How does a bungee jumper miss the ground by inches? What keeps a twine from breaking? What allows extreme athletes to experience their outlandish exercise fantasies without being killed by them?

These and other haunting questions are yours for the solving in Extreme Sports Tycoon (EST). Players learn math and science by experimenting with extreme stunt performance and booth design. Players use F=MA and spring equations to design optimal bungee jumping experiences. They manipulate the mathematics behind centripocal force to perform tricks in a Half-Pipe. Through Bungee Jumping, BASE Jumping, BMX Jumping, Freefall Rope Jumping, Ski Jumping, Snowboarding, Street and Ice Luge, players learn the basics of AP-level physics concepts like force, gravity, tension, velocity, and acceleration. When they get things wrong, the results can be disastrous.

Of course, half the fun of pulling off a Triple Lindsey is showing off for the crowd and building an untouchable rep. That’s where the Tycoon Part comes in. Behind the scenes in EST is a web community game where players compete for money and rep. High stakes lie behind every jump. Pull off a dope 720 McTwist and earn rep points and maybe even prize money. Pull off only 700 and you still earn rep points, but you’ll bust your teeth and lose cash fixing them. Build up money and rep points to enter the high-stakes snowboarding parks. Run out of either and you’re stuck with the 8 year-olds at the local bunny hill.

Copyright 2002, MIT.