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The "world's most inexpensive home computer" uses a TV for a screen and comes with a full keyboard, mouse, game controllers and several game cartridges.
In the news
“When the goal is to develop rudimentary computer skills, the much cheaper hardware might be the way to go…”
— Ars Technica
“The good news for the students who may some day get these, is that gaming is indeed part of the package."
— Gizmodo
“First, the $100 laptop. Now, computers as inexpensive as $10. A team hopes to create the low-cost machines by looking to technology from the early days of computing."
— NPR Marketplace
“One Laptop Per Child ‘applauds’ effort but dismisses comparisons”
— ABC News
We support affordable, effective, fun learning games. We're starting with an existing $10 TV-computer as a platform for learning games in the developing world.
Affordable
People need affordable learning games. Worldwide, 4.1 billion people earn under $3,000 per year, meaning that even a $100 computer is often out of reach for the world's emerging middle class. Playpower is targeting a $10 platform that makes learning games affordable for "the other 90%."
Effective
We're going beyond designing high quality learning games—we're also conducting field trials to confirm that they work. That's why Playpower is fostering collaborations between game designers, cognitive scientists and NGOs—and promoting this network as an international center for excellence in learning game design.
Fun
We don't just believe that fun aids learning—we believe fun is learning. If learning games aren't fun, they won't work. Valuing fun is part of how we are approaching our developer tools, design practices, and testing methodologies.
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The Playpower Foundation was founded by researchers from UC-San Diego, MIT, Stanford University, Srishti School, and the University of São Paulo. The project currently receives support from UC San Diego division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), the Center for Research in Computing and Arts (CRCA), Re:Game, the Social Movement Laboratory, and the Software Studies Initiative.