Ludia Wants to Know: Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? is a Facebook game based on the well-known network game show of the same name, developed by Ludia Inc.
According to our traffic tracking service AppData, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? currently has 414,671 monthly active users and 92,802 daily active users.
Like the show, Are you Smarter Than a 5th Grader? pits players against other contestants (in this case, other Facebook users) to see who is the smartest (or in this case, fastest to the correct answer) when it comes to answering elementary school level questions based on topics from math to Earth sciences. Eight questions are broken up by difficulty, from grades one to four with two per grade level, and are asked in random order. Players who answer correctly win a virtual cash prize, with the fastest respondent earning a bonus for their swiftness.
The top three players remaining once the initial questions have been exhausted have the chance to answer the 5th grade level bonus question. A correct answer nets the player nearly 10 times their existing winnings. Answering incorrectly, however, costs the player most of their winnings. The player has the choice to attempt an answer or walk away with the winnings they already have. After the game, players are ranked based on their earnings and are shown how they’ve done for the day. Two free games are provided each day, with additional game tokens awarded for increasing in experience level or available to purchase.
Players can make use of social features including sharing of accomplishments via their Wall, as well as adding friends that also play the game as “cheats” — giving the player two chances per game to automatically get the correct answer to a question. Players also receive a cash bonus as the end of the game for each friend they had playing with them. There’s an in-game live chat room as well.
Ludia is monetizing Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? very similarly to its other game show titles, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and The Price is Right. Like those games, players can use Facebook Credits to buy “episodes” — play tokens — beyond the two freebies provided each day. These episodes are sold in 20, 50 and 120 increments. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? ups the monetization ante, however, with a “Fortune Reel” slot machine mini-game that players can try for 10 Facebook Credits a spin. A winning spin scores the player up to 100 free episodes.
Ludia has made a niche for itself in social games by focusing on licensed game show properties. It’ll be interesting to see with whom the developer partners in the next TV season as more networks look to social games as a means of extending the lives of their TV properties. Keep in mind that TV game shows present social game developers with unique challenges in adapting the core gameplay of the live show to asynchronous gameplay that suits the Facebook platform.
You can follow Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.
October 14th, 2011 at 3:10 am
i often wondered who, how, and where this shows questions were derived from, as some seemed extremely advanced to be second, third, and fourth grade levels. beside the steroidal timer contestants are faced with, many of the questions require the entire timer to read, as they are a paragraph or so in length. then factor in the various equations, and problems that need calculating, etc. and i would think these staff people are sadistic. this is now confirmed!!!!! COLUMBINE??? REALLY?? what group of proffessional, adults, put thier collective minds together, and came up with this question?? and more puzzling, is WHY? the topic itself, is completely out of bounds in relation to a game, a competition, or a test of skills, in any way, shape, or form. and the actual wording of the question( i wont even bother re- writing it) is thought less, classless, gutless ,and offensive. and until this abberation is remove from the show, and a sincere, authentic, notice of contrition is conspicuously posted, this is one student you will not see in your hallways, and class rooms again.
February 4th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
I agree with most of what Don says. Some of the “math” questions are word problems and it takes the entire question timer, just to read them. Some can actually be deciphered but many are so badly worded that only a math maven with no other skills in this world, would know them. And some really make me wonder what drugs the editor was on when they were worded, such as “which days of the week have more than two diphthongs” or something like that.
I cannot explain how quickly some people click on an answer choice; all I can conclude is that if you intend to have a CHANCE of winning, do not run any other apps in your browser at the same time; it can delay how quickly a “click” is communicated by your game code.
And finally after at least a hundred such games, I have never gotten more than TWICE my phase-one-score. I assume if anyone wants to get more “money” than that, they would have to have “friends” play with them (meaning that they have helped sell the game presumably). I am here to PLAY and I am not here to make money for some faceless (!) corporation, nor will I spend REAL MONEY on games, beyond the absolute minimum necessary to have a chance to win.