The Med Pyramid

What it is

The Med Pyramid is a clue game show. The Clue-Giver sees the category. The Guesser faces away from the screen and has to name it. Clear all 6 blocks of the pyramid in 60 seconds.

The Clue-Giver can use examples, mechanisms, side effects, nursing interventions, and clinical pearls ("You check the apical pulse for 60 seconds before giving this!"), but never a word from the category title. Tier 1 blocks are worth 50, tier 2 are worth 75, and the top block is worth 100. A perfect pyramid is 400.

There are 18 boards, from anticholinergics and high-alert reversals to labs, infection control, OB, peds, psych, ACLS, critical care, and med math. Play party mode on one device, use the projector with a host answer key and rationales, or play solo where the computer gives the clues and you name the category.

What you'll learn

• Drug classes by their examples, side effects, and nursing checks
• Clinical pearls across pharm, labs, safety, and every body system
• How to explain a concept without the textbook words
• ACLS, critical care, and med math basics

How it helps you

NCLEX tests clinical judgment, using NCSBN's Clinical Judgment Measurement Model. Every NURSYN game is built on the nursing process. The Med Pyramid works these ADPIE steps: Assessment, Diagnosis.

• Covers Assessment and Diagnosis: you go from clues to the right category, just like cues to a problem
• Explaining a concept in your own words is one of the best tests of real understanding
• Solo mode rewards needing fewer clues, which builds fast recognition
• Answer key rationales give the class a debrief built in

How to play

1. Choose Party mode, Solo vs the computer, or Two screens
2. Pick teams, turns, the clock, and topics
3. Send up a Clue-Giver and a Guesser (Guesser faces away)
4. Clear all 6 blocks in 60 seconds without saying the category words
5. Pass the turn and review the answer key

Clinical topics covered

Sources

The clinical content and the teaching approach behind this game line up with these references.

1. 2026 NCLEX-RN Test PlanNational Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). The official blueprint for what the NCLEX-RN covers, organized by Client Needs.
2. Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006). Psychological Science, 17(3), 249-255Psychological Science. Practice testing beat restudying for retention 2 days and 1 week later.
3. Game-thinking: utilizing serious games and gamification in nursing education, a systematic review and meta-analysis (Nylén-Eriksen et al., 2025). BMC Medical EducationBMC Medical Education. Pooled studies show serious games and gamification work in nursing education, with the strongest benefit for knowledge and a more modest effect on skills.