Create Classic Games with Hot Potatoes!

Good day everyone!

Here I am again with another post about the latest technological tool I found. This time, I had to install an application instead of working with a tool from a website. The name of the application is actually quite funny and makes you wonder, "why?" Nevertheless, it provides 6 types of tools which can be used to enhance students' participation and material mastery. This one-of-a-kind application is called Hot Potatoes.

What is Hot Potatoes?

Hot Potatoes is a software which effortlessly lets you create 6 different exercises in .html format. There are JCloze, JQuiz, JCross, JMatch, JMix, and The Masher. To use this, of course, you would need to download the application first. I downloaded mine here. For a little introduction, I am also attaching my friends' presentation about the app, which you can watch here.

Now that the app is downloaded and ready to use, let's see its features one at a time.

JMatch

Like the name implies, you can make a matching game with this tool. All you have to do is input the matching items both on the left and on the right side of the tables, as you can see in the picture below. The right side of the table will automatically jumble the items, unless you fixate it by ticking the 'Fix' option.

So, let's say you finished creating your JMatch. By clicking the File option on the top left corner of the screen, you can save it in 2 formats:

• a JMatch or HotPot File: it lets you edit your work again. To save it in this format, click the Save or Save As option, then choose the folder you would like to save your JMatch in. This method is used to save the editable format of all the games available in Hot Potatoes.
• an .html file: your JMatch is ready to use and can only be opened using a browser. To save it in this format, click the Create Web Page, then select the format you wish to apply.

Here is what the .html JMatch looks like.

JCloze

From the name alone, you can probably guess that this tool helps you create a cloze test, or to put it simply, fill-in-the-blanks exercise in a passage.

All you have to do is first, paste or write the passage you wish to use in the huge box. Then, you can manually create the gaps by blocking the text where you would like the gap to be created and press the Gap button. As you can see in the picture below, you would be asked to input the clue of the missing word and alternative correct answers, if there are any. You can also edit any gaps you have made by clicking the Show Words button, then pressing the up and down arrow to choose the number of gap you wish to edit. You can save it using the same way you used to save JMatch.

Here is what JCloze will look like on your browser.

JCross

This one lets you make a classic crossword puzzle by inputting each of the words you wish to use inside of the boxes. Then, insert each of the words' clues by pressing Add Clues, then adding them by pressing a word, then adding the clue in the box right next to the OK button. Super easy, right?

Once your crossword puzzle is done, it will look like this.

JQuiz

JQuiz will help you create old-fashioned quiz items, ranging from multiple-choice, short-answer, hybrid, and multi-select items. Another great thing is that you can use more than one type of item in your quiz! As you can see here, no matter what sort of question type you prefer, these are the settings you will deal with; no need to fret because the JQuiz will automatically adjust the display later on accordingly. All you have to do is input your question then type in the answer options if there are any. You can also add feedbacks if you'd like, then don't forget to tick the correct answer in the rightmost box when using types like multiple-choice items.

 So, when you exported JQuiz into .html, it will appear like this.

Multiple-choice item

Multi-select item

Short-answer item

Hybrid item

JMix

JMix is simply a name for the game which jumbles sentences. Therefore, later on, players have to rearrange them into a coherent paragraph. All you have to do is input the paragraph in the Main Sentence box, separate each of the sentences using enter, and that's it! You can also insert multiple alternative answers.

After saving it, the exercise should look like this. It even automatically comes with instructions for the players.

The Masher

Instead of an exercise-making tool, The Masher functions as a medium to combine all of the previously made exercises — from JMatch until JMix — into a single .html file. To compile them, simply Add Files or directly drag them to The Masher. Remember to input .html files instead of Hot Potatoes files to get the game working. Once you have inserted everything, click Build Unit and wait for them to be 'mashed.'

Once The Masher did its job, the accessible link should appear this way on your browser. Players can directly click on the type of exercise they wish to do first, second, and so on. There will also be a back arrow to return to the main menu.

So, those are all the available tools in Hot Potatoes. The easy usage really helps in creating these exercises in a jiffy, but there are some things which I think should be considered when using this application.

1. Since this is an application, you can only run it in a laptop or PC, and several devices might not support it.
2. Some browsers might not support the exported .html file. As a reference, I personally use Google Chrome version 90.0.4430.93 (64-bit) and Microsoft Edge Version 90.0.818.51 (64-bit), which can run the files perfectly fine. I heard that some of my friends were unable to open them despite using Chrome.
3. It would be better to create a special folder just to put the .html files in, especially when using The Masher because once you move the files, the system will not be able to relocate them unless you create another Masher with the new file location.
4. Point 2 and 3 are especially to be heed if you were to use this with students; they may not be able to work on the exercises individually and or have troubles finding the files for Masher without a notice beforehand.

There you have it, a brief overview and tutorial of Hot Potatoes version 7. Its easy-to-use interface with various classic games to choose from could really save your time. However, few things need to be taken into account when applying this game in the classroom. Despite of that, Hot Potatoes' games can be super fun activities once you got everything settled. To see what I've made using Hot Potatoes, click here. Note: you can only access The Masher once you put each of the exercises in the same folder.

See you in another post! 😉