Most parents consider each part (Rating Category, Content Descriptors, Interactive Elements) of the ESRB rating system to be either “very” or “extremely” important when deciding if a game or app is appropriate for their kids. 65% of the ESRB ratings assigned to physical and console downloadable video games in 2024 were either E (Everyone) or E10+ (Everyone 10+). This user-friendly guide will help provide you with the information you need to manage your kids’ video gameplay experiences and keep peace of mind.
You know you have a great product when moans of ‘NOOOOOO’ fill the room when you say it is time to move on. He wanted to keep playing and playing. I shared the lessons with my 11 year old son spar casino and he played both modules with boy characters and helped his sister with the two ‘girl’ modules…for fun!
Completing your missions made me feel like I was in that part of history, and was part of it. It is designed for students, but I love it with my heart and so have the adults I know who have played it. Mission U.S. games help students connect, care, and think. We also conduct formative testing with diverse students, and involve educators who help ensure that the material is developmentally and academically appropriate for children in the target age group, grades 5-8.
“Games can truly place students in the past / build an emotional connection to the past as well as going to a location. “I simply wanted to write and thank you for creating such a truly wonderful and immersing mission about the American Revolution. “I have really enjoyed using these activities with my students… We did each part, discussed it, and I used several of the resource work-sheets to check for comprehension. It teaches history in an empathetic way– I can’t WAIT to use it in my classroom next year!!! “I’ve been using MUS in my 7th grade social studies class for about 4-5 years.
I was forced to play this for class and we had to answer questions about the decisions we made and it’s due this coming Monday. Kudos to all involved in bringing this to our children. I hope you make many more of these covering other historical time periods. I hope you continue to develop amazing resources like these that are free to our students.” I love that you provide editable documents that I can customize for my unique groups!
I got to see and imagine for myself what it would have been like to live in different times, as different people, to understand perspectives not my own. Often middle schoolers struggle to connect the information to real lives and Mission US helps build that bridge. Mission US includes extensive teaching materials for each mission.
Mobile Games
Before integrating a mission into the curriculum, we strongly encourage parents and educators to preview the entirety of that mission themselves, and make certain it is appropriate for their children/students and community. The missions are not simulations, nor truly games in the sense that there is no “winning” or “losing,” nor do users get a score or grade. We recommend that educators and parents/caregivers preview game content to ensure it is appropriate for your students/children.
About the ESRB
To learn more about Mission US and our development process, visit the ABOUT section of this website and, as always, please feel free to reach out to the Mission US team at Mission US is committed to teaching complex topics in American history. You’ll need a new username to keep playing Mission US in our updated system.
Welcome to Mission US
You can then redeem this game on the specific gaming platform (i.e., PC, Steam, Xbox, Playstation or Switch) to download and play it immediately. It’s never too late to have “the conversation” with your kids about what, when, and how they can play! Industry guidelines, which are enforced by the ESRB, prohibit the inappropriate target marketing of Mature-rated games. Are your kids ready to become a “monke” (the name for in-game characters) and engage in fast-paced, physical tag?
- I grew up learning history the old fashioned way – textbooks!
- I am a 6th grader and, your games made me love history more and made me want to learn a lot more about history!
- I was exposed to history that no one was teaching me as a kid.
- My students constantly bring up what happened to their characters in the @Mission_US games!
- Most parents consider each part (Rating Category, Content Descriptors, Interactive Elements) of the ESRB rating system to be either “very” or “extremely” important when deciding if a game or app is appropriate for their kids.
- Learn how to set parental controls, manage your kids’ gameplay experiences using our Family Gaming Guide, download the ESRB mobile app, and more.
How and when can I contact Instant Gaming?
Parental controls are available for virtually every device and allow you to block games and apps by rating, set time limits, manage in-game purchases, restrict access to the Internet, and more ESRB ratings provide information about what’s in a game or app so parents and consumers can make informed choices about which games are right for their family. I ended up playing this and the bonus games sooo many times because it was great and loads of fun.
My 8th graders absolutely loved playing today, and at least one went straight home and finished the whole mission. So because me and many other kids love history, PLEASE, make a 4th, and 5th, and 6th mission,and on and on, and on. But now that I have completed all of your missions, and watched all of the videos, I have nothing to do after school. “The thing I appreciate most about mission-US games is that it allows students to better understand the lives of people involved in these events. Developed for use by middle school students in the classroom and beyond, Mission US is a deeply-researched, award-winning educational media project with proven positive impact on history learning.
“I’m 12 and I really like both of your missions I have completed them. I taught US history and I believed students should always learn as many perspectives as possible… I would certainly forward this to teachers and, history teachers in particular.” Often times, our perspective is omitted or minimized in US history. I love the simple, but real graphics, the authentic voices, and the true consequences good/bad to my choices as I play.”
- My son (11yrs old) is homeschooled and he has been enjoying the missions all day today.
- “I teach 4th grade in CO and this addresses our learning targets in ways I would never be able to reach my students through any other typical medium.
- Use our free mobile app to look up rating information, including Rating Summaries, on the go.
- The ESRB rating system has three parts – Rating Categories, Content Descriptors and Interactive Elements, the latter of which were introduced in 2013.
- These games are terrific and I would love to see more available.”
- Federal Trade Commission 87% of kids under the age of 17 are turned away when trying to buy an M-rated game at retail.
- We also conduct formative testing with diverse students, and involve educators who help ensure that the material is developmentally and academically appropriate for children in the target age group, grades 5-8.
What a way to bring the history alive for them and give them more context than I’m able to provide. I can’t tell you how much I LOVE your simulations and what an asset it has been for my ELL students. “I teach United States History to new immigrant students (ELLs) at The Brooklyn International High School in Brooklyn, NY. I will recommend these often as a great example of what modern schooling should look like.” I will (along with my team) definitely make mission-us.org a part of my curriculum.”
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The ESRB rating system has three parts – Rating Categories, Content Descriptors and Interactive Elements, the latter of which were introduced in 2013. The E (Everyone) rating was originally called K-A (Kids to Adults) but was changed in 1998. Use our free mobile app to look up rating information, including Rating Summaries, on the go. You can find rating summaries when you conduct a ratings search on this site or download our mobile app. Interactive Elements highlight interactive or online features that may be of interest or concern but do not influence the rating assignment of a product.
“I’ve been playing mission-us since I was in 8th grade and right now I’m currently a junior. My son (11yrs old) is homeschooled and he has been enjoying the missions all day today. If my school would put this in the classroom kids might like history more.” “I teach 4th grade in CO and this addresses our learning targets in ways I would never be able to reach my students through any other typical medium. The content knowledge students gained from the simulations allowed for much deeper discussion than I have experienced at the fifth-grade level. “Students, even those who identified themselves as not liking history at all, fell in love with mission-us.org.
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They identified with the characters and had a much better understanding of the events that they “experienced” in the game. I used it with students for many years. I was exposed to history that no one was teaching me as a kid.