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Mr. Porter attributed the game’s success to its real-time feel. Players can watch animated playbacks of their teammates trying to guess their creation before taking their turn. The word choices are another big selling point; in addition to standard selections like “orange” and “dynamite,” the game is liberally infused with pop culture references, like members of the Wu-Tang Clan and Skrillex, a dubstep DJ. “We’re also benefiting from hitting at a time when a lot of people are moving from feature phones to smartphones,” he said. Mr. Porter thinks that just as Facebook has a social graph — the people its users want to be friends with — OMGPop can learn more about its “gamer graph,” or the people their users like to play games with. “It’s really about relationships,” he said  of the game. “How well do I know you and can guess what you drew. That is part of the fun.”

"Sports for the Mind" teacher Al Doyle says his class helps students learn "systems thinking," understanding the relationships of parts to wholes.

When the students design their own games, they must incorporate the components of a system: goals, rules, and stakes. Eventually, says Doyle, students will learn the more complex aspects of a system, such as choice and balance, and build those into their games

The premise of using video games to engage students in advanced thinking is drawing more advocates.