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A serious game was developed in a two year design research project by educational researchers, game-designers and secondary school teachers in close collaboration. In a first round, students played the game in class using an open-inquiry strategy. Although the game had a strong impact on the students’ conceptual development, it provoked the construction of misconceptions. The game was adapted and partially redesigned on the basis of the evaluation outcomes and an additional expert-review. Also the instructions to the game were redesigned and written down in a teachers’ guide. In a second round, a pedagogical approach of alternating open-inquiry type gaming-episodes with guided reflection and internalisation episodes was used in class. Again a strong impact on students’ conceptual understanding of electrical circuits was found. Significantly fewer misconceptions occurred. The results indicate that the close collaboration of school teachers, educational experts and game designers was fruitful for improving the serious game and its use in school practice. Moreover it became clear that serious games have the potential to contribute to students’ conceptual understanding, in particular when a suitable mental model is coherently represented in the game´s layout and structure.