Customer Reviews

Educational Insights Eggspert

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow, this game rocks! I watched another teacher use one to turn his bored class of high schoolers into a fully-engaged, excited, laughing, and active set of learners. I highly recommend it.

Mine just arrived from Amazon, and as other reviewers pointed out, the cables are about 4 feet. But not to worry -- there's an easy solution. Just plug in a set of 3.5 mm jack audio extension cables and you can get any length you need. Amazon has a wide variety, so try typing "audio cable 3.5 mm male female" into the Amazon search cell and you should get a good list. I've used the 6 foot stereo version with good results.

[Update in March 2011] I've been using this for several months while substitute teaching, and it's been a lifesaver. I form the kids into 6 groups, usually simply by their desk row. They then write on 3x5 cards their own questions and answers about whatever they are studying in the class. I encourage slightly harder questions that would take 5-15 seconds to solve. I then select one question from each group and play the game. (Of course, groups don't get to answer their own question.)

During game play, one student from each group writes their answer on a 12x9 inch white board (also available from Amazon), holds it facing the ceiling (so no other groups can see), then a different student pushes the button. Once all teams have written an answer, then I reveal the correct answer. To keep it fun and non-combative, I avoid keeping an overall score. The whole lesson usually takes about 30 minutes.

As a final piece of advice, I recommend creating 6 kits in large zip lock bags to pass out to the first student in each row. In each kit is a stack of blank cards, white board, dry erase pen, board eraser and Eggspert push button. Certain teams also get extensions as follows (Pink & purple each get 2 of the 6 foot extensions. Orange & blue get one 6 foot extension each. Yellow and green get no extensions because I set up the unit in the middle.) Orignally I used longer extensions, which tangled easily, so stick with 6 footers and unplug all connections before having the students return them to the kit bags.

Have fun!

If you teach high school with 30+ students in your class, don't bother buying this. The company shortened the buzzer cords from 10 feet to 4 feet, and it's impossible to get teams to crowd around the main control panel within a 4-foot radius. I wrote to customer service, and they were not helpful. I had to buy my own extensions off of another Web site which cost me an additional [...]. The students do enjoy playing Jeopardy-style review games with it. I also bought the wireless version of Eggspert first which did not work well at all, so I returned it and got this wired version. Just be forewarned that it comes with very short cables. Had I known this I probably would not have bought it.

I do a lot of training at work and got a lot of stares when I pulled this out. Staff were rolling their eyes looking at it and getting huffy. Then I asked the first question and buzzers started ringing in. Staff loved it!! I've used it for family feud, jeopardy, wheel of fortune, and other games. Staff don't dread training as much now and get more involved in the training. It also builds team spirit. Yes, it looks like a pre-schooler toy, but our staff love it! The options for buzzing are simple yet allow you to change the type of game you want to play, and it's great to have a very unbiased indicator of who buzzed first.

This product worked wonderful. It was lots of fun playing Family Feud with this item. All family members rave about it. Would recommend it to anyone.

I purchased this toy to use at home as we are home educators. We have been using it to quiz the kids for review of Latin vocabulary, history questions, etc. The kids love this thing so much that they actually beg to do Latin vocabulary! Even the kids who are too young to participate love to be the one to clear the colors.

It would also be good to use to compete against another family who is studying the same subject, which is what I originally planned to use it for.

I would highly recommend this to any family - you could use it for math facts drills or any other subject.

It is easy to use and has adjustable volume and timer settings.

I created a jeopardy like game in powerpoint and used the Eggspert to answer. My students had a blast and can't wait to play again!! Before we started I asked non-schhol questions (What is you favorite color?) so they all knew how it felt to use the buzzer.

When it was on sale for $15. I bought two, one for us to keep at home and one for my 1st grader's teacher. Her teacher was SUPER excited to receive it and said she always wanted one of her own. She has been teaching 1st grade for over 30 yrs, so I figured she'd already know what it was. I haven't used the one I kept for ourselves yet, but figured it could be used for a trivia game when we have people over or if my daughter has a play-date, I might try some simple question games with the kids. No - it does not come with an A/C adapter but I'm hoping I have a compatible one somewhere in the house. For now I will use batteries (four AA's).

To summarize: Makes a GREAT gift for your child's teacher!

I have borrowed this game for a few years but decided to buy my own. I did not realize that it came without a powercord.(It can be run on batteries) Luckily I had one from something else.

This is a wonderful product. I bought mine years ago and works great. One review here speaks of short cords now but mine is older and the cords are plenty long to group around a table and then some. This unit requires no batteries (although you can choose to put them in the main unit if you are using it outside or something) as it has an AC adapter which is what I use. The buzzers work very well. Only six can play at once. I teach 5th and 6th graders at church and they love this but sometimes they just want to push the buzzers and be silly without having an answer. So, when they answer incorrectly, their turn at the buzzer is done and the next child comes up to play and so forth. This works great and discourages silly 'button pushing'. When I have extra kids, I also often give the kids a turn being the question answer person with the white button to clear the buzzers after each guess. I found that it took too long to try and think up questions and/or look appropriate ones up in a trivia book to play this game being I wasn't working off a review in a textbook or something like that. So, I found the game Outburst. They make a Bible version I use at church as well as a kid and Junior version that each have their own trivia cards. The cards slip in a reader that decodes the answers. So, I don't use the board to that game, just the cards and reader so it is very compact to keep with this Eggsbert unit. The cards have a subject like "Name animals listed as being on Noah's ark". Then, the card lists 10 answers to guess with check marks on the reader just off to the side of each answer. This way you can easily keep track of the answers already given until all 10 are answered. The Jr and kid version of Outburst has fun questions like name the Disney movie villains etc. I find that if I alternate a general question like this with a Bible one, it keeps the kids interest well. We then have a jar of crayons on the table and a bag of candy. For each correct answer, a child takes a crayon and then when they have a certain amount of crayons, they trade them in to choose a piece of candy. I have brought this game to school as well as church. I have played it with 1st graders up to Junior Highers. They all love it and so do the adults who see it. Everyone wants to know where it came from. Very fun way to learn! I can't say a bad thing about it. If it broke today, I would quickly replace it with the very same thing. If you are a teacher at school or church, you will not regret the purchase. It is well worth the money.

I reallly enjoy this product and find it really useful in the classroom. In a time when 21st century learning is so important this tool is a way to encourage cognitive growth and keep students interested, especially those that are struggling with reading and completing assignments.