Test my vocabulary and feed the hungry at the same time? I'm in.
Freerice.com is a simple, addictive little game from John Breen, an independent developer in Bloomington, Indiana. All you do is select the proper definition of the word on the screen. Words like "hypocorism" and "clowder" (oy!). Keep answering correctly, and you are rewarded with points, increasing difficulty - and a donation of 20 grains of rice to the poor of Bangladesh.
The visuals in this game are great. Each time a player answers correctly, a wooden bowl receives 20 grains of rice. As a typical American with a full belly, those 20 grains look mighty skimpy. And so one must press on to fill the bowl in order to assuage the guilt derived from having plenty.
Fortunately, there are over half a million players on the site every day. As of this writing, 23,202,482,290 grains of rice have been donated. That's 1,160,124,115 vocabulary words correctly defined. And thousands of Bangladeshis going to sleep tonight with food in their bellies.
Thank you, John.
I'm serious,
Anne
