Herbopolis – A mobile serious game to educate players on herbal medicines

[Display omitted] •Herbopolis is a mobile game that motivates players to learn about herbal medicines.•Players manage a city specializing in the production and sale of herbal products.•Heuristic evaluations for usability, playability and educability were positive.•Player level and gameplay time were positively associated with game quiz scores.•Our results support its use for improving knowledge on herbal medicines. Use of herbal medicines is common. There is a need for education in this area. Mobile games are useful educational tools for motivating learning. A mobile game on herbal medicines can potentially enhance players’ herb-related knowledge. Our objective was to develop a mobile game to motivate players to learn more about herbal medicines. Game development comprised of storyboarding, user interface design, database development, server development and distribution. A pilot usability study was conducted for the game prototype. Data was gathered through user registration, background data collection and a post-game survey containing a quiz on herbs encountered in the game. Mann-Whitney U test, chi-squared test and Spearman’s correlation coefficient were used for data analysis. “Herbopolis” is an in-house developed mobile game of the simulation genre. Players are tasked to manage a city specializing in the production and sale of herbal products. Nineteen out of 24 participants downloaded and played the game, and completed the post-game survey. Heuristic evaluations for usability, playability and educability were generally positive. Strong positive associations were observed between player level (r = 0.810, p