Ping! The Internet Game

How does the internet work? Play it.

Ping! is a game for kids 8 to 15 about how a message gets from your phone to a friend's house on the other side of the world.

First you build a packet. It's a little robot, and every piece of armor does a real job. The helmet carries the address. The wheels get it onto the wire. The lock keeps snoopers from reading it. Couplers send a lost piece again.

Then you ride it. Hop the static, dodge the lightning, and be on the right cable before each router. Read the address on your helmet, match it to the sign, and take that cable. Grab bits to keep your combo going, because a junk flood is coming up behind you.

Or be the router. Packets come in from every direction and you tap the junctions so each one reaches the right house.

Along the way kids pick up the real thing:

• Packets, and why big messages travel in pieces

• IP addresses and what the numbers mean

• Routers, and how they choose a path

• DNS, the internet's phone book

• Ports, encryption, and when fast beats perfect

• The seven layers, one piece of armor at a time

Two ways to play. Explorer puts city names on the signs and gives a helper for the armor, a good start for ages 8 to 10. Engineer uses real network numbers and port numbers, for ages 11 and up. You can switch any time.

13 friends around the world. 26 messages to deliver.

No sign-in. No wifi needed. Nothing is collected.

Made by Pettigrew Lab, a family-run studio. Questions: pettigrewlabllc@gmail.com