U.S. Army STARS: Elements, a free element builder game
U.S. Army STARS: Elements is a free chemistry app from Army Game Studio that combines an interactive periodic table, an atom and element builder, a bonding puzzle and a quiz. Store listings for iOS and Android are online in November 2026.
Updated
What the app teaches
Army Game Studio made STARS: Elements for high school chemistry teachers who want students to learn the foundations of the subject through play. It won the Best Mobile Serious Game category at the 2016 Serious Games Showcase & Challenge. The Army developed it with school partners, among them Madison County Alabama High Schools and Tennessee Tech University, who tested it with students and teachers. Lesson plans and teacher guides were published on the project site.
The app has four areas. The Periodic Table shows every known element with only its atomic number and symbol at first; hovering reveals the name and properties, and a detail view adds the Bohr model, where the electron shells and the nucleus can be selected for more information.
The element builder and the other modules
Atom Builder works as an element builder game inside the app. Students add or remove protons, neutrons and electrons in a 3D space, and the element changes as the number of protons changes. When the result is an ion or an isotope, the app says so, and it marks the atom as stable or unstable depending on the nucleus. The aim is to make the particle nature of matter visible.
SmashBond is a matching puzzle on a grid. Players combine elements so that each atom ends up with eight electrons in its outer shell, or two in the case of hydrogen, which teaches ionic and covalent bonding through the octet rule and Lewis dot structures. The developers regard it as the most inventive part of the design because the learning goal comes out of the play itself.
STARS Challenge closes the loop with ten questions across three categories: the periodic table, atomic structure and bonding. It is meant to check and reinforce the same ideas the other modules introduce.
What is true today
The app is listed on the Apple App Store as U.S. Army STARS Elements, from the developer Army Game Studio, in the Education category, free of charge and rated for ages 9 and up. A Google Play listing under the name U.S Army STARS Elements is also online. The project site at usarmystars.com shows only a loading screen in the text that can be read, so what it offers beyond the store links cannot be confirmed from it.
Because the element builder game is distributed through these listings, it is recorded as playable, with the store pages as evidence.
Questions and answers
Is U.S. Army STARS: Elements free?
Yes. The App Store listing shows it as free, and the app was announced as a free application for chemistry teachers.
What does the element builder game do?
Atom Builder lets students add and remove protons, neutrons and electrons in 3D. The element changes with the proton count, and the app flags ions, isotopes and whether the atom is stable.
Where can I get the app?
It is listed on the Apple App Store and on Google Play as U.S. Army STARS Elements, published by Army Game Studio.