Quantum Computing (QC) is often challenging for beginners due to its abstract concepts and mathematical foundations. This paper explores the use of gamification to support the learning of introductory QC concepts. To investigate this, QubitQuest was developed as a set of three educational mini-games designed to teach key QC topics: the Bloch sphere, entanglement, and quantum circuits. The mini-games aim to balance engagement, motivation, and learning while introducing concepts in small and focused units of progressive difficulty. A two-phase user study was conducted to evaluate the mini-games. In the first phase, a preliminary survey was conducted to gather information on learners' preferences and inform the design of the mini-games. In the second phase, participants played the mini-games and completed pre- and post-game questionnaires to assess their learning. The results show that participants improved their understanding of introductory QC concepts after playing the mini-games, with post-game scores higher than pre-game scores. Those who completed more levels achieved higher post-game scores, indicating that motivation and engagement influenced the learning outcomes. These findings suggest that mini-games may improve students' learning experience and outcomes when exposed to introductory QC concepts.

翻译：量子计算（QC）因其抽象概念和数学基础，对初学者而言往往具有挑战性。本文探讨了利用游戏化方法支持入门级QC概念学习的可能性。为此，我们开发了QubitQuest——由三款教育类小游戏组成的工具集，旨在教授QC关键主题：布洛赫球、纠缠态和量子电路。这些游戏力求在保持参与感、激发动力与促进学习之间取得平衡，同时以渐进式难度的独立小单元逐步引入相关概念。我们开展了双阶段用户研究以评估游戏效果：第一阶段通过初步调查收集学习者的偏好信息，为游戏设计提供依据；第二阶段由参与者实际操作游戏，并通过游戏前后的问卷评估学习成效。结果显示，参与者在体验小游戏后对入门级QC概念的理解有所提升，游戏后测试得分高于游戏前得分。完成更多关卡的参与者获得了更高的游戏后得分，表明动机和参与度影响了学习成果。这些发现表明，小游戏可能改善学生接触入门级QC概念时的学习体验与效果。