Pandemic by Prisms is the original founding module that Prisms VR released in 2021 — the proof-of-concept that led to the full Prisms Math platform. It remains available on Steam (PC VR) and Meta Quest App Lab at $8.99, but has not been updated since 2021. Steam notes the last developer update was over 5 years ago.

The exponential functions content covered in this module has since been absorbed and significantly expanded in the full Prisms Math platform ($24/year subscription, Meta Quest). For most schools and students, Prisms Math is the better choice. Pandemic by Prisms is a standalone 45–60 minute experience worth knowing about — particularly for its exceptional COVID-era context — but it is a beta module from a simpler time in the platform's development.

What is Pandemic by Prisms?

Pandemic by Prisms is the original standalone VR algebra module that gave birth to the Prisms platform. Released in February 2021 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was built with National Science Foundation support by founder Anurupa Ganguly and her early team — directly inspired by watching society's inability to connect basic algebraic thinking to the headlines around them.

The central observation behind it: "Everyone learned exponential growth in high school Algebra. But too many were bored, confused, or indifferent, and were never sensitised to the importance of these fundamental concepts. Over a year into a pandemic, too many people still couldn't connect a small gathering of people to thousands of new infections." Pandemic by Prisms attempts to fix that — not by teaching the science of COVID, but by using the pandemic as the real-world context in which to develop genuine fluency with exponential functions.

It is rated by Games for Change and recognised as an innovative educational experience. The NSF grant that funded it was the same grant that eventually produced the evidence base — including WestEd's randomised controlled trial — that validated the broader Prisms approach.

The Learning Experience

More Than Just Maths

Pandemic by Prisms sits at a genuinely unusual intersection of disciplines — and that's part of its educational power. By embedding algebra in the real-world context of a viral outbreak, it connects mathematical modelling to science, public health, civic literacy and decision-making in ways that a standard algebra lesson never can.

Pandemic vs Prisms Math — Which Should You Use?

UK Curriculum Mapping

Exponential functions appear in the GCSE Maths curriculum (Higher tier) as part of algebra and graphs — typically taught in Year 10–11. However Pandemic by Prisms may be most powerfully used in Year 9, before formal exponential notation is introduced, to build the embodied intuition that makes the algebra make sense when it arrives. The cross-curricular dimension with GCSE Biology (communicable diseases, infection spread) and PSHE (public health, data literacy, collective decision-making) makes it particularly valuable as a cross-departmental resource — Maths and Biology teachers running a joint session would get exceptional value from it.

This is the module that started Prisms VR in 2021 — born from the COVID-19 pandemic and the realisation that millions of people couldn't connect exponential growth to what was happening around them. It led directly to the full Prisms Math platform, which has since raised $17M and reached 80,000+ students.

Beta release from 2021. Last updated over 5 years ago (Steam). Fully functional and playable, but no new content or features are planned. The Prisms team has moved focus to the full Prisms Math platform.