Customer Reviews

Cluefinder's Math Ages 9-12 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Cluefinder's Math : Ages 9-12
* Grades 3-12
* Mathematics
COMMENTS:
Students can build math skills as they solve mysteries. There are 15 games at 10 different skill levels, which build more than 25 key math skills, including number computation, fractions and decimals, tables and graphs, and early geometry. Logic and problem solving skills are used as the student attempts to piece together clues to deduce the answers to the mystery.

ClueFinder's Math includes exceptional graphics and animation and a great storyline. I would not recommended ClueFinder's Math for the struggling student who needs instruction and practice with math skills, but for an average or above-average math student who enjoys fast-switching games and wants to work at quick-thinking and multi-tasking. I also do not feel that the three levels of play cover all basic math concepts for children ages 9-12 and at some levels there are both extremely easy as well as extremely difficult problems. Additionally some students may become frustrated with the speed at which they are required to respond as they solve problems.

CLASSROOM CONNECTION:
I would have students work individually to work their way through the village, solving math puzzles in the eight activity locations, and earning clues in an attempt to discover what treasure was stolen, where it is hidden, and who stole it.

Cluefinders Math Adventures Ages 9-12 w/ ADAPT I wasn't sure about buying Cluefinders as I didn't know anyone who had used it. I bought it and am I glad I did! It is helping my kids, ages 11 and 12 1/2, really stay fresh on their math skills over the summer. It is challenging because as they complete one level/round, the math gets harder. They also have to carefully read and follow clues and have to think. No monkey see, monkey do, but really think. Absolutely recommend this to anyone whose kid needs fun with math to get them interested in math, keep skills fresh, or to stretch their thinking and knowledge. Best of all, my kids love playing it and will play this game above others.

It's advertised as running on "Windows NT / 98 / 2000 / Me / 95, Macintosh, Linux, Unix." In fact it comes with no Linux version, nor any means to download it, and the publisher's web site indicates that no Linux version exists. The support web site listed on the jewel case indicates it doesn't run on any OS made in the last 10 years, only MacOS 7.1 (PowerPC), Windows 95, and Windows 98:
[...]

However The Learning Company (Broderbund) web site gives general advice for running old softare on Windows Vista: [...]

I followed their instructions to set the program to run in administrator mode. I removed the start menu shortcut made by the installer, which pointed back to the installation program on CD. Instead I navigated to the actual executable program under "Program Files" and made a desktop shortcut to that. With that, it runs fine under Vista and so far seems to be a very good game. My son has one complaint about the game, that if you make a mistake you have to start all over again, instead of keeping the clues you already found by solving earlier puzzles.

My overall rating is 4 stars for the game itself, 1 star for compatibility, and 0 stars for false advertising.

The concept is good, but not on par with the old reader rabbit, and math blaster. Haveing to use the disk every time is a pain, and there doesn't seem to be a way to save where you are. Was looking for summer activities for the grandaughter, don't think this will work. I would not recommend these to todays children. They are far past the graphic capabilities of this system.

My 10-year-old and I have played (and re-played) all of the Cluefinders games and we find this one boring and frustrating. We call it the Annoying Himalayan game. It forces you to play the same games over and over and some get to be nearly impossible when the levels get higher. Also, a couple of game sequences seem to be flawed. The clues lead you to a suspect and missing treasure and then the game says you are wrong. Also, the same missing treasures are found again and again and some are never found. Unlike the other Cluefinders games where beating one part of the game takes you to a new group of puzzles, this one has a very anti-climactic ending.

I recommend any of the other Cluefinders games but not this one.

There are a few puzzles in this game that don't provide enough information to solve. Other puzzles are way too difficult even for my very advanced 9-year-old - they were challenging even for me. I recommend looking elsewhere.

This game does not hold our kids' interest as well as Jump Start (especially Jump Start World) but we were happy that the item was exactly as described and arrived quickly and well packaged. Since there are not many choices for these upper grades (Jump Start World only goes to 2nd) these are probably as good as it gets.

