People encounter data visualizations daily, yet visualization literacy, the ability to read, construct, and critically assess charts, remains rarely taught in formal education. Games offer engaging, feedback-rich environments for practicing these skills. This paper presents a two-phase systematic review that connects general educational game research with visualization literacy games. Phase 1 synthesizes 97 reviews of educational and serious games, mapping dominant design and evaluation practices across educational game research, while Phase 2 analyses 15 studies, examining how patterns from Phase 1 appear in visualization literacy games. Across both phases, we find a strong reliance on simulation genres, feedback-driven interaction, and short-term pre/post testing, along with underused behavioral logs, standardized engagement scales, and almost no delayed or transfer measures. Visualization literacy games also overemphasize interpretation tasks, neglecting construction and bias detection, and rarely use validated visualization assessments such as VLAT, CALVI, or AVEC. Based on these findings, we propose design-evaluation recommendations that link task focus, genre choice, and a lightweight evaluation bundle, which include validated self-report, interaction logs, and delayed transfer tests. These recommendations offer a structured starting point for designing and studying visualization literacy games.

Interpreting data visualizations is an essential skill in today's education, yet students often struggle with understanding unfamiliar formats. This study investigates how four learning materials - textbook, comic, video, and game - affect middle- and high school students' ability to interpret line charts, area charts, stacked area charts, and stream graphs. We conducted a comparative classroom study with 68 students, using pre- and post-tests, worksheet activities, and group discussions to assess learning outcomes and understanding. Our results show statistically significant improvement in students' understanding of stacked area charts and stream graphs, while no significant differences between the learning materials were found. This suggests that more factors than initially anticipated - such as engagement, motivation and active learning strategies - influence the learning outcome. The analysis of the worksheets revealed that while students could infer surface-level insights from charts, over 70% struggled to identify underlying patterns or relationships. Additionally, a common challenge across all learning materials was reading fatigue, which often led students to skim content, disengage, or misinterpret key information. These findings highlight the need for educational tools and approaches that foster deeper understanding of unfamiliar visualizations, reduce cognitive load, and encourage active engagement.

Students often struggle to interpret data visualizations, yet these skills are increasingly important nowadays. This paper explores how high school students interact with an educational game designed to teach data visualization skills. Eighteen students (ages 13–17) played through four levels focused on different data visualization types: line chart, area chart, stacked area chart, and stream graph. By analyzing detailed gameplay logs and observational notes, we found that students performed well on familiar charts but struggled more with complex ones. The results highlight the value of clear feedback, gradual difficulty, and motivational features in helping students better understand visual data.

Effective communication through data visualizations faces challenges due to low visualization literacy among the general audience. Data visualizations are increasingly used to communicate various information, which creates a need to support people in learning how to interpret them. One way to address this issue is game-based learning. However, the design and development of an educational game can be an expensive and time-consuming process. To explore solutions to this issue, this paper investigates the potential of existing entertainment games as platforms for interactive data visualizations in a serious gaming scenario. As use case, the games Townscaper and Stardew Valley were selected. A user study was conducted to assess the usability of these visualizations, and the impact of playfulness and interactivity in enhancing the understanding and possible uses in education. The study demonstrates the effectiveness of using existing entertainment games as platforms for interactive data visualizations in a serious gaming context. The study outcomes revealed that participants perceived an improvement in their understanding, and expressed a belief in their potential for educational purposes.