Learning Through Play: How Boddle Built Educational Games That Kids Actually Want
In this insightful conversation, Matt Watson talks with Clarence Tan, founder and CEO of Boddle Learning, about their journey building educational games that have reached over 10 million users. Clarence shares how they tackled the classic problem of educational games - how to make them as engaging as regular games while maintaining educational value. By creating fun games first and then "sneaking in" learning content, Boddle has found success in the competitive educational technology space.
The most valuable lesson? Get out of the office and actually watch users interact with your product. Rather than spending money on complex analytics, the Boddle team discovered their biggest product issues simply by visiting classrooms and observing how kids used their app. Clarence also shares how they eventually cracked the monetization code by understanding that parents were buying subscriptions not because they understood the educational benefits, but because their kids wanted the in-game items.
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Check out Boddle here: https://www.boddlelearning.com/
Key Discussion Points:
🎮 Building educational games that are genuinely fun first
🧠How Boddle "sneaks in" learning content after establishing engaging gameplay
💰 The journey from zero users to 10 million through COVID and beyond
📊 Why watching actual users beats fancy analytics tools
🔑 The monetization breakthrough: understanding kids are the real decision makers
🚀 Pivoting from building many games to focusing on the most successful one
📱 How Boddle connects with both teachers and parents
Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction and Welcome
00:46 - Origins of Boddle Learning
02:08 - Making Education Fun Through Games
04:17 - Early Funding and Productization
05:36 - Impact of COVID on Growth
07:42 - Getting on the White House Educational Resources List
08:19 - Server Challenges with Rapid Growth
09:04 - Moving to Tulsa for VC Funding
10:30 - The "Leaky Bucket" Discovery
11:21 - Monetization Challenges
13:57 - Finding the Most Popular Game Mode
14:51 - The Pet Battle Game Success
15:58 - NFT Experiment Mistakes
16:52 - Keeping Education in Fun Games
18:45 - The Power of Classroom Observation
20:47 - First-Time User Experience Issues
22:32 - Learning to Sell to Parents Through Kids
25:40 - Tapping Into the Entertainment Wallet
26:45 - Boddle Bucks and Future Growth
27:38 - Impact and Educational Value
Ready to transform your child's screen time into learning time? Visit https://www.boddlelearning.com/ to try their educational games that kids actually want to play!
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