The goal of this study was to determine whether a game-based immersion experience in an introductory undergraduate course in education had an impact on pre-service teachers' skills, beliefs, and confidence using games for teaching academic content. 55 pre-service secondary-education teachers participated in the study. Their first course in the education sequence provided examples of game-based technologies in physics. They developed game-based lesson plans, assessments, and videos of their own on topics of their choosing in Minecraft. We used a mixed methods design using quantitative data (pre-posttest comparisons) and qualitative data (reflection essays) to examine the impact of the curriculum on students preparation to design technology based lessons for use in their classroom. Most groups chose to create lessons in STEM topics regardless of their declared major. At the start of the course, the pre-service teachers were very skeptical of using game based technologies in the classroom. Pre-post tests and reflection essays provide strong support for changes in confidence and skills during the semester.