MindGame is a virtual boardgame which combines language learning with pure strategy. Learners can play against each other or against the computer: the object of the game is to capture all your opponent's pieces and make them your own. To capture each piece you have to answer a language question.

Each session has a different theme, ranging from familiar vocabulary and grammar areas such as irregular simple past forms, to homophones, anagrams and chatroom slang. As students capture, lose and recapture squares, questions are repeated, and this is remarkably effective in helping them learn the language items, and become more confident.

MindGame comes with 100 pre-set topics and an authoring program enabling you to add more. The independent Schoolzone evaluation found that a "real strength of this product is the ability to add your own category to reflect the work you want pupils to revise. This authoring program is intuitive and easy to use."

MindGame includes a range of different interfaces and a variety of options for students to choose from. They can adjust the strategic skill of the computer from beginner to expert, switch a game from Learn to Test mode and call up reports on their performance, including details of which words they have got right or wrong. Above all though, MindGame is a fun and effective way of helping students learn discrete language items.

MindGame has been adopted by the British Council for use in all 227 centres worldwide.