Electric Funstuff

What Electric Funstuff does

Electric Funstuff is a privately-held B2B educational game design and development studio founded in 1998 by David Langendoen and headquartered at 27 West 20th Street, New York City. The firm designs and develops interactive simulations and games for educational institutions, publishers, and grant-funded learning initiatives, with a documented customer base spanning CUNY/BMCC, the Mission US consortium, University of North Dakota, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Scholastic, Sesame Workshop, and McGraw Hill Education. Its portfolio includes the long-running FIN180 financial-literacy platform for CUNY, the NSF-funded Project Sampson, and three installments in the Mission US history series (No Turning Back, Up From the Dust, Spirit of a Nation), with a 2024 expansion into healthcare education via GeriAct.

The studio builds on Unity and HTML5 — having migrated off Flash/AS2 — and distributes a subset of titles through Apple's App Store. Revenue mechanics are project-based professional services: fixed-scope development contracts with publishers, grant-funded builds (notably NSF Grant #1501499 for Project Sampson and NYS Higher Education Services Corporation funding for FIN180), and a small direct-to-consumer/educator tail via the App Store. The firm is founder-led with a named team of approximately seven individuals, has no disclosed external equity investment, and has not publicly reported revenue. Recognition includes 2024 Anthem Awards (Gold and Silver) and 2023 GEE! Awards (Gold and Finalist), with the studio's history reflecting a steady cadence of educational-game delivery rather than rapid scaling.

Name

Electric Funstuff

Legal name

Electric Funstuff

Website

https://electricfunstuff.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Electric Funstuff is a New York City-based B2B studio founded in 1998 that designs and develops interactive educational games and simulations for universities, publishers, and grant-funded learning initiatives, including the Mission US history series and the FIN180 financial-literacy platform for CUNY.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational Game Development Services

NAICS

Other Amusement and Recreation Industries (7139)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

Serious Games & Simulation Studios (Training, Defense, Enterprise) (MPAFAAAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Simulation, Scenario & Serious Games Design (EDAGAKAH)

Keywords

• Educational game development
• Game-based learning
• Serious games design
• Custom learning games
• Edtech game studio

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Client-Funded Game Development: Electric Funstuff designs and develops custom educational games for established institutional clients including publishers (Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Sesame Workshop, McGraw Hill Education), universities (CUNY), and NGOs (Mission US). Projects are funded via institutional contracts, grants, or commissions. The company does not self-publish all games; partners host and distribute games on their own platforms.
2. Grant-Funded Project Development: Several major projects are funded by government and institutional grants, including the National Science Foundation (NSF Grant #1501499 for Project Sampson) and the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation (for FIN180). These grants fund curriculum and game development for specific educational programs.
3. App Store Distribution: Some games are published directly to the iOS App Store (e.g., Mission US: Up From the Dust), providing a direct-to-consumer distribution channel alongside partner platforms.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Electric Funstuff is an educational game design and development studio that creates custom game-enhanced learning experiences for institutional clients. The studio builds interactive simulations and learning games for educational publishers, universities, NGOs, and public media organizations, with particular specialization in healthcare and life-sciences education.

Product overview

Electric Funstuff is an educational game development studio founded in 1998 that creates game-enhanced learning experiences. The company operates across multiple product lines: (1) FIN180/My Big Year - a financial literacy course with embedded turn-based strategy game; (2) Project Sampson - a linear algebra/GIS math remediation game; (3) No Turning Back - a civil rights history game; (4) GeriAct - a healthcare training game; and (5) the broader Mission US series of history games. The company also offers instructional design, game design, storytelling, programming, and quality control services, primarily using Unity or HTML5 to build games hosted on partner platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Mission US: Award-winning historical adventure game series exploring American history through interactive gameplay. Titles include No Turning Back (civil rights and voting rights history) and Spirit of a Nation (Apalachee and Indigenous history in 16th-17th century Florida).
• FIN180
• Project Sampson
• GeriAct

Products and services

• Mission US Series
• FIN180 / My Big Year
• Project Sampson
• GeriAct
• Custom Educational Game Development Services Bespoke game design, development, and production services applying the studio's Game-Enhanced Learning methodology to client learning objectives across educational publishing, higher education, healthcare, and public-media sectors.

