Imagine a classroom where students actually groan when the review game ends. Where answering questions isn’t just about rote memorization, but about strategy, resource management, and sometimes, sabotage. This is the energy Gimkit brings to learning environments.
If you have spent any time in educational technology circles recently, you have likely heard the name. But what exactly is it, and why are teachers swapping out their old review tools for this new contender? This guide explores the mechanics, benefits, and practical applications of Gimkit, the game-show classroom app that was actually built by a high school student.
What is Gimkit?
Gimkit is an interactive digital game-show platform designed for classrooms. It allows educators to turn quizzes and reviews into live, competitive games. Students answer questions on their own devices—laptops, tablets, or smartphones—at their own pace.
Unlike traditional quiz platforms where points are just arbitrary numbers, Gimkit introduces an in-game economy. Correct answers earn students “cash” (virtual currency), which they can reinvest during the game to purchase upgrades and power-ups. This unique twist adds a layer of strategy that keeps students engaged far longer than standard trivia games.
The Origin Story
The platform’s backstory is almost as compelling as the gameplay. It was created by Josh Feinsilber while he was still a high school student in Seattle. Frustrated by the repetitive nature of existing classroom games, he set out to build something that students would genuinely want to play. The result is a tool built by a student for students, addressing the specific engagement gaps found in other ed-tech tools.
How Gimkit Works: The Core Loop
The basic mechanic of Gimkit is simple yet addictive. Here is the typical flow of a session:
- The Setup: A teacher creates a “Kit” (a set of questions) or imports one from Quizlet or a spreadsheet.
- The Join: Students join the game session via a code on their devices.
- The Grind: As the game starts, students answer questions. Unlike other platforms where you wait for the whole class to answer, students in Gimkit move at their own pace. Questions repeat to ensure mastery.
- The Economy: A correct answer earns virtual money. An incorrect answer costs money.
- The Shop: This is the differentiator. Students can open a shop menu to buy upgrades.
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- Money per Question: Increases how much cash is earned for a right answer.
- Streak Bonus: Rewards answering multiple questions correctly in a row.
- Multipliers: Increases overall earnings.
- Power-ups: These can be used to freeze other players, blur their screens, or shield oneself from attacks.
The game ends when a time limit is reached or when a collective financial goal (e.g., the class earns $10,000) is met.
Key Features and Benefits
Gimkit has evolved rapidly, adding features that cater specifically to the needs of modern classrooms.
For Educators
High Engagement Through Gamification
The primary benefit is raw engagement. The combination of immediate feedback, currency accumulation, and the ability to upgrade creates a “just one more turn” mentality. Teachers often report students asking to play Gimkit during free time.
Data-Driven Insights
Once the chaos of the game settles, Gimkit provides robust reporting. Teachers can see a detailed breakdown of student performance. You can identify which questions were missed most frequently and which students might need extra help. This transforms the game from a fun distraction into a valid formative assessment tool.
Homework and Assignments
Gimkit isn’t restricted to live play. Teachers can assign “Kits” as homework. Students can play at home at their own pace, making review assignments feel less like a chore and more like a challenge.
KitCollab
This feature allows students to contribute to the creation of the quiz. Each student writes a question, the teacher approves or rejects it, and the approved questions become the game. This promotes higher-order thinking as students must formulate questions rather than just answering them.
For Students
Strategy Over Speed
In many quiz games, the fastest student always wins. Gimkit levels the playing field. A student who answers slowly but invests their money wisely in upgrades can often beat a student who answers quickly but ignores the strategy element. This allows different types of learners to shine.
Repetition Without Boredom
To earn enough money to buy cool upgrades, students have to answer a lot of questions. This forces repetition—a key component of learning—without it feeling tedious. They aren’t answering the same question five times because the teacher said so; they are doing it because they need $500 more to buy a streak bonus.
Game Modes
Gimkit constantly rotates through different game modes.
- Classic: Free-for-all competition.
- Team Mode: Students work together to pool their cash.
- Trust No One: A social deduction game inspired by Among Us, where students must identify the impostors while answering questions.
- The Floor is Lava: A cooperative mode where the class must keep building to stay above rising lava.
Tips for Getting Started with Gimkit
If you are new to the platform, the interface is intuitive, but a few pro tips can ensure your first session is a success.
1. Import, Don’t Reinvent
You don’t need to type out 50 questions manually. Gimkit integrates seamlessly with Quizlet. If you already have flashcard sets on Quizlet, you can export them and import them directly into Gimkit in seconds. You can also search the Gimkit library for existing Kits made by other teachers.
2. Start with “Classic” Mode
The special modes like “Trust No One” or “Draw That” are fantastic, but they have steeper learning curves. For your first session, stick to Classic mode so students can understand the basic mechanics of earning money and buying upgrades.
3. Adjust the Settings
Before launching, look at the game options. You can turn off “Power-ups” if you want a purely academic focus without students sabotaging each other. You can also set a “Clap Limit” (which prevents the game from going too long) or adjust the starting cash amount to give struggling students a boost.
4. Use the “KitCollab” Early
Try using KitCollab in the first month. It gives students ownership over their learning. When they see their own name pop up as the author of a question during the game, their engagement spikes.
Educational Settings: How to Use Gimkit
Gimkit is versatile enough for almost any subject or grade level, from elementary school to corporate training.
The Foreign Language Classroom
Vocabulary acquisition requires massive amounts of repetition. Gimkit is perfect here.
- Use Case: Set up a 10-minute warm-up game where students match words to definitions. The repetitive nature ensures they see the new vocabulary words dozens of times in a single session.
The Math Class
Math review can often be dry. Gimkit adds adrenaline.
- Use Case: Use Gimkit for rapid-fire mental math or formula recognition. Since students work at their own pace, those who need extra time to calculate won’t feel pressured by a ticking clock on the main screen, unlike in other live quiz games.
Social Studies and History
Remembering dates and figures is often a rote memorization task.
- Use Case: Use the “Trust No One” mode for a history review. Students have to answer history questions to keep the ship running while figuring out who the impostors are. This adds a layer of social negotiation and critical thinking to the factual review.
Professional Development (PD)
Even teachers get bored during meetings.
- Use Case: Use Gimkit to review new school policies or tech initiatives during a staff meeting. It lightens the mood, wakes everyone up, and demonstrates a tool they can immediately take back to their classrooms.
Pricing and Accessibility
Gimkit operates on a freemium model.
- Gimkit Basic (Free): This allows you to use the core features and play the current featured game modes. However, it typically restricts the number of players or the types of modes available at any one time.
- Gimkit Pro: This paid subscription unlocks unlimited access to all game modes year-round, allows for image and audio uploads in questions, and provides more advanced reporting features.
For many teachers, the free version is sufficient for occasional use, but power users often find the Pro subscription (or a school-wide license) worth the investment for the unrestricted access to engaging modes.
Conclusion
Education technology often falls into the trap of digitizing old methods—making a worksheet a PDF or a quiz a web form. Gimkit succeeds because it fundamentally changes the dynamic of the assessment itself. It respects the fact that students are motivated by agency, strategy, and a bit of healthy competition.
By turning review sessions into a dynamic economy where knowledge is literally currency, Gimkit tricks the brain into wanting to learn. Whether you are teaching third-grade multiplication or high school chemistry, Gimkit offers a fresh, energetic way to ensure concepts stick. It represents a shift toward student-centered tools that prioritize engagement just as much as curriculum, proving that in the modern classroom, it pays to know the answer.
