Stack the Countries is a universal app and a wonderful sequel to the fabulous Stack the States application. Like Stack the States, Stack the Countries mixes a vast amount of geographical and related information together with a fun physics-based puzzle game that adults as well as grade schoolers and beyond will really enjoy.
The basic game play goes as follows: Answer a question about a specific country, the subject being chosen from a variety of topics that may include such things as capitals, landmarks, flags, or country recognition based on shape. A correct answer will allow this country to drop onto a platform at the bottom of the screen. Keep answering questions, and the states will stack on top of each other until they tower over a finish line mid-screen. The strategy comes in the actual stacking, as most of these countries are not close to shapes that stack cleanly. Rotate each country to make stacking easier, and do keep in mind that the laws of gravity and physics will decide if the stacking is successful. If not, the entire tower may fall, even knocking the countries off the platform itself.
What is impressive about this app is the sheer amount of information included in this very fun and educational application. A learning section is included that is wonderful. Here, each continent has a map filled with countries that you can tap to find more information about, such as country name and flag design. The scale used is excellent, but I would love to be able to zoom in and enlarge the map to see smaller countries in detail as some of them are quite small and difficult to tap on.
One can learn even more about these countries by viewing flash cards also arranged by continents. After choosing a continent, one can tap a country and read in great detail information about their chosen country of which the player will later be tested on, such as capital, map, languages spoken, major cities, and landmarks. This is a important section to explore as it will help greatly in the answering of questions that allows countries to be stacked – kids will be studying without even realizing it! It is also nice that when playing the game portion of the app, one can choose to focus the question on two or more subjects, but I wish you could confine the questions on a specific continent or country as well.
As one continues to play this game and stack countries past the finish line, the player will win a personal country for his individual map, which will be slowly filled in as more and more countries are earned. Two mini games, “Map It” and “Pile up,” are included and become to be unlocked as the states are collected.
As with Stack the States, Stack the Countries allows six players and one guest to keep track of their personal maps and countries won, a really great inclusion for large families or small groups of students. Wonderfully shot photos of famous landmarks are used here as background images as one stacks countries to one’s heart’s desire, something I have enjoyed both here and in Stack the States. This is an amazing educational experience that kids as well as adults will become addicted to. I have been impressed with all of developer Dan Russell-Pinson three apps for both their educational value, creative and fun game-play. I hope he continues to make apps long into the future.Posted in: By Age Range, By App Feature, Geography, Just For Fun, Middle School, Parents and Kids, Primary School, Puzzle, Reviews, Social
Tagged with: $1.99, Dan Russell-Pinson