I Gave My Classroom Games an AI Beta Tester

Every game I build gets tested by one person before students see it, and that person is me. I know every answer and every shortcut, which makes me the worst tester I could pick. There are 70 games on my site now. So I tried something new and handed the job to an AI.

The tester. Grok Bot is an AI assistant that works on its own computer. I gave it one link, my games page, and asked it to act as a beta tester. It found every game on the home page and on every sub-page, 70 in all. That covers everything from a Pitfall-style platformer about how a bill becomes a law to a Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist rap battle.

It reads the game instead of playing it. Clicking through 70 games on screen would take an AI a long time. Instead, Grok Bot read each game's code and on-screen text. That means every question, every answer choice, every instruction, and every ending message. It's the same information a student sees, without waiting for a character to jump across a pit. It also left my scoreboards alone, so no fake high scores showed up in my sheets.

It was fast. The whole review took less than ten minutes. I couldn't play three of my own games in that time.

It told me what works. Grok Bot called THE COMMONS one of the strongest-written games on the site, because the endings deliver the lesson. It pointed out that the Federalist vs. Anti-Federalist Rap Battle uses real primary-source quotes. It liked that One Vote gives students realistic feedback on which kinds of civic action get results, like a petition beating a complaint to coworkers. It also called the "OVERTHROWN" ending in Burger Throne a nice touch on the limits of absolute rule.

It noticed the teaching moves. Preamble Quest ties each part of the Preamble to a place, like the courthouse for "establish justice," and Grok Bot called that a solid memory device. The Breakup teaches the Declaration of Independence as a breakup letter, and it called that a creative, memorable analogy. In Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Hunting, it said the link from rights to real rules like hunting seasons and bag limits is thoughtful and concrete. In Card Trader, it liked that the pack odds sneak in a lesson on probability.

It helped me plan what to share. Grok Bot sorted all 70 games by topic and picked the ones it would feature on this blog first. That gives me a long list of games to show you in future posts.

The prompt. Here's a version of what I asked for. Swap in your own link and subject.

"I'm a teacher. Please beta test the classroom games at [YOUR SITE LINK]. Find every game on every page. Don't play them on screen. Read each game's code and on-screen text instead, and don't submit scores, log in, or change anything. For each game, tell me what topic it teaches, how it plays, and what it does well as a learning tool. Point out the strongest moments, like a clever mechanic, a memorable ending, or a smart way it teaches a concept, and quote the exact on-screen text. Then tell me which games you would feature first on a teacher blog and why."

If you build games with AI, have AI review them too, and ask it to quote the exact text it likes. Specific praise tells you which moves to reuse in your next game.

You can play every game for free on the games page. Try them yourself before you use them in class.