Report: The state of game-based learning in America

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Report: The state of game-based learning in America

For most of the last century, American classrooms looked roughly the same, whether you were in Seattle or rural Mississippi. A teacher stood in the front of the room, textbooks were open, and students took notes. Today, technology is reshaping how many students learn, but that transformation isn’t happening equally across the country. Many educators are embracing game-based learning, using games as a core teaching method rather than as a reward at the end of a lesson.

But not every classroom is equally equipped to make that shift. While game-based learning is gaining momentum across the U.S., access to these learning experiences varies significantly by state. Quizlet analyzed all 50 states and the District of Columbia using school technology and household broadband access, as well as search interest, to measure game-based learning readiness alongside demand.

The findings reveal a 62-point gap between the highest- and lowest-ranked states, with strong digital infrastructure emerging as the biggest differentiator, suggesting that access to these learning experiences can vary substantially depending on where students live. While demand for game-based learning is high in many parts of the country, expanding access will depend on closing the technology and connectivity gaps that still limit adoption.

State readiness at a glance

• Washington state ranks No. 1 with a Game-Based Learning Readiness Score of 80.4, just ahead of Utah at 80.1 and Maryland at 78.2.
• The Northeast leads all regions with an average score of 65.7, ahead of the Midwest at 56.0, the West at 55.6, and the South at 48.5.
• Kansas ranks No. 8 at 73.0, despite more modest school technology and broadband scores, driven by the strongest search interest of any top 10 state.
• Wyoming reached a Google Trends index of 100 for both “learning games” and “educational games” over the past year, the highest relative search interest recorded during the study period.
• West Virginia ranks last at 18.3, more than 62 points behind the leader, undercut by overlapping gaps in school technology and home broadband.
• Six of the bottom 10 states, including Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama, pair high search demand for learning games with comparatively low school technology and broadband scores, highlighting a gap between interest and digital readiness.
• South Carolina, Texas, and Ohio recorded the highest search interest for “classroom games” search scores 100, 99, and 92, respectively, suggesting particularly strong interest in game-based learning resources.

Infrastructure is key to state readiness

The highest-ranked states combine strong digital infrastructure with sustained interest in game-based learning. Washington state leads at 80.4, followed closely by Utah at 80.1 and Maryland at 78.2. All three scored above 85 on school technology access and above 90 on household broadband, suggesting that the devices and the internet connectivity needed to support digital, game-based learning is already in place. Their search interest scores landed in the 50–63 range, indicating that interest in game-based learning extends well beyond infrastructure alone.

You don’t have to look far to find examples of how the top-ranked states are deploying games in the classroom. In Washington, the state’s own education office reports that gamification has steadily gained traction in math classes, with districts blending analog games, like cards and dice, with digital platforms that give students instant feedback. In Utah, a state-funded study of the most effective fourth-grade teachers found that many use adaptive online games to drill math facts, with software that automatically adjusts to each student’s progress. And in Maryland, the state education department funded a grant to launch game-based learning software for gifted kindergartners and first graders, with a focus on expanding access for historically underrepresented learners.

While these examples don’t represent every classroom, they illustrate how states with strong digital infrastructure are already leveraging game-based learning into instruction for effective education.

Game-based interest extends beyond tech hubs

Digital games might conjure images of tech-forward California, but there are plenty of examples of states outside of the West that have integrated game-based digital learning in the classroom. Kansas is one of the rankings’ biggest surprises. It places eighth overall with a Game-Based Readiness Score of 73.0 despite more modest school technology and broadband scores than many of the states above it. What lifts Kansas into the top 10 is search interest. It topped the charts for the highest search interest score of any top-ranked state across the study’s game-based learning terms. In other words, appetite has already arrived despite its lagging infrastructure score.

Wyoming stands out even more in search behavior. Over the 12-month period, it reached a Google Trends index of 100 for both “learning games” and “educational games,” the maximum value reported. Averaged with its lower score on “classroom games,” that still gives Wyoming an 81.3 search interest score overall, among the highest in the country. While smaller states can reach peak index values more easily because the metric is relative rather than absolute, Wyoming’s consistently high scores across multiple search terms suggest sustained interest in game-based learning resources. Together, Kansas and Wyoming illustrate the important pattern that interest in game-based learning isn’t limited to states with the strongest digital infrastructure.

Interest in game-based learning is also reflected in the broader education technology market. Industry forecasts project the game-based learning market to reach $17.82 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 23.4%. It’s a category betting on permanence, and states like Kansas and Wyoming are exactly the demand it’s counting on.

