You want to improve your learning skills. Sure, there's always the English Artscroll Gemara, but if you really want to make the mesechte "yours"; if you want to enjoy the music and beauty of the language of Chazal; if you ever want to master Talmudic Aramaic so that ALL Torah literature will lie open before you...then you have no alternative but to focus on your translation skills. Fortunately, the list of words that constitutes the Gemara's basic vocabulary isn't all that long. And fortunately, too, The Gemara Game is now available on-line for free.
Many years ago, a CD game called "Gemara Tutor" found its way onto our yeshiva's computers. I remember watching my high school talmidim playing the game through every spare moment they had. I was amazed how quickly their translation skills (and, as a direct result, their understanding) improved. There really is nothing like the excitement and competition of a simple but well crafted competition to hide the drudgery of learning vocabulary.
Inspired by Gemara Tutor (and by Rabbi Aryeh Carmel's classic booklet, "Aiding Talmud Study"), we've created our own web-based game with an entirely new vocabulary list (containing more than 270 definitions) and software engine. Now a new generation of aspiring talmidei chachamim can freely enjoy the many benefits of a better command of the basic language of the Talmud.
We've also structured many of the questions to encourage students to pay attention to critical grammar rules - meaning that, in some cases, the only detail that separates correct from incorrect answers is the tense or gender (i.e., masculine/feminine; singular/plural; past/future). Even a very basic awareness of simple grammatical rules can eliminate so much of the confusion a young student faces while trying to piece together a complicated Gemara.
Why wait? Give it a try: