As a child and even well into my adult years, I’ve been an avid history lover. Learning about those who have come before, what they’ve accomplished and how they changed history has simply fascinated me. Some of my favorite time periods include the Golden Age, the Renaissance and the Progressive Era. These days, I’m trying to pass along my love of history to my own daughter; I can’t get enough of revisiting some of my favorite periods and history and helping her to discover some of her own. It’s been my personal experience, both in my own learning journey as well as my daughters, that any subject you learn and how easily you learn it, depend 70% on the teacher and their materials.
When I was offered the opportunity to work with the minds behind the Invicta Challenge, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to use their materials to engage my daughter in history in a innovative and fun way. The mission of the Invicta Challenge is to encourage reading, teach history and foster leadership while building character, citizenship and love of learning. More still, they strive to honor all of those who put it all on the line in their quest to make America stronger, better and continually moving forward.
Invicta wants to tell the stories of the key players in our history books while motivating kids to reach their true potential, in a fun and compelling way. From the first early pioneering explorers to courageous civil rights activists to innovative scientists, Invicta wants to share the stories of the heroes and leaders who worked hard and sacrificed much to make our home great.
They’ve made it their mission to share these stories with our children, making sure that along the way they turn history into an innovative and fun learning process. How? By turning the history we know and love into dynamic games that challenge and educate.
Their first game, Flash & Thunder depicts the real life story of Turner Brashears Turnbull, a Native American paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.
“On June 6, 1944, Turnbull led his platoon of paratroopers in a gritty and determined drense of Neuville-au-plain, a small village on the north flank of the Allied invasion zone. Turnbull and his men held off at least ten times their number of germans during the critical period of the D-Day landings, prenventing them from reinforcing the Nazi defenders of Utah Beach. Their actions saved countless American lives.”
How to play:
- Each game comes with an Operations Pack that contains 15 cards that include key information your child will need for their mission, such as details about their objective, equipment they will carry, what to look for and how the Germans fight.
- Examine the include Normandy maps. The first map will contain a map of the overall D-Day invasion plan. The second map is a detailed map of tactical areas in the graphic novel Mission Mission and free mobile strategy game.
- In the 108 page graphic novel, your child will make the key decisions that will determine mission success. They’ll face the very same challenges that Turnbull, the C-47 pilots and other paratroopers faced on D-Day.
The company is still suffering from delays with both the Google Play and iTune App stores, and since the approvals are out of their hands, their solution to share the digital content with customers is to publish it on its website. You can try it yourself , here: invictachallenge.com/play/ Soon, you will see the ap live so you can have it for your mobile device!
The same content and interactive questions will be in the apps when they go live. You can see how the digital game play encourages reading of the Ops Package that comes in the product package sold at Barnes & Noble, and encourages careful and analytical reading in the digital game. It’s very immersive and compelling!
Now for the best part: I know ya’ll love companies that “give back” and Invicta does just that! There is an in-app purchase for $4.99 and a portion of those sales will benefit a scholarship! In honor of the first hero portrayed by Invicta Challenge in Flash & Thunder, the company helped create a Turner Turnbull Scholarship with the Chahta Foundation, a nonprofit that works alongside the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The company will donate a portion of its in-app sales to this scholarship supporting a Choctaw Nation student in his or her 2nd year of college.
Says founder Jim Murphy, “The scholarship funding amount is based upon purchases of the Flash & Thunder app. The more people who download and experience the story of Turner Turnbull, Bob Niland, Ben Vandevoort, and the rest of the men who stormed Normandy and freed Europe, the more we will be able to donate to support the scholarship. Our goal is to raise at least $25,000, and we will update the community regularly on our progress. We have seeded the scholarship with a gift of $1,000 from Invicta Challenge and will build upon that with in-app purchases.”
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