Free Rice

When is the last time you played a computer game that improved your mind and also helped to feed the hungry people of the world? Go to Free Rice and you can do just that.

Go to the site, and you'll see a word and four definitions. Choose the correct one and the site's advertisers will donate 10 grains of rice to the World Food Program, a United Nations agency that is the world's largest humanitarian organization. The program has beautifully designed graphics, with a large rice bowl on the right side of the screen. As you continue, the words get more difficult, and the rice bowl fills up.

Here's a cool feature. Your "vocab level" appears at the bottom of the question portion of the screen. (I wonder why they didn't use "vocabulary" instead of "vocab"? I both nitpick and digress.) When you get three words correct in a row, you advance a level and the words get harder. When you miss a word, you go down a level and the words get easier. This sounds basic but it's actually brilliant because "This one-to-three ratio is best for keeping you at the 'outer fringe' of your vocabulary, where learning can take place." The site's FAQ says that there are 50 levels "but it is rare for people to get above level 48." This is an ego trip for me because I spent most of my time at levels 43-45.

You may be thinking, "10 grains of rice? You're kidding, that's nothing!" Actually, that's true; 10 grains aren't much. When added together, however, they really mean something. When the site launched, on October 7, 2007, recorded donations were just 830 grains of rice. On October 17, 2007, recorded donations were over 12 million grains on that day alone. Each day's total has grown incredibly. November 20, 2007 had a total of over 218 million grains of rice donated.

For more information, here are some resources:

The Urban Legends Resource Page
FreeRice.com

Washington Post (free registration required to view this link)
What's the Word? We Can Help Feed the Hungry