Zoombinis Mountain Rescue

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 math" 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 parent's guide, which is helpful for parents who have, er, forgotten about binary numbers. Zoombinis Mountain Rescue is a gentle, yet challenging, program that will probably even work its subtle magic on math-phobes. (Ages 8 and older) --Anne Erickson

Amazon.com Product Description
The math and logic odyssey continues. Scale the heights in a cliffhanging alpine adventure and expand critical logic and mathematical thinking skills in Zoombinis Mountain Rescue. Join a daring rescue party as it searches for Zoombinis inside a mysterious, menacing mountain. Build important foundational reasoning skills and journey into advanced concepts like binary computing and networks--all during a bold mission that has kids searching perilous, puzzle-packed passages. This second adventure in the Zoombinis series is a journey into the math of the information age--the mathematical thinking skills used in writing computer programs and organizing spreadsheet data.

Product Description
The Math and Logic Odyssey ContinuesProduct InformationSettled in their new homeland Zoombinis are again enjoying peaceful productiveprosperity. Suddenly serenity is shattered when a band of Zoombinis disappearsinside a mysterious mountain. Dauntless rescue parties are dispatched. Develop foundational and advanced math and logic skills while exploring menacingpuzzle-packed mountain passageways. Each perilous puzzle you solve leads toanother more difficult challenge.Each mission is a new game!Skills Learned Algebraic Thinking Data Analysis Graphing and Mapping Logical Reasoning Pattern Finding Problem Solving Statistical Thinking Theory Formulation and TestingProduct Features 9 Perilous Puzzles 3 Levels of Difficulty Practice Mode Helpful Puzzle Clues Parent's Guide Puzzle Reformulation: A new game each adventure!Activities Include Solve perplexing puzzles such as binary addition dilemmas when playing Boolie pinball. Snowboard past the grouchy Norfs by deducing hidden sorting rules. Escape the Aqua Cube and develop skills working with multi-dimensional 3D objects.Windows Requirements Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP Pentium 200MHz+ 32MB RAM 50MB free hard disk space * 8X CD-ROM drive Monitor resolution 800x600 minimum 24 bit color Windows compatible sound card speakers mouse * An additional 7MB of disk space may be required to install Adobe Acrobat Reader