(From the teacher who once let Jamal turn on every power-up and nearly got sent to the principal’s office for “inciting a riot”)
October 2025. Hybrid teaching. Week 3.
I made the worst decision of my career: I turned on every single power-up because “more options = more fun.”
Forty-three seconds later, Jamal bought four Freezes in a row, locked the entire leaderboard, and half my 9th graders were ready to throw Chromebooks.
The assistant principal walked by at the exact worst moment.
I still get reminded about “the incident.”
After 1,800+ live games and roughly 200,000 power-up purchases observed, here is the cold, hard, permanently-updated tier list.
S-Tier (Always On — Non-Negotiable)
- Insurance ($250–$500)
One free wrong answer, streak stays alive.
Single greatest learning-friendly power-up ever created.
Forces kids to actually read all four choices instead of YOLO-guessing.
Direct correlation with higher test scores. - Streak Bonus (the passive multiplier every 5 correct)
The actual drug.
The reason kids replay homework at 11:47 p.m. on Sunday.
Do not touch. Ever. - Bigger Bucks ($1,000 → next answer worth 5×)
Safe, strategic, teaches risk-reward better than my economics class. - Hot Streak ($2,500 → double streak multiplier for 30 sec)
Pure adrenaline.
When someone times it perfectly on a $75 question, the leaderboard flips and the entire room screams.
Best moment in teaching.
A-Tier (Usually On — 90% of games)
- Extra Help ($300 → removes two wrong answers)
Underrated gem.
Turns blind guessing into actual thinking. - Double Trouble ($750 → team mode only)
Doubles entire team earnings for next question.
Creates instant peer coaching.
Wholesome chaos. - Early Bird ($1,500 → 10-second delay for everyone else)
Annoying when used on you, but fair and short-lived.
B-Tier (Situational — Use sparingly)
- Blockade ($600 → blocks someone from buying power-ups)
Petty but occasionally hilarious. - Glitch ($800 → swap scores for 15 sec)
Funny exactly once per year.
Then it becomes toxic.
F-Tier (Permanently Banned in My Room)
- Freeze ($400)
Cause of the Great Chromebook Riot of 2025.
Cheap, spammable, turns game into button-mashing contest.
Permanently banned since October 2025. - Big Brain ($5,000 → next question 10× for you, half speed for everyone else)
Single-handedly decides 90% of games now.
One kid saves up → drops it → wins by 3 million before minute 15.
Banned in 2023. Leaderboard has been competitive ever since. - Mega Multiplier ($10,000 → 20× next question)
Exists so Gimkit can say they went “even crazier.”
Never turned on. Life is too short.
Homework/Assignment Mode Only (All enabled — no victims)
- Second Chance
- Lucky Guess
- Time Warp
These are actually perfect for solo play. They keep kids going instead of rage-quitting.
My Exact 2026 Power-Up Settings (Copy-Paste These)
Live Classic / Trust No One
✓ Insurance
✓ Bigger Bucks
✓ Hot Streak
✓ Extra Help
✗ Everything else
Team Modes
Add Double Trouble → everything else still off
Homework Mode
Everything enabled except score-destroying nonsense like “Crash”
The One Day I Turn Everything On
Last day before winter break.
Valentine’s Day.
Day after state testing.
Full Lord of the Flies mode activated.
We’re not learning anymore — we’re surviving.
The Real Psychology Everyone Misses
Power-ups work because of loss aversion.
A $4,000 streak about to die hurts 10× more than gaining $400 ever feels good.
That pain is why they reread the question three times and actually learn the difference between meiosis and mitosis.
Traditional quizzes = failure feels bad.
Gimkit with good power-ups = failure feels like losing real money.
Same content. Completely different emotional stakes.
Final Verdict After Five Years of Daily Use
Start with only the S-tier four turned on.
Play one game.
See what your specific kids can handle.
Ban what turns Jamal into a war criminal.
It takes exactly one game to find your room’s perfect recipe.
When you do, screenshot that final leaderboard where the quiet kid who never wins anything hits #1 because she perfectly timed a Hot Streak on the question she studied all night.
That moment is worth every single second of the Great Chromebook Riot.
Save this list.
Open it every time you click “Advanced Settings.”
Your future self (and your assistant principal) will thank you.