Dig It Games ~ Roman Town

The kids were so excited to get to try out the new game from Dig-It Games, called Roman Town! At first I wasn't as thrilled as they were, I have a general dislike of computer games. They seem to cause a whole lot of problems, like wasting time, and they also cause seizures for my photosensitive son. My opinion changed however after playing this game. This is not your typical video game. It isn't "flashy" or fast paced. It actually requires the kids to read and follow directions and think! It isn't dull at all though, there are plenty of interesting things to do.



The game starts out with choosing tools for your "diggers" to use for recovering artifacts out of the ground. After the dig, the artifacts are sorted according to what they are made from. This page teaches the name of each tool used and what purpose each tool is best used for. If it weren't so cold outside I just know the kids would be out there trying out their own tools in the yard. I'm willing to bet there will be several digging expeditions this spring!



This is what some of the artifacts look like after being dug up.....





As you can see in the picture above, there is quite a bit of reading required, so if you have a struggling reader like I do, be prepared to do a lot of helping out while playing this game. If you don't mind that, then your child can actually learn a lot even if they cannot play all of it by themselves. I read the words out loud, and then the kid playing along with me would answer questions and together we would fill in the blanks of pages like the one above. Even my 4 year old could play this way. They liked learning words in Latin, (which is good because we are working on a Latin program right now that I will be reviewing later) and were especially fond of the tile they excavated and pieced together that had the words "cave canis" written on it. That means "Beware of the Dog" in Latin. They have asked to make a sign like it to put on our fence this summer, which we just might do.



Parts of the game the kids could do on their own, with very little help. One such activity was piecing back together artifacts. They all enjoyed doing this very much! They also liked playing calculi, which is a game that is a cross between checkers and connect four. We even won a few times!



The page above really made the kids think. They had to find the objects that are modern, and shouldn't be in the picture. It was easy enough for my 4 year old to get through, it only requires clicking on the object to remove it. Some were easy to recognize, and some they had to really use their brains to figure out. This was a favorite page also.



On this page you match up artifacts with their modern day pictures. Kids learn along the way what each artifact was used for long ago. It's very interesting to make the connection and see just how alike we are today compared to back then as far as basic needs go. This opened up a lot of discussion and caused us to do some googling to get answers.

All in all the kids give this a big thumbs up! I recommend Roman Town for kids who like to play games, and parents who like them to be educational as well as fun. If your child is into archeology it makes it even better! For review purposes I have a download version, but if you purchase this game you get an actual physical product mailed to you on CD. We may buy the game to put on the kids' computer so they can enjoy it on a big screen instead of my laptop :0)

Watch a demo of Roman Town by clicking here!

Get your own copy of Roman Town by visiting Dig-It Games at http://dig-itgames.com/

If you order before February 21, 2011 and use the code TOS2001 at checkout you can purchase the game for just $19.96! Regular price is $39.95, so hurry! This is a REALLY good deal!

System Requirements
• Windows Vista/XP/2000
• CPU 800 Mhz; RAM 412MB; Hard Drive 350MB

Recommended for age 8+

You can read about what others thought of Roman Town by visiting the TOS Homeschool Crew Blog!

Disclaimer ~ We received this product for free in exchange for an honest review after using it in our homeschool. No other compensation was given. All opinions expressed here are my own and may differ from those of others.