Introduction
Are you looking to know who created Gimkit? Walk into almost any school today, and you can hear students clicking furiously, groaning over lost virtual cash and celebrating big power-ups. It’s all thanks to a game called Gimkit. This learning tool has taken over classrooms, turning test review into a video-game-like experience that kids find addictive. But have anyone thinks about who made gimkit?
As opposed to a lot of the big, bulky softwares created by large companies or Silicon Valley tech titans, Gimkit has a much more accessible backstory. He was a bored high school student taking his own class review sessions.
In this post, we are going to consider an uplifting real-life story of how a teenager transformed a mundane classroom challenge into a popular educational app that is utilized by millions of users across the globe.
Part 1. The Short Answer: Who Invented Gimkit?
Gimkit was founded by Josh Feinsilber in 2017. Josh was a 16-year-old high school junior (11th grade) at the Center School in Seattle, Washington at the time. As a high school project he created the first iteration of the game because he wanted to make classroom review sessions more fun for kids his age.
These days Josh leads the company with his former high school teacher and co-founder, Jeff Osborn. The two of them maintain the platform for schools around the world.
The Origin Story: How an 11th Grader Changed School
To understand why Gimkit exists, you need to understand what school was like for Josh Feinsilber in 2017.
Like most students Josh played trivia games like Kahoot in his classes. He is a fan of the classroom games concept, but he do see a big flaw: those older platforms prioritize speed. If a student didn’t click the right answer inside the first two seconds, they would have almost no chance of winning or making it to the top leaderboard.
It created two big problems with this speed component:
- Students who needed more time to read or think were feeling left behind from the start, immediately.
- Once they slid down the leaderboard, they stopped trying entirely because catching up felt like an insurmountable task.
Josh was excited to create a game that would make people feel motivated even after they played it for the first time. He opted to write the code for a completely new type of quiz software for his high school independent study project.
He put in endless hours working on code, experimenting with ideas and getting feedback from fellow students when he was a junior. That basic school assignment evolved quickly into the official platform we live by today.
Note: If you want to know how to make a Gimkit, read this out:
https://gimkit.blog/how-to-make-a-gimkit-game/
Part 2. How Gimkit Was Built: The Magic of the In-Game Economy
When you learn about who created Gimkit or how was gimkit made, the most interesting aspect is the design decision that Josh took when it came to the game’s mechanics. He came to understand that the most effective means of keeping the students engaged was to disenfranchise them of the rudimentary points. Instead, he elected to compensate them with virtual currency.
Josh created an in-game economy. When you get a question right, you make fake cash. Then you can take that money to an in-game “Shop” where you pick up customized upgrades.
Students can alter their tactics on the fly with these upgrades:
- Multiply upgrades: Earn 2x or 3x cash for every right answer.
- Streak Bonuses: You can get a big money bonus for a Certain Amount of correct answers in a row.
- Insurance Policies: Your money is insured: You won’t lose all your money if you get a question wrong.
This design substantially solved the problem of the leaderboard. And wait, even if a student starts off slowly, they can use early earnings to buy smart upgrades and zoom to the top spots later in the match. Now the game was about strategy and investment, not just mad clicking.
The Team Behind Gimkit Today
So many successful tech startups raise millions from investors, hire hundreds of employees, and move into giant offices. Gimkit did the exact opposite.
Although the platform took off at an unbelievable pace, the founding team deliberately kept things small, intimate and user-focused.
- Josh Feinsilber (The Creator & Developer)
Josh is still the lead developer and head of creative of gimkit. He codes, designs new seasonal 2D game modes (Fishtopia, Snowball Survival, and Don’t Look Down) and DJs customer feedback on social media.
- Jeff Osborn (The Co-Founder & Business Lead)
Jeff was literally one of Josh’s high school teachers! He recognized the extraordinary promise of Josh’s invention long before it married up with the film-maker. Jeff eventually came aboard the product to manage business logistics, teacher customer support and communication with school districts.
Josh & Jeff are doing business as a small company umbrella which we previously called Inkshift. They’re small, personal teams of flesh and bones human beings and not faceless corporations, and I dare say they obsess over education just a little too much to be called stereotypes, but maybe not anymore than most game developers, really.
Part 3. Common Mistakes Teachers Make When Introducing Gimkit
If you’re a teacher hoping to adapt the creator’s vision into your own lesson plans and know who created Gimkit, be sure to ditch these setup pitfalls:
- Setting the Time Objective Too Long: For a simple vocabulary review, a 5- to 10-minute game is adequate. If you throw a match for half an hour, the best players will make trillions, hyper-inflating the economy and breaking the shop mechanics.
- Neglecting To Introduce The Shop: Don’t just tap start! Explain to your students: Spending on upgrades early is the path to victory. 2 minutes Talk to your students about how buying upgrades early is the key to winning. If they aren’t spending it in the shop but just hoarding cash, multipliers will still win over them. 2D Modes Are Not Supported: Classic Mode is convenient for quick testing, but students definitely prefer the 2D world modes (i.e., Fishtopia).
You can also change the Gimkit background if you want.
FAQs
- When was Gimkit made?
Gimkit was first established and launched as a senior high school project in 2017.
- Is the Gimkit creator still running it?
Yes. Josh Feinsilber is still the lead developer today. He is continually refreshing the site with new art work, items and game play modes.
- Where is the company based?
Gimkit is headquartered out the Seattle, Washington area, which is where Josh attended high school and created the original prototype.
Conclusion
The tale of the gimkit creator is a great illustration of how a brilliant concept can be born in the most unexpected place (an 11th grade class). By recognizing a shortcoming in speed-reliant educational games, Josh Feinsilber created an engrossing and wildly entertaining software title that aids millions of students on a daily basis in studying more effectively.
If you’re a teacher in need of a new way to add some spark to that upcoming test prep session or a student motivated enough to craft your own code, Gimkit shows that tapping into your community is hands down the way to go.