Mabel Addis

Brian Zhao

Erin Malone

IXD History

November 24, 2020

Mabel Addis

Mabel Addis was a teacher, writer, and video game designer. She was born in Mount Vernon on May 21, 1912. Mabel graduated from Brewster High School in 1929 and she earned a bachelor’s degree in ancient history from Barnard College in 1933. After that, she worked hard to receive a master’s degree in education from Columbia University. Mabel started to teach history in 1935, and she moved several times during her career of teaching. [2] She also wrote a couple of books about oral history and she participated in the production of local history books Katonah: a History of a New York Village and Brewster Through the Years.

When Mabel was 52-year-old, she got a task from the local school district, and that is to see how IBM computers could be used to educate students. So, Mabel came up with the idea of creating a video game that could help students to learn about the history and culture of Sumerian. The development of the game took three years, and the game was first played by sixth-grade students in 1965. This game was a text-based strategy simulation game. Players would play as a Sumerian priest, which means that the players would be in charge of managing and making decisions for the city. The city would face problems like lack of food, natural disasters, and the wrath of God. The game would become more and more difficult as it continued, and the players would have to be careful about every decision they made. [3] The Sumerian game started to become well-known; more and more schools decided to use this game to teach students about problem-solving in the late 1960s. 

Mabel Addis was believed to be the first female video game designer in the world. Her contributions to game design and education during her teaching career are too significant for the next generation. Her Sumerian game inspired lots of the later text-based adventure games. The ideas of keeping asking players questions and making the game player-centered were inherited by lots of the excellent games we know today such as the famous Fate Stay Night. Even though Mabel had such great achievements, her name was rarely mentioned by people. I think that is because she was not a professional game designer and her active time is too far away from us. But we should still appreciate this pioneer.

Source Citation in MLA Format

• [1]Unknown author “Mabel Addis: The Lost Story of the First Video Game Writer.” Gamer Women, 26 Oct. 2020, www.gamerwomen.com/mabel-addis/. 
• [2]Arcadology. “The Sumerian Game.” YouTube, uploaded by Arcadology, 2 Oct. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gn9J01dPvMM.
• [3]Unknown author “Remembering Mabel Addis, the First Video Game Writer, on International Women’s Day.” News Break, 8 Mar. 2020, www.newsbreak.com/news/1523013179525/remembering-mabel-addis-the-first-video-game-writer-on-international-womens-day.