How rewards work in Brainimo

How do kids earn stars in Brainimo?

Kids earn stars by playing learning games and by doing the missions you set. A game round pays 0 to 3 stars, and moving up a level adds 5 bonus stars. Game stars stay inside a daily limit you choose, from 10 to 60 stars a day (25 to start), and rounds pay less the more a child plays that day. Missions you create pay what you decide, from 1 to 20 stars, and each exercise step pays 5 to 15 stars once you approve it. A typical day of play earns about 10 to 20 stars.

What is the Prize Counter?

The Prize Counter is your child's shop of real rewards, and you decide what is on it. Brainimo comes with 33 reward ideas in six groups: screen time, treats, outings, toys, special privileges and pocket money. You turn each one on or off, set its price in stars, and add your own, like baking together or an extra bedtime story. You can also set one big prize to save up for, with a progress bar, keep a reward locked until the brain pet grows to a certain stage, or price rewards in days of play.

How does parent approval work?

Every reward needs your yes before it is real. When your child picks a reward and taps "Get it!", the stars are set aside and the request appears in your Approvals list. If you approve it, you give the reward in real life. If you decline, the stars go back to your child. Missions work the same way: your child taps "I did it!" and you approve it or send it back to try again. A mission needs your OK by default, and you can mark one as trusted so it pays at once.

Do rewards hurt a child's own motivation?

They can, and it is worth knowing when. Research on the overjustification effect found that an expected, tangible reward for something a child already enjoys can lower their own interest once the reward stops (Lepper, Greene and Nisbett, 1973; a 1999 review by Deci, Koestner and Ryan). Brainimo cannot remove that risk. What helps is using stars mostly for things your child avoids or finds hard, keeping rewards small, and planning to fade them. Our article on whether rewards kill motivation walks through the research.

How do you fade rewards out over time?

You fade rewards by slowly asking for more and giving less, using the controls in the parent area. Brainimo has no automatic fade, so this is a plan you run yourself. Lower the daily limit on game stars. Raise reward prices, or price them in more days of play. Switch off rewards your child no longer needs. Turn a mission off once the habit sticks, or keep it at fewer stars. Through all of it, name the effort you see, because praise is not something you have to fade.

How it works

1. 1Your child plays a short learning game or does a mission you set.
2. 2Each game round pays 0 to 3 stars; missions pay what you chose.
3. 3Stars build up toward rewards on the Prize Counter.
4. 4Your child asks for a reward, and the stars are set aside.
5. 5You approve it in the parent area and give the reward in real life.

What you control as a parent

• You choose every reward on the Prize Counter and set its price in stars, or in days of play.
• You set the daily limit on stars from games, from 10 to 60 a day.
• You create missions and chores, choose their stars and how often they count, and approve each one or mark it trusted.
• You approve or decline every reward request; a declined request returns the stars.

Questions parents ask