In this value-priced CD-ROM, CJ the Frog needs help rescuing his little firefly pal Edison. It seems that Edison has been captured by prehistoric cave dwellers who think they have discovered fire! Players need to guide CJ through 10 levels of jungles, volcanoes, and more in order to do the job, and along the way, they play wonderful little spelling games.
Upon sign-in, kids need to choose between 5 basic levels: Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, and 3rd Grade. Each level gets increasingly more difficult automatically, but the challenge can be adjusted manually as well. Then, it is off to the game!
Players help CJ through cute levels, allowing him to hop over chasms, use dinosaur heads as bridges, swing from vines, and more. Each time CJ runs into a tablet, there is a spelling challenge to solve. On the preschool level, for example, kids work with very basic 3-letter words. They start by simply choosing the correct letters for a word that is already spelled for them, to spelling a word like "pin" given the "in", to determining the end letters of words, and so forth. On the 3rd Grade level, kids start by reading a sentence and filling in a partially spelled missing word. Once each level is successfully completed, there is a bonus round in which players have the opportunity to add to their score.
Periodically, kids are treated to humorous updates on Edison's experiences with the cave dwellers. For example, at one point Edison is quite perturbed when he is used as a lamp (see screenshot at left)!
A preferences screen gives players a few options — from this screen, they can change the difficulty level and volume, for example. The program uses JumpStart's Adaptive Learning Technology which means the program adapts automatically to a child's performance. When kids are displaying mastery of skills, the program will move on to a higher level, and will not advance if a child is struggling. The preferences screen allows a parent or child to adjust the levels manually if so desired.
