Logical Journey of the Zoombinis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Logical Journey of the Zoombinis |
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| Developer(s) | Broderbund (original) The Learning Company (remake) |
| Publisher(s) | Broderbund (original) The Learning Company (remake) |
| Series | Zoombinis |
| Platform(s) | Windows, Mac OS, OS X |
| Release date(s) | EU 15 March 1996 (Original: v1.0) NA 4 December 1996 (Original: v1.1) NA September 2001 (remake: v2.0) NA Summer 2015 (Modern Remake) |
| Genre(s) | Educational, puzzle |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Logical Journey of the Zoombinis (also known as Zoombinis Logical Journey in the remake) is an educational puzzle video game developed and published by Broderbund for the original and The Learning Company for the remake. It is the first game in the Zoombinis video game series.
Gameplay
The Zoombinis are a race of small blue creatures depicted with varying facial features, initially living in prosperous peace on a small island called Zoombini Isle. Later they are tricked and enslaved by their neighbors, the Bloats. The game depicts the Zoombinis' search for a new home, featuring a variety of logical puzzles which the player must solve to get the Zoombinis to their new home. Most of the puzzles involve the physical features of the Zoombinis as part of the solution. For example, in the puzzle 'Allergic Cliffs', the player is given a choice of 2 bridges, each of which will allow Zoombinis to pass only if they have certain combinations of features. In total, there are 625 unique combinations, of which the game allows to make up to two Zoombinis (twins) with each combination, making 1,250 possible Zoombinis in total. Of these, 625 must be saved in order to win the game.
The Zoombinis travel in groups of a maximum of 16 per group across a series of puzzles. There are 12 puzzles in total, split into four sections of 3 puzzles each, and the Zoombinis must complete a path of 9 puzzles to establish their new home at 'Zoombiniton' ('Zoombiniville' in US version). The first and last 'legs' are compulsory and must be completed by all Zoombinis; for the second leg, the player is given a choice to take either the north or the south path. Between each 'leg' is a campsite where the Zoombinis can be stored for later retrieval.
The first time the player successfully brings an entire party of 16 Zoombinis through a leg, a building will be constructed at Zoombiniton/Zoombiniville to celebrate this achievement. If three parties of 16 are brought through a leg, the difficulty of that leg increases for future trips (unless it is already the maximum difficulty, named "Very, Very Hard" and color-coded red). The four difficulty levels are 'Not So Easy', 'Oh So Hard', 'Very Hard', and 'Very Very Hard', and each difficulty level is color-coded (green, purple, yellow, and red, respectively). Once a leg has increased in difficulty, there is no way to reverse the change.
