Family History Games at BYU Family History Tech Lab

A new discovery!  I learned about the BYU Family History Technology Lab from RootsTech when I tried reverse indexing and found that the lab offers several family history games.  To play the games I needed to sign in to my free FamilySearch account and allow the game to have access to my tree.  Most of the specific questions on some of the games come from information about ancestors in FamilyTree.  My hint for success is to know your ancestors!

Geneopardy! was the first game I played.  It's a family history version of the TV show Jeopardy.  You can choose the number of generations to include, choose a deceased person's tree, and you can play alone or choose up to four teams to play against each other.   Sometimes you need to know history as well as about ancestors.  These are some of the questions from the game.
At the 100 level

• Which of these people died on [date]?
• Which of these people was born in [location]?
• [Ancestor] married [First and Middle Names] _______.  What was [ancestor's] maiden name?
• Which of these people emigrated from [location] to [location]?
• Which of these people lived the shortest?
  

At the 500 level

• Which of these people married in [year]?
• Which of these people was married in [specific location]?
• How is [ancestor one] related to [ancestor two]?
• Which of these people was born during the Romantic period?
• What is the most common month of birth in your tree?
  

Wheel of Family Fortune was the next game I tried.  I think it's similar to the television version of Wheel of Fortune and I think it would be more fun when several people play.  I don't watch the TV show so it took me a few minutes to learn how to play.

Some of the Ancestor Games looked fun.  Several depended on having photos and other images attached to ancestors in FamilySearch, and several were timed.

• Matching Game is like the card game little ones play.  You can choose between several numbers of pairs of cards to lay out.
• Ancestor Coloring allows you to choose a photo from your computer, from a url (which didn't work for me), or from from FamilySearch.  I think it takes a techy person to do this. I did not have success, but it looks like it would be great for kids.
  
• Cross Word had questions like, "Your father's mother's mother's mother's father's mother" and "Male, Born about 29 September 1848," etc.  It could be challenging for some.
  
• Word Search was similar to the ones on paper.  The words to find were at the bottom, below the screen, so you'll need either a good memory for which ones you're looking for or you'll need to scroll up and down.
• Word Scramble is in list form -- letters to the left, boxes to type the unscrambled word to the right. 
• Family Photo Shoot is a 9-piece puzzle, easier if you have a face, harder if you have an old, not-quite-in-focus gravestone.

Record Quest was the last game I looked at.  This seemed to me like an early computer game.  Choose an avatar, then press the up and down arrows to navigate through doors and look around rooms to search for clues.

Maybe there's a game you'd like to try or think family members would like to play, or even play as teams.  I wish members of my family were interested enough in family history to want to play any of these games!

The BYU Family History Technology Lab also offers other resources that may be of interest to family historians.  Check out their website if you're so inclined.

-–Nancy.

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