We've hunted down great computer games for everybody on your holiday shopping list from age 2 to 92. They're all carried (often at discount) by local computer software dealers. They all (shhh) teach a thing or two, too. But isn't that true of practically every game ever invented?
If you trust the 2-year-old on your shopping list with your Mac Plus (or better) or with your 640K IBM-compatible with add-in sound board, Bailey's Book House provides hours and hours of fun. It runs with a push and a press of a mouse.Here's Bailey the cat sitting in a colorful room. Press his nose and he introduces himself via your sound card. Press something else in the picture and you're playing one of five games on hard disk.
The easiest game is Make-A Story. Each of its story panels consists of a background montage, a few small pictures of objects, and a sentence to finish by choosing an object.
A voice reads the sentence (highlighting each word as it reads). You pick the picture to end it. You can choose where Millie goes (city, island or jungle) and how she gets there (plane, bathtub, or flying carpet).
With each choice, the story becomes slightly different. And you learn how to read a lot of words.
Read-a-Rhyme uses two lines from half-dozen familiar nursery rhymes to teach rhyming. There are two modes. The first offers four rhyming words that make four silly animated rhymes. In mode two, only one word rhymes. You must choose which one. Having trouble? The patient program clues you along.
Letter Machine teaches the names and sounds of each alphabet letter (and some words). Four- to 6-year-olds can use the same game to learn a little typing. Kid Cards makes printable gift cards, greeting cards and invitations. Again, a voice-over reads every word.
A final activity teaches prepositions: in, on, under, and so on. Point to a word and the characters in the drawing do what the word says. The animations will tickle anyone's fancy.
There's humor. There's utility, with support for a long list of printers. But just a word of caution for DOS users: If you install your sound board (as we did) on an unusual `IRQ,' the program may bomb. And internal PC sound is pretty worthless.
Bailey's Book House comes with useful tips and enhancement activities for parents. It lists for $50.
Pepper's Adventures in Time. is a treat for slightly older children with some patience and at least a third-grade reading level. It transports Pepper, a young (female) explorer back in time to meet Ben Franklin and share in his life and times. It's made by Sierra, a leader in creating innovative, exciting computer games.
This is Sierra's first active attempt to combine education with play. As Pepper helps Franklin, we learn about his deeds and amazing inventions. We also learn about life in colonial America.
Most of all, as in any Sierra game, the players must solve tricky puzzles and problems. They're a challenge. We couldn't get Pepper out of the present until we found help online hidden in the menu under `how to play.' But then we have adult biases against feeding dogs chewing gum.
Pepper's Adventures lists at $43 and runs only on 640K IBM-compatibles in MS-DOS or Windows. We recommend it for 8- to 14-year-olds.
For favorite friends of that age who own a Mac or Amiga (or even an IBM-compatible), get Maxis's $70 A-Train and $20 A-Train Construction Set. Back in July, we recommended them highly. We still do.
The 13 to 100 age range may already own an old version of Microsoft's Flight Simulator. We've been following its improvements and additions since 1986. Version 5 makes learning to fly an airplane easier and more challenging at the same time.
For folks like Frank, there's a new "land me" option. He could fly the planes in previous versions, but he never did land without crashing. "Land me" takes the plane down safely for you, while the instrument panel shows how it's being done.
There are four planes to fly, each with different characteristics, from a Sopwith Camel to a Learjet. In the first Flight Simulator, you couldn't get far from the airport you chose to take off from. In this update, you can circle the world.
As you fly, the time of day changes realistically. You can control the season, and add weather problems. There's lots of help and analysis, including an Instant Replay. You can take and print photos, too.
You can play with a friend, flying your airplanes in dual flight. There's also a switch-on electronic flight navigator. The manual, grown to nearly 300 pages, contains lessons, activities and suggestions for games.
Add-on scenery disks (at $30 or so each) let you see details in New York and Paris when you fly over them. Flight Simulator lists at $65 and calls for a 386 IBM-compatible with 640K RAM and EGA video. A sound board is recommended, but you won't miss anything without it. All you can hear are the plane's engine and the sound of crashes.