What if you could shrink to a microscopic size and explore the human body?  Where would you go and what would you do?  Would you swim through the heart alongside a million tiny red blood cells or dance amid the electric synapses of the brain?

What if someone’s life depended on your actions, working inside his body to save his life?  That just may be the future of nanomedicine…

…and now you can experience it firsthand, in Pandemic!

Pandemic mirrors the historic collision of cultures that occurred when Hernán Cortés and the Spanish Conquistadors attempted to conquer the Aztec Empire—and brought smallpox with them.

Our courageous crews must unravel a mysterious plague, not only to save an ill patient, but also to restore hope of peaceful relations between two very different civilizations!

Learn more about Pandemic and our other missions.

This post is a bit belated (which is another word for tardy, which is another word for remiss, which is another word for behindhand, which is another word for “I should have posted this on Saturday but I didn’t get around to it until now, four days later, so shame on me,” which is a rather long phrase so you can see why I used “belated” instead.  My brevity is a sign of my wit.

What happened on Saturday, you ask?  We had our first playtest at the Children’s Museum’s Makeshop!

We spent two hours at the Makeshop as bright young minds from all over Pittsburgh wandered into our magical snares and took our software controls out for a test drive.  We had six stations fired up:  Engineer, Gunner, Hacker, Security Chief, Biologist, and Doctor.  All were very popular and fun was had by all.

I was impressed by how well the young kids took to the controls.  Our controls are designed for older users (ages 8 and up), but the kids in the 5-7 range did a great job too.  They might not have picked up on all the subtleties, but that didn’t slow them down one iota, which is another word for scintilla, which is another word for smidgen… okay, I’ll stop now.

One of the great things about playtesting at the Makeshop was the wide variety of users we had access to.  The controls were a hit among adults (parents, grandparents, and Makeshop staff alike), and it was a lot of fun watching mixed age groups use the controls together.  It was also heart-warming to watch all the kids show their parents how things worked… kids are much better at this sort of thing.  They aren’t afraid to just jump in and try things.

We saw quite a few kids come and go during the session, but one awesome kid with big dreams stayed the entire two hours, moving from one control to the next until he had mastered them all.

The Makeshop was an ideal spot for playtesting, and I’d highly recommend it.  We liked it so much that we’re coming back… three more times!  Stay tuned for the dates of three more playtests over the next two months or so.

What if you could travel back in time to a turning point in history?  What would you do if you found yourself at a historic crossroads… say, at the beginning of World War I?

If you could change events and stop the war from happening, would you?  Should you?  What would happen if you did?  How would history—and life today—be different?

Well don’t just think about it—do it… in Lusitania!

The timeline has been altered!  Lusitania takes crews back in time to the year 1915 where war rages across Europe and beneath the Atlantic Ocean.  Something is amiss, and crews must use their understanding of history, metric measures, classic literature, and the extent of their collective wits to repair the timeline before history completely unravels!

Learn more about Lusitania and our other missions.

Calling all kids ages 6 and up!  Come one, come all, join us for our first playtest at the MAKESHOP in the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum.

Who:  You!  Kids ages 6 to 60 are invited to take our magical simulator controls for a test drive

Where:  Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, inside the MAKESHOP

When:  Saturday, February 16, from 10am to noon

Why:  This is your first chance to see our simulator controls in action—with you in the driver’s seat!

See the Children’s Museum calendar for more details and other great events!

Here’s a question for you:  How can one teach about renewable energy sources and the American Revolution at the same time?  How can one illustrate the rights and responsibilities of citizens while simultaneously teaching about chemical catalysts?  What about bacteria and trade dependency?

The answer, my friend, is Insurrection.

Insurrection, the second Dream Flight Adventures™ mission, carries on our unique tradition of blending STEM concepts, history, and crucial social issues in a way that students never forget.

Insurrection drops students into the middle of a conflict between a large empire and its unsatisfied colonists.  Tensions are high, loyalties are fierce, and at any moment the entire scenario could break out into war.  The students must apply their understanding of science, history, and human nature to navigate this web of egos and agendas.  And, as always, the clock is ticking, so they must use their whole brains and every ounce of creativity they can muster to accomplish their mission.

Learn more about Insurrection and our other missions.