Says Who?

Says Who is a game about not believing things until somebody gives you a reason. Your child reads something a person claims. They decide what they think. Then, and this is the part that matters, they say WHY, by choosing from a hand of cards. Only then do they find out what actually happened. WHY THE REASON IS WORTH MORE THAN THE ANSWER A child who guesses correctly has learned nothing. A child who spots what is wrong with an argument and still draws the wrong conclusion has done the hard half. So Says Who scores the reason above the answer, and it says so on screen every time. Guessing right with a poor reason is worth less than an honest mistake, and children work that out very quickly. WHAT IS IN IT CLAIMS. Over ninety everyday situations. An advert, a rumour going round the year, a headline with no scientist named, a friend who is certain, and your child's own hunches, which get the same checking as everyone else's. Including history, biology and music: real myths, really checked. PRESSURE. Sixty five situations about saying no, and knowing why you are saying it. Somebody wants your child to do something, and instead of a reason they are being hurried, dared, flattered, guilted, or told everyone else is doing it. Thirteen named tricks. Naming the trick is what makes it stop working, and every scenario ends with real words your child can actually use. THE LAB. Six experiments, thirty six rounds. Predict what will happen, say why you think so, then run it and watch. A see-saw, a swing, a ramp, sink or float, two bulbs and a battery, and a spoon of sugar. Several are designed to catch your child out, because being wrong and finding out why is the whole point of an experiment. FIFTY CARDS TO EARN. Each one is a way of testing what you are told, with the grown-up name on the back: survivorship bias, a fair test, after it is not because of it. The card is earned by using the idea correctly, never by just turning up. AND WHEN THE PATH IS FINISHED, IT KEEPS GOING. Endless rounds drawn from whatever your child is weakest on, and a gold crown for every round where most of their reasons held up. NOT ENOUGH TO SAY YET The third button is a real answer, and it is often the right one. Most of what anybody hears is neither true nor false yet, and the useful skill is knowing when you have not been given enough. Children are rarely taught that, and it is the single most useful thing in this app. IN TWO LANGUAGES English and Hungarian, the whole game in both, switchable in the grown-ups area. PRIVACY, PLAINLY There is no account, no sign in, no advertising, no analytics, and nothing for your child to type. Progress lives in this app and in your family's own iCloud, where Apple stores it for you: we cannot see it, and nobody else can either. With iCloud off, it stays on the device alone. WHAT IT COSTS Nothing. The whole game is free, with no purchases in the app and no advertising. What is free today stays free. HONEST LIMITS This is a game about reasoning, not a substitute for a science lesson or a conversation with you. The best thing that happens with it is a child asking you where something came from, and the second best is them asking you to play it with them. On iPhone and iPad. The grown-ups area sits behind a grown-up check, as it should.