Quantifiable outcome

• 72% of students completed the FIN180 course; 61% of completers received an A or B grade; 100% of surveyed students said FIN180 increased their financial literacy knowledge; 91% said it caused them to think about life goals, plans and careers; 88% said it helped them better manage their own finances.
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Dakota GeriatricscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2024Electric Funstuff collaborated with Dakota Geriatrics to design 'GeriAct,' a game helping health professionals learn best practices for older adult care — a critical issue for the nation's health. Medical students at the University of North Dakota piloted the game.
• University of North DakotaminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Medical students at the University of North Dakota served as the first pilot testers for GeriAct, providing feedback on the game's effectiveness for teaching best practices in older adult care.
• Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016BMCC partnered with Electric Funstuff to develop Project Sampson — a game connecting linear algebra with GIS for community college math remediation. BMCC's Office of Institutional Research is also involved in tracking student outcomes.
• CUNY School of Professional StudiescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Electric Funstuff worked with a CUNY professor to design the FIN180 financial literacy course around four avatars representing a range of personality types and financial circumstances. CUNY School of Professional Studies co-developed and has offered the course every semester since Spring 2014.
• CUNY College NowcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2014CUNY College Now delivers the FIN180 course to high school juniors and seniors, providing a direct institutional channel for distributing the course and game to students in the CUNY system.
• CUNY Office of Research, Evaluation & Program SupportminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Serves as the evaluation partner for FIN180, providing independent assessment of student outcomes and learning effectiveness.
• Mission UScoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2011Mission US is a series of middle school history games hosted at mission-us.org. Electric Funstuff acts as designer and developer for multiple games in the series, including 'No Turning Back' and 'Up From the Dust.' Mission US handles platform hosting and distribution.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Filament Games: Madison, WI-based educational game development studio that designs and develops custom learning games for publishers, educational institutions, and nonprofits—closely matching Electric Funstuff's B2B custom serious-games model and client base.
• Schell Games: Pittsburgh-based studio with a substantial Education and Training division that creates immersive learning experiences, simulations, and serious games for clients like Disney, Yale, and National Geographic—directly comparable in custom serious-games delivery.
• Dig-iT! Games: Bethesda-based studio building interactive history and archaeology games (e.g., Excavate!, TimeMine) for K-12 classrooms—directly comparable in subject matter (history, civics) and grade-band to Mission US.
• E-Line Media: Game studio whose mission-driven projects (e.g., Never Alone, Endling) often incorporate educational and cultural themes; overlaps with Electric Funstuff in mission-led, learning-oriented game development.
• Triseum: Educational game studio (now part of ACC) focused on college-level serious games, particularly in STEM and business—comparable to Electric Funstuff's higher-ed engagement (FIN180, Project Sampson).
• Muzzy Lane Software: Developer of collaborative serious games and simulations for higher education and corporate training; comparable in deploying game-enhanced learning into credit-bearing college courses, similar to FIN180.
• iCivics: Non-profit producing civics education games for middle and high school students; the Mission US series that Electric Funstuff develops for is a near-twin offering in subject matter and target audience.
• GlassLab Games: Originally spun out of the MacArthur Foundation to develop educational games and assessment tools; comparable in targeting institutional and educational deployment of game-based learning products.

Broad incumbents

• BrainPOP: Established K-12 educational content platform with game-based learning products; overlaps as a channel/buyer of educational games from studio developers and competes for institutional budgets that fund EFS-type work.
• Pearson Education: Major educational publisher that internally develops and acquires game-based learning content (including through GlassLab); comparable as both a potential channel partner and a broad incumbent competing for the same institutional edtech spend.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/e_funstuff

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Electric Funstuff