Bamboo Learning Launches Luminaries for Amazon Alexa

Fresh off a $1.4 million funding round to help it expand voice applications and content for education and entertainment, Bamboo Learning has launched Bamboo Luminaries, a voice-powered skill for Amazon Alexa devices that lets users learn about a diverse set of historical figures, including writers, scientists, musicians, social justice activists, artists, and more.

Each day Bamboo Luminaries offers a different "Luminary of the Day" -- some well-known and some more obscure -- as well as opportunities to earn points, badges, and advance in the rankings by taking Luminary quizzes and playing Guess a Luminary. Players who have Alexa screen-based devices, including Echo Show, Fire TV Cube, Fire TV stick, and Fire tablets, can view images, text, and graphics that enhance the voice-first educational game.

"Bamboo Luminaries brings important historical figures to life in a fun, educational, interactive game that adults, teens, and families will enjoy playing together," said Ian Freed, CEO of Bamboo Learning, in a statement. "Bamboo Luminaries builds on our award-winning work developing Alexa skills to give people a new, engaging way to learn history and about the people who helped shape our world."

"With Bamboo Luminaries, our goal is to give people a new and enjoyable way to learn about important historical figures with different areas of expertise, as well as a broad range of ethnic, racial, and geographic backgrounds," said Irina Fine, chief operations officer and senior vice president of content at Bamboo Learning, in a statement. "Based on early feedback, we believe we have enlivened history in a way that has never been done before, introducing game-interaction using voice and visual Alexa capabilities. If Bamboo Luminaries can spark adults, teens, and families to explore more about history, we will have succeeded."

"The Bamboo Luminaries skill for Alexa introduces historical figures in a new and entertaining way, through voice and rich visuals," said Kevin Sontgerath, general manager of Alexa Skills at Amazon, in a statement. "We're excited that Alexa customers can listen to the Luminary of the Day, compete on points, badges, and rankings, and have fun learning about history at the same time."

Bamboo Learning's education and entertainment products are available on more than 100 million Alexa devices worldwide. Other products from the company include Bamboo Math, Bamboo Books, and Bamboo Music. With any of these products, "anyone can start learning and playing solely with the power of their voice," Freed said.