Shoulders of Giants

Ancient history your students will actually want to play.

Shoulders of Giants is a free strategy card game where students learn early humans, Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt by out-playing history's giants. It runs in any browser, with nothing to install and no student emails.

Get your free class link Play it yourself first

How it works

  1. Make your class link

    Sign in with Google. Your class link is ready in under a minute.

  2. Students join

    They use the link, the QR code or the class code, and pick a historical username. No emails.

  3. Watch them play

    Your dashboard shows each student's progress and learning-check results.

What students learn

The Lucy card

Prehistory

  • Lucy
  • Neanderthals
  • Ötzi the Iceman
  • Fire
  • Cave art
  • Domesticated animals
The Gilgamesh card

Mesopotamia

  • Sargon
  • Hammurabi
  • Gilgamesh
  • Cuneiform
  • Ziggurats
  • Nebuchadnezzar
The Hatshepsut card

Ancient Egypt

  • Hatshepsut
  • Ramses II
  • King Tutankhamen
  • Pyramids
  • Hieroglyphics
  • Rosetta Stone

Coming next: Kush, India, China, Greece and Rome.

Built-in learning checks expose students to the key terms they'll see in your lessons.

Read about the people and ideas behind the cards, written for students.

Standards

  • California History–Social Science 6.1: early humankind, from the Paleolithic era to the agricultural revolution.
  • California History–Social Science 6.2: the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Kush.
  • C3 Framework: Dimension 2, History, including analyzing connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts (D2.His.1.6-8).

Built for real classrooms

  • Works on Chromebooks and any modern browser
  • Sessions take about 15–20 minutes
  • Progress saves automatically
  • Students never enter an email address
  • Free

Classroom materials

Free lesson plan and student worksheet on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Made by a teacher

Created by Mr. Shutler-Ojeda, a San Diego history teacher, and playtested with about 200 students.

Questions

Is it really free?

Yes. No ads, no paid upgrades, and no trial period.

Do students need accounts?

No. Anyone can play as a guest, and guest progress stays in that browser. To save progress across devices and show up on your dashboard, students join your class: they pick a generated historical username and get a password. No email, no real name.

What devices work?

Chromebooks and laptops, in any modern browser. Nothing to install.

How long is a session?

About 15–20 minutes. A single battle takes 5–10 minutes, so it fits at the start or end of a period.

Can I try it before my class does?

Yes. Play it yourself as a guest, no sign-in needed. If you make a teacher account later, what you've played carries over.

What data do you collect?

For students in a class: their generated username and password, game progress, learning-check totals and time played. We never collect student emails or real names, and there are no ads or ad tracking. The details are on the privacy page.