The Cisco Mind Share Game by Cisco

I really enjoy computer games. It started when my favorite pinball games were replaced with Missile Command and Asteroids. I've been avidly playing various games ever since. I discovered Cisco's game Mind Share while surfing the certification/learning areas of Cisco's website. I played some of the free games there and enjoyed the demo version of Mind Share.

Games can be a great way to teach certain things. They can morph tedious memorization tasks into challenging entertainments. Playing the demo version of Mind Share was helpful enough that I was one of the very first people to purchase the first version of this game right when it became available in April 2009. Earlier I posted a reply to the Game Share forum stating I would happily help Cisco by being a Beta Tester for the game but never got taken up on that offer.

While Mind Share has potential it also has errors. I found many of them. I have 11 Post It notes here on my desk that document different problems. Memorizing erroneous things is considered harmful to future test results.

All the errors I found were in sections that are not found in the free demo version. Is seems Cisco fixed up problems identified by the public so the free section seems accurate.

I did post details of one error on the game forum. I didn't see any way to register the program nor can I find any version or tech support information in the game itself. Normally I prefer to contact support and like to obtain promises of new versions when errors are fixed. But since I couldn't figure out how to do that I had the following exchange on Cisco's public forum:

Apr 9, 2009 12:06 PM

CarlWohlforth says:

Looks like I found an error in the game. How do I report it? Had I found a more private way to provide feedback I would have done so.

In the section on subnets round 12 stage 5D (Easy) it shows two Class C networks with the Class C network address of 192.168.32.0. The player needs to come up with a subnet mask to support 11 subnets in the first case and 18 in the second. The game says the correct answer is 255.255.240.0 in the first case and 255.255.248.0 in the second case. Those are not correct masks for Class C addresses, they would be correct if the question asked about Class B addresses but it doesn't.

Carl@CarlWohlforth.com

Apr 9, 2009 12:55 PM

jebush says in response to CarlWohlforth:

Carl - Congratulations! You have found one of the errors we planted in the game just to see how well you were learning. Okay, just joking   We will have our team of experts take a look at this. Thanks, Jerry!

The game is pretty straight forward. You are given some background information and links to follow if you want do dig deeper. Problems are posed. Answers, bonus markers, fake outs and other items scroll across an area on the middle of the screen. You need to drag the answer and drop it in the correct slot. There are two hosts who verbally introduce the various rounds. They are a bit corny but do liven things up.

I passed my first test so now can say I am Cisco certified. If Cisco reads this and wants help improving this game I am currently looking for work. Maybe one day I can say I am Cisco employed.

While I can't recommend this game I will recommend playing the free Demo version and other free games at: Cisco Learning Center Games.

Sorry, I can't reproduce the following crash, fortunately it doesn't happen often:

Problem signature:p>

Problem Event Name: APPCRASH

The Cisco Mind Share Game played 4/09; above written 5/6/09. CW - Avoid for now.