Free Downloadable Game Exceeds All Expectations
Apple Valley, MN — December 22, 2008: Minnesota Zoo's WolfQuest — a 3D wildlife simulation video game and the first game
of its kind to be fully funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) — turns one-year-old.
Developed by the Minnesota Zoo and St. Paul based EduWeb, WolfQuest: Amethyst Mountain launched in December, 2007 as a free download for both Macintosh
and Windows computers at wolfquest.org. WolfQuest includes single player and multiplayer versions that allow gamers to take on the role of a
wolf living in Yellowstone National Park.
Since its launch a year ago, WolfQuest has been downloaded over 220,000 times with over 60% of all downloads by youth ages 10-19. The game has attracted
worldwide attention: players from 235 countries have downloaded the game with just over half of all players from the United States. Equally exciting is the vibrant
WolfQuest online community. The WolfQuest Community forum currently has more than 29,000 registered users that have posted over 490,000 times.
"WolfQuest represents a new breed of video game—one that marries state of the art game design with scientifically accurate wolf content," says
Grant Spickelmier, assistant director of education at the Minnesota Zoo. "We attract kids who are used to playing in virtual worlds and use the game and website to
introduce them to real world issues facing wolves."
Through trial and error, instinct and experience, players learn to maximize both individual and pack survival. Each player discovers how to compete or cooperate,
challenge or submit, and defend or attack during complex interactions with other wolves both within and outside their own pack. In the Amethyst Mountain single player
version, players play a two-year old gray wolf born in the Northern Range of Yellowstone National Park that has left its natal (birth) pack in search of a mate. In the
multiplayer version, up to five players form a pack to hunt and wander in Yellowstone National Park. Players can encounter elk, coyotes, hares, other wolves and grizzly
bears in WolfQuest Amethyst Mountain.
The Minnesota Zoo leads a national network of zoos and science education centers including the International Wolf Center, Ely, Minnesota; Yellowstone National
Park, Wyoming; Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Washington, D.C.; Wild Canid and Scientific Research Center, St. Louis, MO; Rosamand Gifford Zoo, Syracuse, NY;
California Wolf Center, San Diego, CA; Knoxville Zoo, Knoxville, TN; Phoenix Zoo, Phoenix, AZ; and the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, IL.
WolfQuest is made possible through a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) of more than a half-million dollars. Additional funding has been
received from the Best Buy Children's Foundation and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community for the creation of the next episode: WolfQuest: Slough Creek slated for
release in summer 2009, which will allow the virtual wolf players to establish territories, raise pups, leave the park and encounter a ranch.
The Minnesota Zoo is located in Apple Valley, just minutes south of Mall of America. For more information, call 952.431.9500 or visit mnzoo.org. The Minnesota
Zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and an institutional member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).
