The opportunity to go on a treasure hunt is hard to resist for most kids. Add the popular I Spy riddles to the mix and you have a software game that will be a clear favorite. Parents will appreciate the program too — the educational opportunities in the puzzles' riddle format makes this CD-ROM more than just a delightful diversion. Reading and thinking skills are cleverly exercised while kids just think they are having a good time.
I Spy Treasure Hunt contains a total of 20 detailed scenes that each present a challenge in the form of a riddle. These challenges can be solved by listening to, or reading, clever riddles that ask kids to find objects on the screen — for example, "I spy two earrings, a worm back in place; Seven insects, what's used to erase?Š" One especially fun scene can be found at the top of an old fort. Children use a pair of virtual binoculars to examine the town more closely and search for items in the scene.
The I Spy riddle screens can be found by exploring Smuggler's Cove. Players scroll to the left and right to move through the town, discovering hotspots and riddles. Kids find challenges in a lighthouse, a museum, general store, ice cream shop, and more. No matter where kids go in the program, they'll find graphics that are lush and appealing.
Every time players complete a riddle screen, they earn a piece of a map. This piece had been hiding on the screen all along, and yet another riddle will give a clue to its location, whether it's in a bird's beak or under a spider. The program features three different maps, each with a unique treasure hunt. One map takes the form of a rebus puzzle — kids must decode a message in order to find the treasure. Though the 20 I Spy pictures are the same for each hunt, the riddles themselves are different. This means there is a new set of items to find, though some objects are repeated.
Once all 20 pieces of a map are earned and the map is pieced together, the hunt for treasure begins! The multi-step hunts are wonderful rewards for kids' efforts.
As kids examine the detailed pictures that make the I Spy series so popular, they exercise their powers of observation. The text for the entire riddle is read aloud, and as kids find individual objects, the words are highlighted. Children need to refer back to the text as they search for items, and struggling readers have the option to hear individual words and phrases read aloud.
Thinking skills are required to interpret some of the more cryptic riddles and clues. Some objects are in obvious places, and others are cleverly hidden. Though the basic concept of searching for objects hidden in a picture seems simple, finding that pesky third key or the "sword in the sky" (which turns out to be the outline of the sky through the trees, shaped like a sword) can be challenging at times. The program is designed well and is intuitive to play, but it is not always easy. Some clues are very tricky — for example, in one challenge, children need to find "a five." They'll naturally be searching for a numeral, and might easily dismiss the die, whose face value is five!
Conceivably, kids can resort to clicking all over the screen in order to find the last hidden object. Our testers did discover this tactic, but it quickly became boring. Instead, they preferred to use their eyes and brains to uncover the items.
The only down side to the program is that kids end up staring at the monitor screen a little too much. As long as they are encouraged to rest their eyes from time to time, this program is a lovely exercise for the brain. Besides, when an object or two cannot be found in any given collage, it helps to take a break from the puzzle, then return for a fresh shot at it. The program lends itself well to group play — sometimes an extra set of eyes helps!
