Games For Cyber Security

Curated list of all the best games to help teach cyber security. This was initially presented at the 2019 NICE K12 Conference and we continue to keep it updated.

Type: Board Game
This game is a remix of the popular Cards Against Humanity card game centered around security concepts. The adlib style cards have been reworked to introduce security terms and concepts.
Link: Board Game
- Audience: engaging-easy

Type: Board Game
Developed by University of Washington, this game gives players an opportunity to explore cybersecurity threats from multiple perspectives. The cards have four categories: human impact, adversary’s motivation, adversary’s resources, adversary’s methods. Within these categories, the cards give example scenarios and ideas to jumpstart group games and discussion.
Link: Board Game
- Audience: engaging-experienced

Type: Board Game
A tabletop turn-based security game focused on informally introducing students to cybersecurity concepts. The flow of the game requires players to act as attackers at some points, compromising and looting the other team’s infrastructure, and as defenders other times, attempting to patch exploitations and secure against further attacks.
Link: Board Game
- Audience: hard

Type: Board Game
In Hacker, players work together to solve progressively harder puzzles. These puzzles follow the flow of creating a program, attack incident, and subsequent incident response. As the puzzles get more difficult, other obstacles are added, forcing players to continuously think outside of the box.
Link: Board Game
- Audience: uneffective-hard

Type: Escape Room
This is a 20-25 escape room with 4-5 stations where puzzles are based on Harry Potter theme and have been designed with help from students.
Link: Escape Room
- Audience: engaging-easy

Type: Digital Game
Designed to teach cybersecurity principles and a wide range of security issues, CTD: Digital recreates the same competitive gameplay experience from its tabletop counterpart by allowing players to build up defense strategies.
Link: Digital Game
- Audience: hard

Type: Board Game
The board game mimics the mind of a hacker (how they hack) and lets people be more observant to prevent being hacked in the future. The board game is a circle with different colored spaces. Each color has a different scenario and hacking techniques that players need to learn and use to solve a problem (e.g. blue = cryptography, red = steganography etc.). By doing this we hope people learn about hackers and hacking techniques and will be wary about hackers the next time they are online.
Link: Board Game
- Audience: student developed

Type: Board Game
This Cyber Security based Oregon Trail game will teach players about cyber threats, the importance of having secured systems, and difficulties new businesses face. Along the way, players will also gain valuable teamwork, leadership, management, and communication skills.
Link: Board Game
- Audience: student developed

Type: Board Game
The project is Clue-hacker edition, and it informs about cyber security and hacking. In the game of Clue, there is one murderer, one weapon, and the room where it happened. Our version of Clue will include a hacker, method of attack, and the IP address of the hacker. The game raises awareness for cyber attacks; potentially, it has a positive effect on players. The goal is to make people aware of where they are putting their personal information. Our project will provide clues to a player to help solve the mystery of who, how, and where they got hacked.
Link: Board Game
- Audience: student developed

Type: Digital
An interactive game that uses a football theme to engage users in questions related to information technology practices. Users participate in a simulated football match, but instead of physical plays, they answer IT-related questions such as "What is the safest technique to practice when using Bluetooth?"
Link: Digital
- Audience: tamu

Type: Digital
"Aggie Cybersecurity Circus" on it.tamu.edu is a part of an interactive event where participants can play various games related to cybersecurity. Completing three games earns participants a free food coupon, and playing four games enters them into a grand prize drawing. Link: Digital
- Audience: tamu

Type: Digital
The "Cyber Lab" on www.pbs.org is a part of NOVA Labs, a free digital platform that encourages teens and lifelong learners to engage in scientific exploration through interactive games and activities.
Link: Digital
- Audience: pbs labs

Type: Digital
CyberStart is a gamified platform that teaches cybersecurity skills to students of all ages. The game features a variety of challenges, including hacking, cryptography, and social engineering. Players can earn points and badges as they progress through the game, and they can compete against other players on the leaderboard.
Link: Digital
- Audience: SANS labs

Type: Digital
"The Hogwarts Escape" is a free, online Harry Potter-themed escape room game that can be played alone or with friends, with the optimal experience provided on a desktop, laptop, or tablet. The game's storyline begins with the player receiving their Hogwarts letter, following favorite classes, making friends, and solving a mystery about a new friend who has disappeared.
Link: Digital
- Audience: engaging-game

Type: Digital
"Cyber Challenge" is a cyber initiative game run by the U.S. Military Department of Defense where participants play as cyber protectors, building a secure network to move information and prevent adversaries from gaining access. Additionally, participants can play as cyber defenders, reviewing system logs and identifying suspicious activity from unauthorized users.
Link: Digital
- Audience: US Military

Type: Digital
A Cyber Security Crossword Puzzle
Link: Digital
- Audience: USA Learning

Type: Digital
picoCTF.org offers a range of learning materials to explore the world of cybersecurity, emphasizing that picoCTF is more than a competition.
Link: Digital
- Audience: CMU CTF

Following are comments around ideation and next steps which we recorded in our Dec 10, 2019 workshop at NICE K12 Conference.

Puzzle chain websites with puzzles that can be completed passively
Introduce concepts with a board game during onboarding to students in 1hr block to talk about security
Mini competitions with clubs in our school
Haunted house escape room at our Halloween celebration
Individual points accumulation plus point leaderboard for encouraging health competition & mentorship
Build a network domain using dice, winner is who can throw dice numbers in a range first (like 0.001.001.0)
Board game with ethical scenarios
Digital Forensic escape room
Incident response team ER
Create your own custom cipher code, someone else must decipher
Using virtual reality, a cyber security manager has to stop an attack by finding the right clues around the room using various tools & equipment.