''Spellbound!'' is an educational computer game made and distributed by The Learning Company aimed at teaching spelling, vocabulary, and language development to children ages 7 to 12 years. The objective of the game is to play spelling-related games to qualify and compete for successively higher bracket

spelling bee A spelling bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty. To compete, contestants must memorize the spellings of words as written in dictionaries, and recite ...

s, concluding with the player competing in the

national spelling bee The Scripps National Spelling Bee (formerly the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee and commonly called the National Spelling Bee) is an annual spelling bee held in the United States. The bee is run on a not-for-profit basis by The E. W. Scrip ...

. The original game, released in 1991, was compatible with computers running DOS 3.3 or higher. A 1993 CD release added spoken dialogue and was compatible with

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturin ...

and

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...

Plot

Morty Maxwell along with his robots are entering Shady Glen school's Spelling Bee in the hopes of outspelling everyone. The Super Solvers aim to sharpen their skills and beat Morty at his own game in

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, with the aid of a Spellbinder computer.

Gameplay

Before starting the game, the player can choose which topics and word lists to use. Additionally, the player can create customized lists. Then the player can choose one of three difficulty levels, which affect how many spelling problems need to be solved throughout the game. To qualify for a spelling bee, the player must first earn a set number of points by playing spelling-related activities. These activities include: * Criss Cross (also called "Work it out!") – a

crossword A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answ ...

-type puzzle * Flash Cards (also called "Watch it Flash!") – where the player must recall the word shown * Word search (also called "Find them All!") – finding words hidden in a box of letters Once in the spelling bee (also called "Take a Trip!"), the player will be contested by two other players and must correctly type words flashed out or vocally spoken to win the game. When the spelling bee is completed, the player moves on to the next level to prepare for another spelling bee. There are five levels of spelling bees in the game. As the levels get higher, the activities become harder.

Release

''Spellbound!'' was released along with an Adlib Sound Card in "The Learning Company's Family Sound Value Pack".

Reception

''Spellbound!'' was reviewed in the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Guide Book where it was praised for its "state of the arts" graphics and sound support. The reviewers noted that it takes a lot to make learning how to spell fun, "but the Learning Company has done it!" Moderately well received, the game received two and a half stars out of five from Allgame.

References

External links

* {{Super Solvers 1991 video games Apple II games Children's educational video games DOS games Classic Mac OS games North America-exclusive video games Windows games Spelling competitions The Learning Company games Video games developed in the United States Single-player video games