I think this game has gotten the shortest reviews ever written, though I've seen reviews elsewhere that took longer yet were less informative. Enough about that; let's talk about this product.

First of, I am totally in love with the Cluefinders series and still play it for the plotline and the games, though I'm too old to learn anything from it now. But this game is different.

The cutscene at the start is rather boring, and the plot isn't that exciting. And I could tell who the villian was after the second cutscene; they totally blew it.

But the games were very good. Often fast paced or resembling puzzles, they are entertaining ways to practice math- though, as one reviewer said, it doesn't actually teach math, and when I was younger I used to beat my head against the wall wondering what the heck an iscocelene triangle was- and now I still can't tell, not in the short amount of time they give you to figure it out. But the games were, for the most part, fun.
Some of them did get irritating. The store game, for example, is so simple anyone who can count can do it- and it's drop dead boring. Once you figure out how many items you need, you have to drag them one by one to the shelf. When they tell me to show eight groups with eight items in each group, I cry for mercy. And another game, involving blocks of ice, takes more skill in playing tetris than it does in math, and I often resort to making the Leaning Tower of Ice Blocks on one side of the board while waiting for the right number.
But the games about charts were my favorites, and I enjoyed them a lot. One involves creating charts, which is fun in any circumstance, and another has you shooting balls as the game goes faster, faster, faster... can you read the charts fast enough?

About that logic cube. As another reviewer mentioned, often the clues are random- I have had suspects tell me a clue that points directly to themselves. And they aren't all easy to follow. You will be left asking, does having a small purple patch on your pants count as 'wearing purple'? And how are you supposed to tell which suspects are taller than Joni? Admitedly, they do show a picture of Joni standing next to the suspects, but only on one line of suspects- you have to guess on the other half.

And, as another reviewer mentioned, some items get found twice and some items never get found. This is especially frustrating to me as I enjoyed hearing the stories behind the objects and why they were considered treasures.

And about the plot. Plot is a big things for me. That's why I love the Cluefinders games; they always have an engaging plotline that is directly tied to the games so that you have incentive to continue. But this game fell flat on that front. As I said, the first cutscene was very boring and lacking in drama. The next few cutscenes are even worse. All that happens is the Cluefinders yack their heads off for one minute and then make you play two more rounds to get the next minute of yacking. One cutscene only showed twenty seconds of the Yeti stomping around. There's no incentive. Plus, you have to play the exact same games over and over and over. In most Cluefinders games you will get a new set of games to play after a while. Not so with this. You play and play- and then you get the final cutscene, which considering its potential, fell much flatter than the other cutscenes. And in the end, the Cluefinders did not save the day- the villian fell off a cliff by his own stupidity. Then Laptrap says "Okay, that's it. I know Cluefinder usually has better cutscenes than that, but oh well, at least you can play the same boring games over and over for ALL ETERNITY!!!!!" Okay, maybe not in those words.

In short, the games are great, and the education is decent, but the plot fell flat. It's not as enjoyable for kids as the other Cluefinders games were. If you can find it for cheap enough, and if your kids have time on their hands, this might be a good spend. Then again, you would probably get more value from another Cluefinder's game.

This is a great teaching game for kids. The math skills can be adjusted for all levels of early math. The game content is fun and entertaining. Now my girls want the reading program in this series.

This sounds like a delightful software for children and adults alike. Kids solve math puzzles while digging for treasure in the himalayas. How lovely. However, please read the extremely small fine print before purchasing. This product works with windows only. Or a very old mac version like 7. I have an imac at home with mac os 10 and this product would not even install. Hats off to Amazon.com for their assistance with the incompatible product. Pricewise, it is not a very expensive product but it was definitely disappointing to have to return this product after purchase. I wish that the makers of this product would label and advertise appropriately to CLEARLY identify installation constraints for this software.