Mitch Zamoff's "History Hero" was named "Travel App of the Week" by JohnnyJet.com, a travel information website (www.tinyurl.com/historyhero).
An Edina resident and U law school professor, Zamoff is CEO of Mind Gamez, a video game company that created "History Hero." It's designed to make a kid's trip to the museum or historical sites a fun, interactive mission. The app now features about 30 world-class cultural sites in cities such as Washington, NYC, Rome, London, Paris and, because Zamoff lives in Minnesota, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
I met Zamoff at the MIA for this Q & A. The app makes a mission out of finding a venue's most celebrated artifacts, with specific games for 4- to 7-year-olds, 8- to 12-year-olds, teens and adults. "At the end you get your Medal of Honor and get to compare your score against your friends' and get to talk all kinds of smack," said Zamoff, a devotee of art galleries who's never experienced museum fatigue.
"There's no reason art can't be fun," said Zamoff, who got the idea while dragging his three kids through museums.
Zamoff wants to amuse those kids who'd rather be lost in a game on their phones than pay attention to the contents of an art museum. The app does it with the "History Heroes," a cast of extraordinarily physical characters who are good, caring leaders. My favorite is the robot with the sweet dance moves you can see on my startribune.com/video. Their adversaries are "the evil Erasers [who've] figured out that the world is more vulnerable to attack if we don't have a common history to bind us together as a people," he said.
To make sure that users of "History Hero" don't get into the same kind of trouble as the American who broke the pinkie off a 600-year-old statue at a Florence, Italy, museum, an oath is part of the app. You must promise not to run or touch the art and photograph only allowed art works.
Q: What makes you think kids can be duped into playing a game that is trying to make them learn something?
A: Well, the game is fun. That's the most important thing. There's no reason that this art can't be fun, can't be accessible. Bringing the joy, the entertainment and the fun into the process is what makes it engaging for kids, and if they pick up some facts and information along the way, that's a great added benefit.