Teacher demand outpaces infrastructure

There’s a second demand signal in the data, and it’s more specific than general curiosity. South Carolina, Texas, and Ohio posted the three highest raw scores in the country for “classroom games” searches at 100, 99, and 92, respectively.

High search interest for classroom games specifically, rather than general educational games, suggests a professional demand rather than a consumer demand. These states likely have active teacher communities who are already incorporating game-based structures into their classrooms.

What’s striking is that none of those three states cracks the top 10 overall. Their school technology and broadband scores hold them back, yet their teachers are clearly looking for solutions to help them bring games to the classroom. The gap between demand and infrastructure is the tension running through the entire bottom half of this ranking, and it sets up the divide that defines the map.

The Northeast leads the pack, while the South trails

The regional breakdown reveals patterns that go beyond individual state rankings. The Northeast averages a Game-Based Readiness Score of 65.7, nine points ahead of the next region. High per-pupil education spending, dense broadband markets driven by competition among providers, and strong state technology investment policies create favorable conditions across the region. Six of the top 15 states nationally are in the Northeast.

The Midwest, scoring a 56.0 average across the region, exhibits the nation’s sharpest internal divide. While Kansas and Minnesota land near the top of the national list, Missouri and South Dakota fall into the bottom third. This disparity highlights a severe urban-rural gap where well-funded metro areas enjoy competitive broadband access, but rural communities remain structurally disconnected from essential digital resources.

The West, scoring a 55.6 average across the region, tells a story of extremes. Washington and Utah are two of the top three states in the entire country, while Alaska and New Mexico are in the bottom five. The interior West’s broadband gaps and lower school technology scores offset what would otherwise be a strong regional showing from the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states.

The South, scoring a 48.5 average across the region, has the most ground to cover. The region benefits from Virginia landing in ninth, but the weight of lower broadband penetration, lower school technology investment, and lower search demand in states like Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi pulls the regional average well below the national median.

Infrastructure gaps hold states back

The bottom of the table is where the stakes get concrete. West Virginia ranks last at 18.3, more than 62 points behind Washington, and Mississippi sits just above it. Both are dragged down by thin school technology and home broadband, two gaps that feed each other.

For most of the bottom 10, the story is the same. High search demand but low school technology and broadband access collectively drag down digital Game-Based Readiness scores.

• Mississippi: 92.7 search demand, 0 school technology, 0 broadband
• Louisiana: 87.3 search demand, 13.6 school technology, 17.6 broadband
• Arkansas: 77.3 search demand, 19.6 school technology, 18.2 broadband
• Alabama: 77.3 search demand, 8.0 school technology, 40.3 broadband
• Kentucky: 60.0 search demand, 33.6 school technology, 35.8 broadband
• New Mexico: 60.7 search demand, 16.8 school technology, 22.2 broadband

When a student can’t access a game-based learning platform at home, and the school lacks the device infrastructure to make up the difference, the readiness gap becomes structural rather than circumstantial.

Two states land near the bottom for opposite reasons. Nevada at 40.5 and Montana at 36.5 carry middling infrastructure, not rock-bottom infrastructure, but their search interest is among the lowest in the country, at 18 and 16. Their low rankings reflect quiet demand rather than a stranded one. It’s a useful reminder that readiness is a composite and a state can fall to the bottom because the appetite never showed up, not just because the wiring isn’t there.

Summary

The evidence on game-based learning is increasingly settled. Researchers have shown gameplay can match traditional instruction, and the market is projected to nearly triple by 2030. In states like Kansas and Wyoming, demand is absolutely in place. The key differentiator between states isn’t interest, but infrastructure readiness and access.

Methodology

To understand how Americans are adopting game-based and interactive learning, Quizlet ranked all 50 states plus the District of Columbia (n = 51) on their readiness to support digital learning games in K-12 classrooms.

Each state’s Game-Based Learning Readiness Score is a weighted composite of three components, each normalized to a 0–100 scale before weighting: School Technology Access (40%), from student-to-device ratios, school broadband, and per-pupil technology spending (NCES, FCC E-Rate, and COSN data); Household Broadband Access (30%), the share of households with a broadband subscription (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022, Table B28002); and Search Interest (30%), the average of Google Trends interest in “learning games,” “educational games,” and “classroom games” over the trailing 12 months.

Regional averages follow the U.S. Census Bureau’s four standard regions, with each state’s score averaged within its region. Where Google Trends reported a maximum index of 100, that figure is preserved as reported; because Trends measures interest relative to each state’s own search volume, values from smaller states reach that ceiling more easily and should be read as relative signals, not absolute counts.

This story was produced by Quizlet and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.