Zoombinis Logical Journey

Travel to a remarkable new world and treat your brain to an outlandishly fun and challenging adventure. Diabolical Bloats have seized Zoombini Isle, and it will take a clever mind to help the Zoombinis navigate their way to safety. Standing between you and your destination are twelve perilous puzzles, with four levels of difficulty each. But beware, this is no ordinary challenge. Zoombinis' captivating gameplay features math without numbers. Solving Zoombinis puzzles uses the process of mathematical thinking. This process includes organizing information, reasoning with evidence, and testing systematically. Dive into the exciting and wacky world of the Zoombinis and develop information-age logic skills used in writing computer programs, organizing spreadsheet data, and searching for information on computer networks.

"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, which were prized the world over." So begins an unsuspectingly addictive CD-ROM, featuring uncommonly fun reasoning games that require serious problem solving and math-thinking work. 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!

Adored by educators and parents alike, Zoombinis Logical Journey challenges children to employ such basic fundamentals of mathematical thinking as organizing information, reasoning of evidence, finding and making patterns, and systematic testing of hypotheses. 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 dead-on. (Ages 9 and older) --Jean Lenihan

Go on an epic adventure of math and logic. Embark on a dangerous quest to a new Zoombini homeland and learn critical logic and mathematical thinking skills. Trek across treacherous terrain strewn with perilous mind-bending puzzles. Learn important life skills such as deductive reasoning, pattern recognition, hypothesis testing, and more, while leading the Zoombinis to freedom. This entertaining adventure is a journey into the math of the information age. Develop the cognitive mathematical thinking skills used in writing computer programs, organizing spreadsheet data, and searching for information on computer networks.