Abstract
This Innovative Practice Full Paper reports on a pilot study of our 3D game that was designed to teach students introductory concepts in security and cryptography. Game based learning and serious games are getting attention for their potential effect on increasing learner enjoyment and understanding of educational concepts and skills. The game we discuss here is a version of the "Escape the Room" puzzles where the player needs to find and solve a sequence of problems to escape from a room. Students must guide their avatar around a room containing a computer, a trash can, a locked door, and other objects. When they approach an object they are allowed to interact with it in various ways which provides clues and challenges that can only be solved with an understanding of certain cryptographic concepts. This game was tested with a group of 16 students, the students were asked to fill a pre-test and post-test survey about their experience with games, their demographics, and their understanding of certain cryptography concepts. A paired t-test shows a significant increase in understanding of cryptographic concepts among the students after playing the game, this increase in learning was independent of their gender and almost all of the students enjoyed the experience of learning in a game-based way.