Do you need a fun way of teaching kids the basics of the physics and engineering principles behind bridge-building? You may not have to commission your own game, because a lot of that is covered by a fun new casual game called Cargo Bridge. Cargo Bridge is similar to Lemmings , in that you take the roll of powerful caretaker who must keep a group of creatures with no sense of self-preservation alive. In this case, you've got a handful of workers who need to collect precariously laid crates, elephants, and safes, and bring them back to their base. The way you allow your workers to succeed is by using your bridge-building skills. The game uses a physics engine to simulate the physics of bridges. You have a certain budget that you can use to buy walkways and supports, and you have to place them so that they support each other. You might be very surprised when you start out to see your bridge design isn't up to code. When an unstable bridge is created, it might fall apart under its own weight as soon as you start a level, or it might be a little more stable, and not collapse until your workers are trying to use it to move heavy crates.

The interface for designing your bridges is a wonderful step forward for these kinds of construction games. When you click on the icon to plan your bridge, the level changes from a colorful cartoon world, to a simple blue-print. You select the part you want to build, and click and drag to create the part. A tooltip pops up telling you how much money you'll be spending on this particular piece, which increases as you stretch it. The same tooltip turns red and tells you if you don't have the cash to pay for the part, or if the part is too long. The blue-print build mode strips out all of the distracting elements of the game, and even gives you some helpful notes and measurments! It's a great way to avoid cognitive overload! When you think you've got all of your bridges ready, or if you just want to test the parts you've got done so far, you click on the "test bridge" icon. This switches back to the richely colored cartoon world, and sends your workers off to collect their crates.

The budget constraint means you have to be efficient in your design, and it even doubles as the game's scoring mechanic. Any money left over on a given level gets added to your score! For a game about careful planning, this is a much better scoring mechanic than using a time limit. It means you will concentrate on making the best bridge possible with the least amount of materials. Later on you get the option of using steel instead of wood. Steel is stronger, but heavier and more expensive, which ads another element of strategy to the game.

A game designed specifically to teach the concepts of bridge-building would probably include a bit more instruction along with challenges, but I can see this game being used to great effect as part of blended curriculum.

Play Cargo Bridge