Basic Electricity Game
A physics game about reasoning through circuits, not wiring them blind: the circuit is already drawn, with its battery, switch and bulbs, and you have to predict HOW each one will shine — off, dim or full brightness — before checking. No dragging wires or parts — the challenge is understanding WHY, by reading whether the switch is closed, whether the bulbs are in series or parallel, and whether one of them is burnt out.
Physics · Primary, Secondary, Sixth Form
The difference between series and parallel usually stays a memorised sentence. Here it shows in practice: in series, bulbs share the same battery and shine dim; in parallel, each one gets the full battery and shines at full brightness.
Predicting BRIGHTNESS, not just whether current flows, forces you to reason through how many bulbs share each loop — the nuance that gets lost if the question is only "yes or no".
Primary starts with a single bulb and a single switch. Secondary adds two bulbs in series or parallel. Sixth Form reaches a mixed circuit: one bulb in series that splits the current into two branches, each with its own switch.
"The circuit has two bulbs in series and the switch is closed, but one of the bulbs is marked as burnt out. The player reasons: "they're on the same loop, so if one can't let the current through, neither can the other" — and marks both as off. On confirming, the circuit reveals that indeed neither shines, not even dimly."
Prefer to learn without screens? Try this analogue version:
Draw a rectangle: a battery on one side, a switch on top and a bulb on the other side, all connected with lines (the wires).
Decide whether the switch is open or closed and draw it: a line closing the gap (closed) or leaving it open (open).
Before looking at the answer, write down whether the bulb will light up and why.
Repeat by adding a second bulb, first on the same loop (series) and then on a separate branch (parallel) — compare what changes if one of them "burns out".
If you like Circuit Complete, these activities work similar skills:
After playing, revise with the theory multiple-choice exam: current, voltage, resistance and the same series/parallel concepts, with an explanation for every answer.
If you have a small battery, a small bulb and two wires at home, build the real circuit and check with your hands what's predicted here on screen.
Look at the lights at home: if one bulb in the living room lamp burns out, do the others switch off too? That observation is series vs parallel applied to real life.
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