We’re in the process of creating a health game about the food pyramid at the Playnomous office.  And it hasn’t been easy.  In my opinion, from a graphical standpoint, the latest edition of the USDA food pyramid (or MyPyramid) is nonsensical.  It uses a pyramid shape, but the new schematics work more like a pie chart since MyPyramid is all about percentages for individuals.  Frankly, I think they should have changed the shape and scratched the word “pyramid” altogether.

Food pyramid game or food pyramid lame?

However, sometimes you have to work with what you have, so we hope to soon release Food Pyramid Pile Up, pyramid and all.  At our last meeting the question was posed “How do other food pyramid games handle the new MyPyramid format?”  An excellent question and one I couldn’t answer right away.  I was well aware of MyPyramid Blast Off, an online game by the USDA which uses the analogy of fueling up a rocket ship to fueling up your body.  But what other games are out there?  After a few hours of searching, I didn’t come up with many.

• MyPyramid Game – a drag and drop category matching game by the Dairy Council of California
• MyPyramid Food Gallery and Quizzes – a basic tutorial and test of knowledge by Oklahoma State University
• Healthy Hurdles Nutrition Game – a meal balance board game by Learning Resources
• MyPyramid Pursuit Game - a pyramid completion board game by Learning ZoneXpress

All in all, I think MyPyramid, if that is indeed the format we’re going to stick with, needs some help.  There aren’t many health games out there that:

1. Do a good job of making MyPyramid easy to understand.
2. Aren’t just drag and drop category games.
3. Are actually fun to play.

Prove me wrong.

If you know of a stellar Food Pyramid or MyPyramid game that I missed, please add it to our list.  Prove me wrong! Good Food Pyramid games are wanted here on healthGAMERS!