''JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain'' is a

personal computer game A personal computer game, also known as a PC game or computer game, is a type of video game played on a personal computer (PC) rather than a video game console or arcade machine. Its defining characteristics include: more diverse and user-dete ...

Knowledge Adventure JumpStart Games, Inc., formerly Knowledge Adventure, Inc., is an American edutainment video game company based in Torrance, California. Founded in 1991, it owns the ''Neopets'' virtual pet website, and is itself owned by Chinese holding company ...

's ''

JumpStart ''JumpStart'' (known as ''Jump Ahead'' in the United Kingdom) is an educational media franchise for children, consisting mostly of educational games, produced by JumpStart Games. The series originally consisted of a series of educational PC ga ...

'' series of

educational software Educational software is a term used for any computer software which is made for an educational purpose. It encompasses different ranges from language learning software to classroom management software to reference software. The purpose of all ...

. As the title suggests, the game is intended to teach a

third grade Third grade (also called grade three, equivalent to Year 4 in England) is a year of primary education in many countries. It is the third school year of primary school. Students are usually 8–9 years old. Examples of the American syllabus * ...

curriculum. This is the only version of this game created and, unusually for Knowledge Adventure, was still being sold over fifteen years after its initial release on December 2, 1996. On June 6, 2003, it was included as the "Fundamentals" disc of ''JumpStart Advanced 3rd Grade''.

Plot

Set in a

retro-futuristic Retrofuturism (adjective ''retrofuturistic'' or ''retrofuture'') is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipatin ...

universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. A ...

, the game concerns Polly Spark, the bratty daughter of a wealthy inventor, and her attempt to alter history so that her inane answers to a history

quiz A quiz is a form of game or mind sport in which players attempt to answer questions correctly on one or several specific topics. Quizzes can be used as a brief assessment in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities ...

she failed will be correct. To do this, she sends 25 reprogrammed

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be ...

s back in time and, with her father conveniently away on a business trip, she takes over Mystery Mountain, the literal "mountain mansion" where she and her father live. The goal of the game is to help Botley, the robot assigned to keep Polly under control, save the world by retrieving each of the 25 robots and bringing them back to the present.

Gameplay

Each of the game's 25 missions (one for each robot that must be rescued) begins with the user selecting one of Polly's questions from the TransQuizzer. On the TransQuizzer, Polly's teacher Ms. Winkle poses a historical question, and Polly gives a surreally humorous answer. Polly then appears on a monitor to state which robot she has sent back in time for the question and to list the four Mission Clues that need to be found for the mission. Botley, using his powerful sensory device, then determines which games need to be played in order to retrieve the needed Mission Clues. Once all the Mission Clues have been collected, the user will still need to collect an increasing number of Invention Points in order to be allowed to enter the Time Machine Mission Control. The number of Invention Points required to enter the Time Machine gradually increases over time. Once inside the Time Machine Mission Control, the user has to get past the Wheel of Invention in order to acquire a Time Key and enter the Time Machine itself, though Polly has apparently reprogrammed the Wheel so it's not just a quiz, but rather a

quiz show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

called " Pollywood Squares". Here, Monty Monitor quizzes the user with questions that provide the point in time where Polly has sent the missing robot and which eventually reveal the correct answer to Polly's original test question. After this activity is completed, the user enters the Time Machine and travels back in time to retrieve the robot and bring it back to the present, where the rescued robots are deposited in an area called the "robot roost." After the robot has been rescued, the user begins a new mission by selecting another question from the TransQuizzer. However, if the user doesn't start the mission to play all the games to win more Invention Points, Botley mentions that Polly will win. The game continues in this manner until all 25 robots are returned to the present.

Cast and characters

Jeannie Elias Jeannie may refer to: * Jeannie (given name), a given name and a list of people with the name * Jeannie (''I Dream of Jeannie''), a main character of ''I Dream of Jeannie'' ** ''Jeannie'' (TV series), an animated series based on ''I Dream of Jean ...

as Botley the Robot, Polly Spark, and Ms. Winkle *

Tony Pope Anthony J. Pope (March 22, 1947 – February 11, 2004), also known as "Anthony Mozdy", was an American voice actor. He is best remembered for voicing Goofy for eleven years. He also worked on the first two DVDs of LeapFrog, voicing Mr. Websley a ...

as Professor Spark, Mort, Bothoven, Maestro Trombot, Egbert, Monty Monitor, Biosphere Probe, and Observatory Narrator #1 *

Patricia Lentz Patricia is a female given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word '' patrician'', meaning "noble"; it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. The name Patricia was the second most common female name in the United Sta ...

as Mrs. Beasley and Observatory Narrator #2 *

Lathan Crowe Lathan may refer to: *Lathan (name), a given name and surname (includes a list of people with the name) *Eas Lathan, a waterfall in Scotland *, a river in France, sub-tributary of the Loire See also * *Lathan's Gold, an adventure module for the ...

as Frankie *Buster

Activities

*The Front Door

The First Floor

*The Kitchen *The Art Gallery **The Professor's Virtual Collection **The Painting Gallery *The Music Hall (A.K.A. Concert Hall) *The Jumbo Electro Generator Room

The Second Floor

*The Biosphere *The Shrinking Machine Room (A.K.A. Shrink-O-Matic)

The Third Floor

*The Observatory *The Robot Maze (A.K.A. Robot Obstacle Course)

The Time Machine Room

*The Wheel of Invention (A.K.A. Pollywood Squares) *Professor Spark's Time Machine *The Robot Roost

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jumpstart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain 1996 video games Classic Mac OS games JumpStart Science fiction video games Single-player video games Video games about time travel Video games developed in the United States Video games set in outer space Video games set on fictional islands Windows games