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Yes—but “help” can mean different things. Zoo-related games can make animal care and conservation ideas interactive, and environmental-education research suggests that serious games can support learning. The available evidence does not show that a particular zoo game causes lasting behavior change, produces direct conservation gains, or improves zoo animals’ welfare. Those outcomes need to be measured, not assumed.
What does it mean for a game to help a zoo?
A game might help visitors understand wildlife, connect play to conservation projects, or offer an animal in a zoo a stimulating activity. These are separate goals, with different evidence behind them.
- Visitor learning: Players can encounter species facts, animal needs, and conservation choices. A good game can make those ideas active rather than purely observational.
- Conservation beyond the zoo: Some games have linked play to donations or field projects. A promised funding mechanism, however, does not by itself demonstrate lasting conservation impact.
- Animal enrichment: Interactive technology may give an animal cognitive challenges or more choice. That possibility is being investigated, but engagement alone does not prove improved welfare.
What environmental-education research says about learning
A 2023 review of serious games for environmental education included 56 records: 45 empirical studies and 11 reviews. Its overall synthesis was positive about potential benefits for learning, attitudes, and behavior. The review also found that evaluation of pedagogical effectiveness was not systematic enough and that long-term impact studies were scarce. This is promising evidence for environmental games broadly, not proof that a specific zoo game changes what visitors do over time. Tan et al., 2023.
The review identified features that can make games educationally useful: immersion, meaningful engagement, learning by doing, realistic problem-solving, player autonomy, and a guiding host. Those features are design opportunities, not guarantees that a game will work.
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A 2018 conservation-course study involved 55 multinational students across two cycles. Its authors reported that experiential games were useful as a complement to didactic instruction. The study was conducted with students in a course; it did not test zoo visitors or establish that a commercial zoo game changes public behavior. PeerJ study, 2018.
Zoo education itself is not always evaluated in ways that show whether learning leads to action. A review of 29 peer-reviewed zoo and aquarium education studies published from January 2011 to April 2020 found that cognitive outcomes accounted for 37% of outcomes examined. Measures and definitions varied, and the authors called for more study of behavior-relevant outcomes. Remembering a fact, feeling empathy, changing a habit, and protecting wildlife are distinct results—not interchangeable evidence that a game “worked.” Moss et al., 2022.
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Examples of games connected to zoos and conservation
Zoo Guardians: building and caring for a virtual zoo
Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute announced Zoo Guardians with JumpStart Games in 2020. Aimed at children and animal lovers starting at age 9, it invited players to build zoos, care for animals, complete quests, and interact with 3D wildlife through augmented reality. Smithsonian said players could learn from animal experts and conservation scientists. The launch announcement described the game as free for Apple and Android devices at that time; it does not establish whether it is currently available. Smithsonian announcement.
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Eco Detectives: connecting classroom play to projects
Zoos Victoria describes Eco Detectives as a free Minecraft Education game recommended for years 4–6. Students investigate real-world conservation issues, and the zoo presents the game as a starting point for projects that can continue beyond the screen. It was built by official Minecraft partners and developed with Microsoft and zoo partners in Australia and New Zealand. That classroom-to-project connection is a concrete way to link simulated decisions with further learning. Zoos Victoria: Eco Detectives.
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AZA initiatives: challenges and app proceeds
A historical Zoo Tycoon partnership described monthly community challenges in which players voted on AZA-endorsed field conservation projects. The 2013 announcement said Microsoft would donate $10,000 to each project if the community met its challenge. That was a specific past arrangement, not evidence that the offer remains active or that it produced long-term conservation results. AZA announcement, 2013.
AZA also described TailsUp! as a free animal-guessing app with animal categories and shareable facts. Its announcement said proceeds from optional in-app deck purchases went toward AZA’s conservation mission. The announcement does not establish the app’s current availability or whether it still generates proceeds. AZA announcement.
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Gorilla Game Lab: an animal-welfare research question
A Bristol Zoological Society and University of Bristol team describes investigating whether cognitive game play can support gorilla well-being, how engagement can be observed, and how the technology affects visitor perceptions of gorilla intelligence and welfare. The project aims to create stimulation, encourage play, and give gorillas more choice and control. These are research questions and aims—not verified welfare outcomes. Gorilla Game Lab.
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For educators, zoos, or families choosing a game, look beyond whether it is entertaining. The World Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ education strategy emphasizes evidence-based explanations, empathy, practical skills, and behavior, alongside knowledge and understanding. It also calls for transparent discussion of topics audiences may find controversial. WAZA Education Strategy.
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- Check the learning aim: Is the game about species recognition, habitat needs, zoo operations, conservation threats, or practical action?
- Look at player agency: Do decisions have meaningful consequences, or does play mainly involve answering trivia?
- Check expertise: Did a zoo, conservation organization, or relevant subject specialist help develop or review the content?
- Find the real-world bridge: Does the game connect to a zoo visit, an educator-led discussion, a wildlife project, or a resource for taking action?
- Ask what was measured: Downloads and participation show reach, not learning. Stronger evaluation tests knowledge, attitudes, or behavior, ideally with follow-up over time.
- For animal-facing technology, examine welfare: Look for consideration of choice, control, social context, and observed welfare measures. Do not treat time spent playing as proof of benefit.
A game can be engaging and still oversimplify or misstate an issue. Accurate content and follow-up discussion help connect simulated choices to real animal needs and conservation challenges.
What games cannot yet prove
The evidence supports treating games as tools that can create educational opportunities, not as established solutions to conservation or animal-welfare problems. The sources discussed here do not demonstrate a long-term causal effect of a specific zoo video game on visitor behavior or wild populations, nor do they establish that game technology improves zoo animal welfare. They also provide no population-level statistic for how many zoos use video games, whether games increase zoo attendance, or how much they change conservation behavior.
For now, the most defensible approach is to use a game as one part of a broader experience: pair accurate information and meaningful choices with educators, discussion, and opportunities to connect play to real-world action. Then evaluate the outcome the game is meant to achieve.
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