Product Description

Build a bevy of sharp math skills as you trek high in the Himalayas with the ClueFinders. They're on a quest to find missing ancient treasures and they need your sharp wits to hunt for clues. From purchasing supplies in the village store to building a yak corral, every activity is a math learning challenge.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #334 in Software
• Brand: The Learning Company
• Model: CFM3744AE
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platforms: Mac OS 9 and below, Windows 98, Windows XP
• Format: CD-ROM
• Dimensions: .31 pounds

From Parents' Choice®

If you want to convince your child math is essentially a game, sign him up for this first all-math Cluefinders expedition in search of missing treasure in the Himalayas. The plot premise is little more than a vehicle for a series of eight math-skill based activities and several arcade-like games that prove fun, challenging and parallel what fourth through sixth graders are learning in the classroom. Cartoonish animation and the spunky antics and dialogue of the four teenage Cluefinders help make more inviting the equations, graphs, geometric shapes, fractions, decimals, multiplication, division, word problems, and other math concepts and skills practiced.

A nice teaching reinforcing element in activities such as the Village Store requires kids not only have to think through word problems, but visually demonstrate (with products, not numbers) how they solved them. Children struggling with interpretive graphs will find The Clothes Shop especially helpful. As kids assist Cluefinders in solving problems and completing activities, they earn clues to the identity of the thief who stole one of the 24 missing treasures. This is an excellent who-dunnit activity that requires critical thinking. This Cluefinders package also includes a bonus CD-ROM disk of a previously released and pretty good TLC math title, "Operation Neptune," for the same age group.

Reviewed by Don Oldenburg, Parents' Choice® 1998

Customer Reviews

Cluefinder's Math (Ages 9-12)
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.

Awesome way to get the kids into math
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.

Don't believe advertised compatibility
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.