Recently I have been preparing to take the GRE. Since the verbal portion of the exam is little more than a glorified vocabulary quiz, I’ve been searching for ways to practice my vocab skills. During that quest, I discovered www.freerice.com. This not for profit site provides a vocabulary game that donates 20 grains of rice to the U.N. World Food Program for each question that you answer correctly. They pay for this donation by showing advertisements under each question and using the proceeds to buy rice. (But don’t worry, the ads are all quite tasteful and promote good causes.)
After you play for a few minutes, you’ll see your “Best Level” appear. The best that I’ve been able to get is 43, but I expect that some of you can beat me! Go play and then come back and post a comment letting us know how you did.
Best of all, you’ll have fun while combating world hunger – and it will only cost you a few minutes of your time. And if you get bored with vocabulary, try changing the subject to famous paintings and see if you can beat Kay’s level 6.
I made it to level 42 so I got close to beating your record. But the thing that really matters is I donated over 1000 grains of rice, which may not be much but it is better then nothing.
I was starting to wonder if anyone had tried this – it’s more fun than I thought it would be, and those grains of rice really do add up. If you want a “feel good” moment after you play, watch the video of the U.N. distributing the rice here.
I actually played the free rice game twice, but wasn’t able to beat either yours or Darin’s scores! I guess I’ve been out of college too long! It was fun though. I should play every day just so I can add new words to my vocabulary.