ItzaZoo

by Sabi

Product Features

• Children jump inside a zoo exhibit, where the animals are friendly and ready to play. With Living Ink--a unique drawing recognition technology--kids draw objects that magically become the center of action within the game.
• Children start by playing with a lion. As they solve challenges they get to play with monkeys, elephants, turtles and polar bears in the animal's exhibit playsets. Each playset is packed with fun challenges.
• Improves reading and creative problem solving for early readers. Fused into the game design are results from a research project conducted at Microsoft Corporation on new methods to engage children learning to read.
• If an early reader does not know a word, they can mouse over the word, which turns it red and a child's voice reads the word aloud. Parents will delight in their child's blossoming self-confidence.
• The Zoo playsets get as wacky as a child's imagination can make them. And the game is different each time the children play since the zoo playset is made up of the personal drawings of the player.

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002QHKJGU
• Item model number: 8-60589-00003-3
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 23, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,097 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

ItzaZoo is a novel drawing game where the animals in the zoo can't wait to play. What kid doesn't love a trip to the zoo? They get a kick out of looking at the penguins waddle around their habitat, watching the lions roughhouse, and taking in polar bear feeding time. But looking at animals doesn't satisfy a kid's sense of adventure. Kids dream of jumping into the exhibit to monkey around with the monkeys! ItzaZoo fulfills this dream in a playful and educational way.

For the first time, it is your child's very own drawings that create a magical, interactive play experience between themselves and the most adorable zoo animals. Children develop a strong bond with the animals because of the loving attention given to each animal's moods and circumstance. In the polar bear playset, children are asked to remove the bear's diving mask which he needs while swimming underwater. His facial expression changes and children can tell that he is holding his breath. Then when the mask is placed back on his face, he smiles.

Gameplay
The game comes with five zoo-themed playsets. Each playset is home to an adorable boy or girl lion, elephant, monkey, turtle, or polar bear. The animal asks the player to draw objects they want. If the player chooses to draw the object, drawing paper comes up and the player uses the mouse to draw the object the animal asked for. Players use their mouse to draw the object the animal asks for. There are many objects each animal will ask for. The game recognizes what the player is drawing and transforms the drawing into the focus of whimsical and wacky interactions with the animal. When the player draws the sun in the Polar Bear playset, all the penguins put on sunglasses. In the Elephant playset, the Elephant is eager to show off its ability to balance on a ball--but what happens if the shape of the ball is a triangle? Or a star? Or a square? The monkey wants its playmate to draw it a hammock to sleep in. Little does it know the player can pull the hammock they drew back and fling the monkey high into the air only to watch it count ten clouds as it floats down.

As players draw items like enough balloons to float the elephant's tent into the sky, or a greenhouse for the turtle, they're working toward collecting stars. In order to unlock the next playset, children must earn five stars.

Your child's drawings create an interactive play experience between themselves and the zoo animals. Click above screenshots to enlarge.

Creative Problem Solving
It takes some thinking and exploring to earn a star. Players must use their creative problem solving skills. For example, in the elephant playset, a star can be earned by watering flowers. The first step is to draw a rain cloud, then click on the cloud to make it rain and fill the bucket. As they water the flowers, the water level in the bucket goes down. If it empties before the task of watering the flowers is complete, then children must figure out that they'll need to make it rain again, in order to fill up the bucket and complete the task

Engages Children in Reading
For early readers, ItzaZoo offers a new approach to learning to read. Instructional bubbles pop up throughout the game, giving sentences that ask for tasks to complete or give hints. Players who can't read a word can mouse over any word, and it will turn red and a child's voice will read the word aloud.

Visitor Challenges are the ultimate reading challenge. As players earn trophies by winning stars, more visitors are attracted to the exhibit. Once a silver trophy is earned, Visitor Challenges are unlocked. The visitor challenges the player to get their animal to perform certain actions, such as dancing with a snowman or slipping on a banana peel. These timed challenges feature more difficult vocabulary, and are more challenging to complete. Since they are intended as a bonus level, there is no reading assistance available. If the player is successful, the visitor takes a picture that causes an eye-popping flash and the player earns a camera point. Players don't need to stress out if they cannot earn camera points. Forward progress is based on Star Challenges--all of which have a loving support system for our early readers.

For early readers, ItzaZoo offers a new approach to learning to read. Click above screenshots to enlarge.

The best part of ItzaZoo, like its predecessor ItzaBitza, is that it doesn't compromise on fun. Children lose interest in other educational games quickly because those games aren't designed as games, they're designed as educational tools, and fun seems to be an afterthought. The new learning method fused into ItzaBitza and ItzaZoo was developed after a multi-year research project that began at Microsoft Corporation. The end result is a really fun game that teaches children important work-life skills, such as creative problem solving and reading.