Accra, Ghana : Examining the In-Flight Entertainment Games on ITA Airways

A few weeks ago, ITA Airways (the former Alitalia- official airline of Italy) started flying from Rome, Italy to Accra, Ghana. Geographically, Ghana is not too far from Italy, but for some reason , reaching Ghana from Italy has never been easy, until now. I decided to take a flight on ITA Airways, from Rome, Italy to Accra, Ghana in June 2024 to explore their inflight entertainment (IFE) system, specifically their games.

On the back of each seat, ITA Airways had a television console, with a games module.  ITA Airways had nine (9) genres under their “Games” category. The nine genres were: Action& Arcade, Adventure, Board and Strategy, Card & Casino, Card Games, Kids, Puzzle, Sports, and Trivia and Word.

There were only 10 games within all nine genres, and they were: The Bowling Tournament, Angry Birds, Solitaire, Monopoly, Casino, Uno, Tetris Inflight, Kids Playtime, Carmen Sandiego, and Trivia Tournament.

Some of the games, like The Bowling Tournament, Angry Birds, Solitaire,  and Tetris Inflight were located in two genres. The “Kids” genre had the most games, with a total of three games. The “Kids” genre included Angry Birds, Tetris Inflight, and Kids Playtime.

Companies Represented in the ITA’s IFE Gaming system

HASBRO: Monopoly

Microsoft/Xbox : Solitaire

SEGA: Angry Birds

TETRIS: Tetris Inflight

MATTEL : UNO

The Learning Company: Carmen SanDiego

(I am not too sure about Bowling, Trivia Tournament, and Kids Playtime, and Casino.)

Clearly, the games represented within ITA’s game module are diverse, in regards to company ownership.  The games are not separated by gender or age, instead they are separated by genre. The games included in ITAs’s IFE are not too complicated, making it easy for children of all ages to enjoy.