Can you dig it?

For Christmas my two older kids got metal detectors.  They have been outside searching with them often.  They have not been able to dig things up, because the ground is so frozen.  They have been digging still, only virtually, with a new game “Roman Town” by Dig It Games.


Roman Town begins with  a lot of reading.  It gives you a comic strip type background story of who, what, where and why about the dig you will be working on.  The very first time my 10 year old attempted to play it, she said it didn’t feel much like a game to her, there was just too much reading.  Then she just didn’t want to play it.  A few days later she asked me if she could try it again.  She mentioned that she wished she could skip the intro about the background of the dig.  She could “click” through it.  That way she could get to the dig faster. 

When you are digging you set down marking flags and choose workers, along with what type of tools they will be using.  (Although, it didn’t seem to matter, you find the artifacts either way.)  Once you find an artifact you put it together, meaning you do some type of puzzle.  You learn what each artifact was used for.  After you finish a room in the 6 room house you are uncovering.  You complete a “fill in the blank” type report.  I noticed Emily often needing help with these, which lead me to belief she did not actually absorb the information about all the artifacts.  (Maybe it was information overload, or maybe it was her just clicking through the reading to play the game.)

This has been a nice indoor activity during the winter.  I would recommend this if you were learning about ancient Rome in your history as a supplement.   This would also be a fun way to introduce Roman History or archeology into your curriculum. 

Also if you kids are really into archeology and computer games.  They would enjoy this.  Part of my problem with Emily is that I set her expectations of it being a “no brainer” game, which it is not.  If I would have told her upfront that there was some reading to go along with it, and some digital reports, she may have had a different attitude about it, and paid more attention to the reading that had to do with the artifacts. 

If you think Roman Town is something you would like, you can get it for $39.95.  They are offering my readers a special limited time discount if you use code TOS2011 before Feb. 21st you will get the game for just $19.96.  That almost $20.00 in savings. 


To see what others though of this check out this post on our crew blog.

{I received Roman Town for free for review purposes.  Everything in this blog, including this review is my very own opinion and has not been influenced in any way}