CRoME Lab Games

MedSMA℞T Mobile: Adventures in PharmaCity is an educational game designed to teach adolescents about safe opioid management through the character Shan the sheep, who navigates medication decisions after breaking an arm. Players guide Shan’s choices throughout the day, learning safe decision-making strategies for themselves and others. The game allows players to see the consequences of their choices, aiming to prepare adolescents to handle real-life challenges related to medication safety.

The opioid crisis impacts both adults and adolescents, putting families at risk through misuse of prescription opioids, often obtained from friends, family, or healthcare sources. Adolescents are vulnerable to intentional misuse and accidental poisonings, with parental behaviors sometimes exacerbating risks, such as sharing unused opioids, improper storage, or incorrect dosing. Since adolescents view parents, particularly mothers, as valuable sources of information on opioid safety, there is a critical opportunity to improve family communication and practices regarding safe opioid use and responsible medication management.

MovingiSMA℞T is a gamified adaptation of the Moving is Medicine program, an initiative led by Professor Olufunmilola Abraham that promotes health and wellbeing through culturally meaningful movement such as afrobeat dance, yoga, and Zumba. Developed by the CRoME Lab, the game transforms dance, music, and exercise into an interactive experience.
The purpose of MovingiSMA℞T is to make the core philosophy of Moving is Medicine—that movement, music, and exercise support holistic health—more accessible through gameplay. By emphasizing inclusivity, cultural expression, and peer connection, the game supports physical, mental, emotional, heart, and brain health.
The overall goal is to create an engaging educational game that motivates people of all ages, backgrounds, and fitness levels to adopt sustainable, healthy movement habits through culturally relevant and enjoyable physical activity.

Cancer is a leading cause of death in the U.S., significantly affecting adolescents, particularly those from racial/ethnic minority backgrounds, rural areas, or lower socioeconomic groups who face higher cancer rates and poorer outcomes. Unhealthy lifestyle choices, including tobacco and alcohol use, poor diet, lack of exercise, and unprotected sun exposure, contribute to nearly half of adolescent cancer diagnoses. However, a knowledge gap persists among youth regarding their susceptibility to cancer, highlighting the need for effective prevention education tailored to them. Leveraging adolescents’ engagement with digital technology, a well-designed serious game could foster awareness and promote healthy behaviors, addressing a gap in U.S. school-based cancer prevention programs and helping vulnerable adolescents reduce their future cancer risks.

OutSMA℞T Dementia is a narrative-driven serious game created by the CRoME Lab at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in partnership with Filament Games. It is designed to educate and support home caregivers and family members of people living with dementia by simulating realistic caregiving experiences.
The game uses interactive storytelling to build empathy, teach practical caregiving and medication safety skills, and help caregivers recognize and prevent burnout. Players make decisions that affect both care quality and personal wellbeing, sometimes experiencing the story from the perspective of the person living with dementia to deepen understanding of the disease.
Aligned with the CMS Innovation Center’s GUIDE Model, OutSMA℞T Dementia emphasizes coordinated care, caregiver training, and empowerment, positioning caregivers as essential partners in delivering compassionate, evidence-based dementia care.

PedSMA℞T is a fast-paced clinical decision-making serious game in development that places players in the role of a pediatric pharmacist responsible for treating a continuous flow of young patients by quickly assessing symptoms and selecting appropriate antibiotics under time pressure. Inspired by time-management games like Cooking Dash, the game simulates the realities of a busy clinical environment to reinforce antibiotic stewardship and evidence-based decision-making. Its goal is to train future pharmacists to use antibiotics responsibly by improving their understanding of pediatric infectious diseases, appropriate prescribing, and the consequences of antimicrobial misuse, ultimately supporting better patient outcomes and reducing antibiotic resistance. PedSMA℞T is being developed by the CRoME Lab in collaboration with PediaKATS — Student PPA at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy, combining game-based learning research with real-world pediatric pharmacy expertise.

VapeSMA℞T is a serious game–based toolkit in development by the CRoME Lab that addresses the rising public health concern of adolescent e-cigarette and vaping use. Designed for both adolescents and their parents, the toolkit combines an interactive educational game with a personalized family vaping safety plan to promote evidence-based prevention and informed decision-making. Grounded in the CRoME Lab’s prior research on the Pharmacist-Led E-cigarette and Vaping Educational Resource (Ph-EVER) and informed by community partnerships in Wisconsin, VapeSMA℞T aims to help families understand the risks of vaping, resist peer pressure, and engage in meaningful parent–child conversations that support healthier choices and long-term well-being.

SleepSMA℞T is a theory-driven serious game in development by the CRoME Lab that addresses the growing problem of poor sleep habits and unsafe sleep medication use among adolescents and their families. The game aims to provide accessible, engaging education on sleep hygiene, over-the-counter and prescription sleep medications, and the risks of unhealthy sleep behavior. As part of a family-focused toolkit, SleepSMA℞T will include a personalized Family SleepSMA℞T Plan to help families apply what they learn to their own routines. The goal is to empower adolescents and their families to build healthy sleep habits, make informed decisions about sleep medications, encourage open family conversations about sleep health, and ultimately improve sleep outcomes for the entire household.