Cisco Binary Game Review

A few months ago, I found out that Cisco had created a set of online games to help people achieve Cisco certification. Since I've always heard from those at my work that Cisco certifications can be very difficult, expensive and time consuming, I was very interested. Unfortunately the few times I tried to access the games, there were troubles with the site and I wasn't able to. This is why I was so excited to find the Cisco Binary Game listed on the Serious Game Classification website.

This game is another drill-style game, continually providing the player with a serious of problems based on binary math. The player is either given a total and asked to select the options that would create that total using binary math, or is given a row of selected bits and asked to calculate the total. As time progresses, the problems become harder and appear faster. If you answer a problem that row disappears; if the screen fills up with problems, you lose the game.

While the screen filling up with new problems (which reminded me vaguely of Tetris) and music added a slightly more interesting dimention, I still felt like I was using flashcards to practice binary math. This game can be a good way to drill students on binary math problems, I didn't find that the gameplay interface added anything. Also, after completing a few levels I found like my biggest challenge was being able to physically click the buttons fast enough to keep the screen from filling up--and that's coming from someone who has never officially learned binary math and in fact has spent the last 8 years avoiding math in the liberal arts!

The primary use I can see for this game is to let computer science or math students practice math, and specifically practice being able to answer problems based on binary very quickly. I wouldn't use the game as an introduction to binary math for younger students as I think the pace of the game could cause some problems, and I also wouldn't necessarily use it for advanced students, as they might get bored very easily in the early levels. Essentially, I think this game is useful for practicing binary math drills for students who understand the basics of the problems and simply need to practice quick thinking.