MissionUS: For Crown or Colony

The year is 1770. You are 14-year-old Nathaniel Wheeler. You’ve just left your family farm to become a printer’s apprentice in Boston. As you make your way in the city, you meet all kinds of people with different viewpoints, from Redcoats and Loyalist merchants to poets, apprentices, and Sons of Liberty –not to mention Constance Lillie, the charming young niece of a Loyalist merchant. When tensions between soldiers and citizens erupt in the Boston Massacre, you must decide where your allegiance lies. Are you with the Patriots, or are you loyal to the Crown? And will you help Constance find her lost dog?

“For Crown or Colony?” is the first installment of the acclaimed MISSION US interactive gaming series that immerses young people in the drama of American history. Winner of the Games for Change Award for “Most Significant Impact,” the Mission US series has been called “one of the most captivating educational games online” and “a powerful game that all kids should experience.” Teachers have noted that the games are “a great way to make history real for 21st century learners” and “virtual learning at its finest.” Multiple research studies show that using Mission US leads to measurable gains in historical knowledge and skills among students.

GAME FEATURES:
• Immerses players in the world of 1770 Boston before the American Revolution, culminating in the Boston Massacre and its aftermath
• Innovative choice-driven story with over 20 possible endings and badge system
• Includes interactive prologue, 5 playable parts, and epilogue - approx. 2-2.5 hours of gameplay, segmented for flexible implementation
• Diverse cast of characters features a range of perspectives on British authority and colonial protest, and includes historical figures Paul Revere and Phillis Wheatley
• Primary source documents integrated into game design
• Includes text-to-speech, Smartwords, and Glossary features to support struggling readers, as well as closed captioning, play/pause controls, and multi-track audio control.
• Collection of free classroom support resources available at mission-us.org includes document-based questions, primary sources, class activities, vocabulary builders, standards alignments, writing prompts, and visual aids.

ABOUT MISSION US:
• AWARDS include: Games for Change Award for Most Significant Impact, Japan Prize, multiple Parents’ Choice Gold, Common Sense Media ON for Learning, and International Serious Play awards, and Webby and Daytime Emmy nominations.
• CRITICAL ACCLAIM: USA Today: “a powerful game that all kids should experience”; Educational Freeware: “one of the most captivating educational games online”; Kotaku: “a slice of livable history that every American should play”; 5 out of 5 stars from Common Sense Media
• GROWING FAN BASE: 2.5 million registered users across the US and around the world to date.
• PROVEN IMPACT: Major study by Education Development Center (EDC) found students who used MISSION US significantly outperformed those who studied the same topics using typical materials (textbook and lecture) – showing a 14.9% knowledge gain versus less than 1% for the other group.
• TRUSTED TEAM: Produced by THIRTEEN WNET NY Public Media (NY’s flagship PBS station) in partnership with educational game development company Electric Funstuff and the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, City University of New York.