SHOW HN: Take a look at my startup; Show off your vocabulary prowess

by tm65atcolumbia on 3/23/2011, 4:51 AM with 17 comments

Hello HN,

Introducing VocabGenii.com, my online vocabulary game. It is the first product from my company, Genii, Inc., that brings innovative, engaging new learning experience to the market by leveraging web 2.0 and social networks.

Currently, we are running a 10K Challenge -- anyone scoring 10,000 points before the contest ends (March 24 04:00 GMT) will get 3-Month unlimited play. Exceptional performance would also be recognized in our 10K Hall of Fame with limited edition trophies!

We're hiring! If you have disruptive ideas on language learning and online education, and possess extraordinary skills in game design, RoR, UX, web design, bizdev experience in the education industry, come impress us! Contact info below:

Company sites: (1) http://vocabgenii.com; (2) http://geniicompany.com;

FB pages: (1) http://www.facebook.com/geniicompany; (2) http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=190671694293877;

Twitter: @vocabgenii

Email: info@geniicompany.com

Thanks!

James Mak CEO, Genii

  • by sagacity on 3/23/2011, 5:22 AM

    Clickable:

    http://vocabgenii.com

    Edit: Added:

    Congratulations on the launch and all the best.

    Perhaps, we could think about a strategic alliance:

    http://www.RapiDefs.com

  • by revorad on 3/23/2011, 9:19 AM

    This is quite well made. I enjoyed playing a few rounds. I did get the feeling that some of the word descriptions were written by non-native English speakers. There were some very small grammatical mistakes or strange combinations of words.

    Regardless, quite a fun product. The hard part is going to be to stick in people's minds. Turning it into a Facebook game is one good way to achieve that, but you should probably keep thinking of more such things.

  • by djb_hackernews on 3/23/2011, 5:13 PM

    I built something VERY similar (but not as slick) in 2009. It was a vocab game with scrabble like point scoring you played with friends via Twitter.

    It basically just aggregated your twitter messages, and assigned points for uses of unused words within a "game".

    I believe it's still "live" but since been decommissioned. http://www.playtwabble.com

  • by michaeldhopkins on 3/23/2011, 6:57 PM

    Neat. I played enough to get 10k. It is much too easy to do that because one earns so many points on the highest difficulty setting and the buttons can be mashed. I found myself having to do this several times because the obscured letter was correct or a spelling I was not familiar with. Have to say that I am not interested enough to pay...

  • by clojurerocks on 3/23/2011, 1:59 PM

    I was actually considering developing something like this myself. :-). Im a social entrepreneur with a focus on technology and like the education and game markets. Ill bookmark your site and try to follow the development.

  • by atgm on 3/23/2011, 6:22 AM

    I tried to log in with facebook using the button on the front page and it popped up a blank white window that didn't do anything. Reloading the pop-up or the main window didn't change anything.

    Opera 11.01, Windows Vista

  • by nithyad on 3/23/2011, 5:22 AM

    Hi James,

    Congratulations on the public launch