Donate Rice, Stave Off Senility

Improve your vocabulary while you feed the hungry. This game's addictive. A new U.N. campaign donates 10 grains of rice for each question you answer correctly at http://www.freerice.com. It’s already generated enough rice to feed 50,000 people. FreeRice offers players multiple-choice definitions of a word, and each correct answer generates...

By Gail Shepherd

July 24, 2008

[
        {
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Inline Content - Mobile Display Size",
          "component": "19274298",
          "insertPoint": "2",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
        },{
          "name": "Editor Picks",
          "component": "17482312",
          "insertPoint": "4",
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18711090",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - MediumRectangle - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17482310",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 8,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Inline Links",
          "component": "18711090",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        },{
          "name": "Air - Leaderboard Tower - Combo - Inline Content",
          "component": "17482313",
          "insertPoint": "8th",
          "startingPoint": 12,
          "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
          "maxInsertions": 25
        }
      ]

Improve your vocabulary while you feed the hungry. This game's addictive.

A new U.N. campaign donates 10 grains of rice for each question you answer correctly at http://www.freerice.com. It’s already generated enough rice to feed 50,000 people.

FreeRice offers players multiple-choice definitions of a word, and each correct answer generates 10 grains of rice for the United Nations World Food Program. The game relies on advertising revenue to underwrite its rice campaign.

On October 7, the day it was launched, just 830 grains of rice were donated. But by November 8, more than 77 million grains were donated, the equivalent to more than 7 million correct answers!

[Now if only we could figure out how to unload the other one.]

-- Gail Shepherd

KEEP NEW TIMES FREE... Since we started New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Miami, and we'd like to keep it that way. Your membership allows us to continue offering readers access to our incisive coverage of local news, food, and culture with no paywalls. You can support us by joining as a member for as little as $1.