A strangely addictive game is Kahoot. Kahoot was something I always looked forward to in middle school, but even now in college, I still feel pretty positively about the times we use it for topic mastery. I feel like the mechanics of Kahoot are pretty limited. It’s honestly just countdown music, trivia questions, and a placement system. But these create dynamics like opponent play and time pressure, which encourage players to really lock in and become more competitive with the game.
In particular, I think the mechanic where Kahoot displays player placement and the name/point difference of neighboring players after each round is really clever. It motivates me to want to do better. The specific Kahoot music also unlocks a part of my brain that reminds me to hurry up and put in my answer. Another mechanic that creates a “challenge” aesthetic is how the answer choices are on the main board, but on your personal device, you have to select the shape/color that matches the answer on the board. I think this adds a little obstacle that sometimes trips players up. When I mess something up in this context, it makes me feel very flustered and almost angry…then I want to redeem myself even more, so I play even harder.
Even though Kahoot seems like such a simple, plain game, its mechanics are very intentional, and it makes sense why it’s still thriving to this day!
