Zoombinis Special 3 CD Pack (Maths Journey, Mountain Rescue & Games)

Not too long ago, Zoombinis enjoyed the good life. Though they all looked slightly different--different eyes, noses, hair, feet--such differences meant nothing to the Zoombinis. And so they lived happily on Zoombini Isle, making small, useful products that were prized the world over.

So begins this unsuspectingly addictive CD-ROM, yet the perils that face this cheerful society are not as fearsome as the amount of time you'll potentially spend on this pursuit. Beware the chubby, chattering Zoombinis if you don't want to get hooked to your computer for at least 90 minutes a session.

The journey follows four puzzle-filled trails, each exploring related mathematical ideas. The fundamental data and variables for all this work are the variations in the Zoombinis' features. Their "feet", for example, can be shoes, skates, whirligigs, or coiled springs (the sound effects for these items are particularly great), while their "eyes" may be heavily lidded, enhanced by eyeglasses, blocked by dark shades, or limited to just a single eyeball. Sorting and arranging these variables in order to solve puzzles requires concentrated effort from the players and the game rewards them well with inventive scenarios that evolve in fabulously curious ways as skills are gained. This may not sound like much, but when Arno the Pizza-eating Tree Troll, who has been yammering for the perfectly topped pizza his entire lifetime, suddenly demands a perfectly topped ice cream sundae, too, it is a staggering, giddy surprise.
The product is full of so many little joys, it's hard to demand improvements. Still, it'd be a great thing if version 2 would feature something other than the monotonous, ping-ping-ping soundtrack that's featured here. But that's minor. In the end, the creators' promise that this CD-ROM will "encourage kids to develop a lifetime habit of associating fun with learning" is spot on. (Ages 9 and up) --Jean Lenihan, Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk Review Zoombinis are little blue guys and gals that inhabit a kingdom reminiscent of JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth, and ingeniously teach maths principals using puzzles instead of numbers. In the Zoombinis Mountain Rescue CD-ROM a group Zoombinis gets trapped in a cave, and it's up to players to organise a search party that can withstand the logical travails of a journey through this perilous and quirky terrain. There are nine "obstacles" along the rescue route. Players cross a bridge of turtles by sorting Zoombini search-party members by nose colour, hairstyle or other characteristics. Deducing (again based on features) which Zoombini can snowboard down which path furthers the mission as well. The search party is held up briefly in a cafeteria where it must use logic to wait on Norfs who drop oblique hints about what they want, or don't want to order. Each game will stretch your child's ability to use forethought and analysis to assess a situation. Even the easiest of the three levels is designed to be challenging, so be prepared to help out along this creative and strenuous path.

The genius of this Windows-only program is that it turns sophisticated mathematical concepts into engrossing activities. We played a game called "Boolie Boggle" endlessly--Boolies either smile or frown, and in this game, the object is to change frowns into smiles by bumping Boolies with pinballs. Pretty easy until you start getting chains of Boolies and chains of pinballs. Soon your mind is throbbing as you try to figure out what a sequence of three pinballs will do to two frowning Boolies. "Binary addition" sounds pretty intimidating, but that's exactly what "Boolie Boggle" is teaching. "Algebraic thinking" and "information-age maths" are among the other things this program teaches--mercifully, it manages it with little creatures and 3-D mazes instead of formulas and numbers.

As this journey unfolds, members of the search party drop off due to mismatched noses, wrong path choices and other errors. Fortunately, there is a practice mode where kids can play the games without sacrificing their Zoombini friends. Puzzles change elements, so there's no way to "learn" a level then repeat it by rote. There is also a very thorough parents' guide, which is helpful for parents who have, err, forgotten about binary numbers. Zoombinis Mountain Rescue is a gentle, yet challenging program that will probably even work its subtle magic on maths-phobes. --Anne Erickson

Zoombinis Mountain Rescue Attacked by a severe storm, a small band of Zoombinis seeks refuge in a mountain cave. Instead of safety, the Zoombinis are trapped in a hazardous tunnel where mysterious creatures lurk. Kids build logic and mathematical thinking skills in their challenge to manoeuvre the Zoombinis through nine puzzles, each with 3 levels of difficulty. This new entertaining adventure is a journey into the maths of the information age - the mathematical thinking kids will use in writing computer programs and organising data in spreadsheets. It is the second title in the multi award- winning Zoombinis series