What's new
Updated October 2026
We keep improving the game for kids and families. Here's what's new, starting with what kids learn.
Version 2.6.7 (October 2026)
A new mini-game, The Guns of Boston, and a rebuilt Gristmill.
What kids learn
- The Siege of Boston (1775–1776). In The Guns of Boston, kids cross the lake to Fort Ticonderoga, haul the cannon over the frozen Hudson in "the Noble Train," fortify Dorchester Heights in one night, and then play a "What if?" battle that never happened before learning the true ending: the British left Boston on 17 March 1776.
- How machines work. Follow one sack of grain through Washington's mill, from the water wheel and gears to the millstones and flour barrels. Easy and Middle show the 1791 mill; Hard shows the 1771 mill, worked by hand.
- Reading primary sources. Passages from Oliver Evans's 1795 millwright's book, with pictures of the printed pages.
- Why armies dug trenches. Yorktown opens with a short story about digging instead of charging.
- Music and rhythm. A 10-page drum lesson, music in modern or 1812 notation, and a new Play It Back step where kids drum each call themselves.
Highlights for parents
- Syllable help now reaches the mini-game panels, quizzes, the sea log and the drum lesson.
- Every "Further reading" book has an "About this book" story.
- The Campaign Guide was remade.
Version 2.6.6 (October 2026)
Why was the drummer's coat red? And a big update for touch screens.
What kids learn
- History in a uniform. The drummer and a new fifer wear their regiment's colors reversed, red faced with blue. A new lesson page explains why: officers had to find their musicians fast. Six sources are quoted exactly, including Washington's General Orders of 2 October 1779.
Highlights for parents
- On touch screens: "tap" instead of "click", bigger buttons, "How to play" written for taps, and games that fit when the screen is held upright. Nothing changes with a mouse.
- The narrator now prefers a male voice.
- Beta copies only: a parent-only "Report a problem" QR code that sends no names, nothing a child typed, and no passwords.
Version 2.6.5 (October 2026)
Math by hand at sea, and new lessons in the drum and mill games.
What kids learn
- Math on the voyage to Barbados. Kids work out each day's run themselves: adding the hours of each watch on Easy, and knots × 2 = miles row by row on Middle and Hard. Every step is checked, with a gentle hint and another try, and no moving on until the answer is right.
- History and music in the Drum Calls. The drum lesson now covers how young drummers learned their calls by heart, and a new drum-history lesson ends with a quiz.
- How a mill works. The Gristmill has an explainer before play and a 9-step walkthrough, and it's redrawn like Washington's mill at Mount Vernon.
- Why soldiers dug zigzag trenches. Yorktown has a tutorial, and kids learn why straight trench lines were dangerous.
Highlights for parents
- A 6-step "Getting started" guide for parents on the opening screen.
- Play Again on every mini-game end card.
- Tips and pop-ups no longer cover the text.
- Historical quotes keep their original wording.
Version 2.6.4 (October 2026)
A navigator's log, a visit with Washington's brother, and word histories.
What kids learn
- Navigation and math. The Voyage to Barbados now uses a log laid out like George's own 1751 log-book. Kids work out speed, miles, and latitude at three levels, with tutorials spoken by General Washington, and see a real line from his 1751 log.
- History from real sources. A new scene at Barbados follows Lawrence's illness, George's smallpox and recovery, and his voyage home. Every exchange shows its source.
- Where words come from. Trigger, musket, flint, cartridge and ramrod each have a "Learn more" history told in Washington's voice.
- Music history. A scroll button shows each period tune's sheet music and its story.
- Safety. Each of the Four Rules of gun safety now explains why, plus the rule for finding a gun: don't touch it, leave the place, tell an adult.
Highlights for parents
- A simpler Parent screen, one section at a time.
- Finished Field Lessons earn a ribbon: Completed, With Honor or With Distinction.
Version 2.6.3 (October 2026)
Three painted outdoor games bring the total to 15 mini-games.
What kids learn
- Fowling on the Potomac: load a flintlock in the right order and learn to aim ahead of a moving target.
- The Surveyors' Hunt (1748): the survey party needs food for three days. Kids move slowly, watch the wind and take one careful shot.
- The Fox Chase, rebuilt: ride with the hounds and time each jump. The hounds catch the fox; the rider never shoots at it.
- Safety first. Each game opens with a card from Washington reminding kids that real guns are not toys and that the Four Rules of gun safety always come first. There's no blood.
Highlights for parents
- Every mini-game now fits the window without scrolling.
Version 2.6.2 (October 2026)
A switch for syllable help.
What kids learn
- Reading on their own. Tap-to-hear syllable help can now be switched off. Parents choose for each child, and kids can flip a small quill-and-ear-trumpet switch to read plain words, just like a book.
Highlights for parents
- The printable report card shows each child's syllable-help setting.
Version 2.6.1 (October 2026)
Where the history comes from.
What kids learn
- Reading primary sources. Every history reading now ends with a ? button that opens the passages it rests on, quoted exactly in the original spelling, with citations. That's 90 passages for 31 places, all built in, so it works offline.
- History, checked. After a careful fact-check, several readings are more exact, and stories the sources don't settle are labeled as traditions or disputed.
- Word roots, corrected. Two root lessons were fixed so every word family is right.
Highlights for parents
- The printable Campaign Guide now lists the sources under every place.
Earlier updates
The game began in October 2026 as The Washington Campaign: a detective-style word chase where a young soldier serves under General Washington, unlocking places by solving puzzles built on Latin and Greek roots, earning ranks from Recruit to Sergeant, and taking an oath "to do my duty with honesty and courage; to speak the truth." Updates since then added a prologue about Washington's boyhood at Ferry Farm and his years as a young surveyor, with the cherry-tree story honestly named as a legend. They also added the Field Desk, separate profiles for each child, and period music; 20 Field Lessons on surveying, farming, medicine, codes, money and more, plus new stops at Mount Vernon and on the Barbados voyage; and a Parent Preview and printable Campaign Guide. Later came tap-to-hear syllables with reading honors up to a 21-Gun Salute, and the Study Hall, where kids master all 110 Rules of Civility and earn Washington's own public offices, from County Surveyor to President. In version 2.6.0 the game took its new name, The Honorable Path: Washington's Life, and added 13 history mini-games, from crossing the icy Delaware to cracking a spy cipher.
← Back to The Honorable Path
