Zoombinis Logical Journey

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

Amazon.com Product Description
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.

The Zoombinis are little creatures who vary in 4 features: hair, eyes, nose and feet. They lived happily until some bad guys came to their village, and now they're trying to make their way to Zoombiniville, a new place where they can be happy again. Along the way they will need to solve puzzles to advance along the path. These puzzles are fun and involve determining which characteristics (hair, nose, eyes and feet) allow certain Zoombinis to cross a bridge, for example. Or you may have to figure out what toppngs need to go on a picky ogre's pizza. These tasks teach problem solving, logic, set theory, sorting, mapping, hypothesis testing and pattern comprehension. The narration is funny and you'll hve a good time playing.

I bought this for a 5-year old, and while the tasks are generally too difficult for a preschooler, we play together and some concepts are taking hold. And, I have to admit , sometimes I keep playing on my own!

We own over 60 children's software titles, and some we are exceedingly fond of, but if I could keep only one game, this would be it. Terrific!


The Logical Journey Of The Zoombinis   October 14, 2001
An 11-year old software user (Houston, TX USA)
33 out of 33 found this review helpful

This logical game is very fun and interesting to play. It is easy to learn how to play, but difficult to master it. It has approximatly 600 zoombinis that you have to get through a series of puzzles to get them from Zoombini Isle to Zoombiniville. Because you can only take 16 zoombinis at a time it takes a long time to beat the game. As you get further into the game, it goes through four levels and becomes even more challenging. There are 16 different puzzles including difficult ones and some that are relatively simple (at the start at least!). Everybody will love the logic, fun, and difficulty of this game.