “With a reward for persistence, instead of a penalty for failure, Loot Pursuit: Tulum encourages continued play year round to improve math skills both in and out of the classroom.”
Featuring randomized problems and five levels of increasing difficulty, Loot Pursuit: Tulum rewards players with their collection of recovered artifacts on display in the Loot gallery. There, players can browse through retrieved items, complete with realistic, high quality graphics and genuine artifact descriptions.
In addition to testing players’ knowledge of Numbers and Operations to solve math problems, Loot Pursuit: Tulum provides a unique perspective on the ancient Maya civilization. A professional archaeologist for nearly 10 years, Wilczynski tapped into her experience at dig sites across the world in order to create a variety of site-appropriate, genuine artifacts, for which players must protect through game play.
Loot Pursuit: Tulum is available for free download via the iTunes App Store, and was designed specifically for iOS7 to comply with Apple’s campaign to ensure the highest level of protection and security for children playing games via its new app guidelines.
“We’re excited to be able to participate in Apple’s new initiative to protect children’s rights and will continue with future releases as well,” said Wilczynski. “Privacy is a main concern of ours at Dig-It! Games. Our games are about delivering fun, educational lessons to kids, not advertisements.”