Water Cooler Games
Water Cooler Games served as the web's primary forum for "videogames with an agenda" — coverage of the uses of video games in advertising, politics, education, and other everyday activities, outside the sphere of entertainment.

The site was maintained at watercoolergames.org from 2003-2009, where it was edited by myself and Gonzalo Frasca. It is now archived here in full.
Search Water Cooler Games:  
You are reading an archived version of this article. The original URL was (loading...)
Announcing the launch of Take Back Illinois: Education
by Ian Bogost September 29, 2004

Take Back Illinois - EducationThe second of four sub-games in the Take Back Illinois Game is now available. This sub-game covers the issue of improving public education in the state. You can also read my general description of the game and the first sub-game, about Medical Malpractice Reform.

Now that two of the four games are available, I want to make a quick comment on the interrelation between the sub-games. For registered players who can save their scores, the score on each sub-game affects your performance on other the other sub-games. So, after you play Education, you might want to go back and play Medical Malpractice again, and vice versa.

Two more sub-games will launch, one each for the next two weeks. The next sub-game covers citizen participation, and the final game covers economic development. Stay tuned here for more information ... there may be some surprises coming.