Video Games designed to educate as well as entertain, often, but not always, using the conceit of Alphabet Soup Cans. Edutainment games first started appearing in the early 80's, mainly on personal computers, giving rise to games like The Oregon Trail, Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? and Math Blaster.
Edutainment games reached its peak in the mid 90's with the arrival of The ClueFinders, Jump Start, Living Books and the Humongous Entertainment games. The trend slowly petered out in the early-mid 00's, with companies who previously made a name for themselves making them (Davidson & Associates, Knowledge Adventure, MECC, The Learning Company, etc.) either going out of business or getting merged into a larger company.
Today, edutainment games are slowly but surely making a comeback, thanks to the advent of mobile apps and rereleases on sites like GOG and Steam. Edutainment games are typically thought of as being aimed at elementary-school-aged children, but there are also those targeted at older kids and even adults, especially in recent years. Modern edutainment games differ from their 1990s predecessors in a number of ways. In addition to being aimed at older players, they are more likely to focus on a single subject (often something relatively niche— say, prehistoric ecology or aerospace engineering) rather than covering a school curriculum. They are also less prone to using Alphabet Soup Cans, with the educational material instead being blended into the game's story.
Compare Exergaming. For the television counterpart, see Edutainment Show.
Examples:
- Adiboo: Magical Playland
- The Adventures of Hyperman
- The Adventures of Ninja Nanny & Sherrloch Sheltie
- Agent USA
- Animal Jam (while it offers plenty of educational facts about biology, it's usually played for entertainment purposes)
- Art Academy
- Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed: Odyssey (particularly the Discovery Tour mode developed with educational settings and schools in mind)
- Big Brain Academy
- Big Thinkers!
- Blaster Series
- Bill Nye the Science Guy: Stop the Rock!
- The Brain (which is a rethemed The Simpsons Pinball Party machine)
- Brain Age
- Bronkie the Bronchiasaurus
- Buzzy the Knowledge Bug
- Captain Novolin
- Carmen Sandiego series
- Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?
- Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego?
- Where in Europe Is Carmen Sandiego?
- Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?
- Where in America's Past Is Carmen Sandiego?
- Where in Space Is Carmen Sandiego?
- Carmen Sandiego: Junior Detective Edition
- Carmen Sandiego's Great Chase Through Time
- Carmen Sandiego: Word Detective
- Carmen Sandiego: Math Detective
- Carmen Sandiego's ThinkQuick Challenge
- Carmen Sandiego: Treasures of Knowledge
- The ClueFinders
- The ClueFinders 3rd Grade Adventures: The Mystery of Mathra
- The ClueFinders 4th Grade Adventures: The Puzzle of the Pyramid
- The ClueFinders 5th Grade Adventures: The Secret of the Living Volcano
- The ClueFinders 6th Grade Adventures: The Empire of the Plant People
- The ClueFinders Math Adventures Ages 9–12: Mystery in the Himalayas
- The ClueFinders Reading Adventures Ages 9–12: Mystery of the Missing Amulet
- Colobot
- Coolmath Games
- Crisis in Alborz Galaxy
- Cyber Grannies
- Dinosaur Safari
- Disney's Activity Center
- Disney's Animated Storybook
- Disney's Math Quest with Aladdin
- Donkey Kong Jr. Math
- Dr. Brain series
- Dr. Health'nstein's Body Fun
- Duolingo
- Eagle Eye Mysteries series
- EcoQuest series
- Ecco Jr.
- Fin, Fur, and Feather Bureau of Investigation
- Forestia
- Fortune Builder
- FunBrain
- Grammar Games
- Granny's Garden
- Grossology
- I. M. Meen
- It's My Life (PBS)
- Jump Start
- JumpStart Kindergarten
- JumpStart 1st Grade
- JumpStart 2nd Grade
- JumpStart Math for Second Graders
- JumpStart Reading for Second Graders
- JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain
- JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island
- JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Sapphire Falls
- JumpStart Adventures 5th Grade: Jo Hammet, Kid Detective
- JumpStart Adventures 6th Grade: Mission Earthquest
- JumpStart 3D Virtual World Series
- Junior Adventure series
- Kahoot!
- Kerbal Space Program
- Kids on Site
- Kosodate Quiz My Angel
- Learning Voyage series
- Legends & Myths
- Li'l Howie's Fun House
- Living Books
- Logical Journey of the Zoombinis
- The Lost Tribe
- The Magic School Bus
- Mario Is Missing!, a licensed spinoff of Super Mario Bros.
- Mars Horizon, a game about The Space Race, with a built-in encyclopedia.
- Math for the Real World
- Mia's Big Adventure Collection
- Minecraft: Education Edition
- Mixed-Up Mother Goose
- M.U.L.E.
- Museum Madness
- Never Alone, a unique ethnographic spin on the concept.
- New Dynamic English is not technically a game, but it is an interactive textbook-like software.
- No Greater Glory
- Number Munchers
- Odell Down Under
- Ollo in The Sunny Valley Fair
- The Oregon Trail
- Ozzie's World and Ozzie's Travels
- Packy and Marlon
- Pepper's Adventures in Time
- Pink Panther's Passport to Peril
- Pokémon Playhouse
- Popeye no Eigo Asobi
- Project Remedium - an edutainment FPS that teaches you about the human body
- Pumkin Land
- Reader Rabbit
- Real Lives
- Rex Ronan: Experimental Surgeon
- Rocksmith
- Roly Polys No Nanakorobiyaoki
- Saurian
- The Secret Island of Dr. Quandary
- Slime Forest Adventure
- The Smelly Mystery
- Socrates Jones: Pro Philosopher
- Sonic's Schoolhouse
- Spanish For Everyone
- Star Wars: DroidWorks
- Super Solvers series
- Type:Rider
- The Typing of The Dead
- The Walt Disney World Explorer
- The Wild Thornberrys: Australia Wildlife Rescue
- Thinkin' Things
- WolfQuest
- Word Rescue
- Yogi Bears Math Adventures