Zoombinis
© 2015 TERC
If you used Macs and PCs in the '90s, you may already be familiar with the Logical Journey of the Zoombinis, a $30 CD-ROM set of logic puzzles from TERC, published by Brøderbund. Now the next generation can have a nearly identical experience on their iPads or Android tablets, for 1/6th the price ($5 vs. $30). The app, created by Boston-based FableVision Learning for TERC (Technical Education Research Centers), mixes '90s nostalgia with the original logical thinking challenges, creating a head on encounter with classification, ordering/seriation, noticing attributes and isolating variables. You start on the shore of Zoombini Isle with a ship full of 400 possible types of Zoombinis. Each can have four distinguishing features (hair, eyes, nose color and feet). An overly dramatic narrator -- the same voice as in the original -- tells you the Zoombini migration story. In brief, it's to help your band of 16 explorers make it through 12 sorting gates by figuring out the hidden rule. It might be you see two bridges, but only Zoombinis with blue noses can go on the top bridge, for example, when all others can pass freely on the bottom. Put a red nosed Zoombini on the top bridge and disaster strikes -- the cliffs "sneeze" the poor thing back to the start. There are 12 progressively more challenging puzzles to solve, each one providing an immersive, hands-on practice with sorting, classifying, graphing and deductive reasoning. Rejection is common in this game, and the journey is not for the meek. Rather than build scaffolding into puzzles, you are supposed to cache your Zoombini creatures at a camping spot, and go back to get more. This mix of honest, bare knuckle problem solving is rare these days, and it makes you want to keep playing. As the original Zoombinis architect Scot Osterweil reminded me, "on almost any puzzle, giving hints prevents the player from making the critical discoveries that make the game interesting." But it also comes at the cost of frustrating some children. The 2015 designers sadly didn't do much to exploit the multi-touch features of the modern tablet. It's like the poor Zoombinis are not only stuck on a hostile island, they're also stuck in a 1990s interface when everything was controlled by a single mouse driven cursor. Other weak points include not knowing when or if you can save your progress (it's automatic by way of the login system, but you don't know), 1990's quality lip synching, cluttered screens (especially in camps, where creatures look like parts of the puzzles), and a map that offers interesting things to touch but they don't do anything. The fonts and graphics (e.g., with the frogs) are too small and the landing zones -- where you're supposed to place the Zoombinis -- could be better defined. More serious errors happen when the sound is turned off in the control panel. You miss essential verbal hints needed to get through the Stone Cold Caves and Pizza Pass. Finally, there are no zoom or multi-touch features, which some might say could be a distraction to the problem solving. But modern children expect it when they come to a screen, and it also eliminates collaborative play (why not have two children experiment with moving two Zoombinis at once, once the code is cracked?) And pinching in, to really examine attributes up close is important, in a game where the central activity is noticing visual differences. Rather than use features of modern tablets to improve feelings of control in the experience, the designers chose to stay in the past. All these little sloppy design issues add up to lower the Zoombinis ease-of-use score; but they don't reduce the appeal of the story and the brilliantly contextualized challenge -- of trying to get your poor Zoombinis to the finish line. The bottom line? The Zoombinis is still a good adventure, but it could be a great adventure. Although they may need help, children will be authentically challenged as they help the Zoombinis find their freedom. If you're looking for a solid, playful set of logic puzzles, Zoombinis remains a good choice, even after many years.
$4.99, iPad, Android
Teaches: logic, seriation, matching, attributes, visual discrimination, one to one correspondence, classification
CTR Rating: 84%