Peanuts Where's the Blanket, Charlie Brown?

The mental workout this program provides is excellent. More than any other game manufacturer, Tivola has mastered the art of setting up a problem, then quietly letting the player figure out how to solve it. Linus's blanket is lost, and players can either assume the identity of Charlie Brown or Lucy and find it. Once the problem is presented, players must navigate around Charlie Brown's house and use their powers of observation to get the game moving. This segment can make players feel like they're trapped in "Peanuts" purgatory, as they arrow Charlie Brown from room to room, desperately searching for a means out of the house and into the rest of the game. The on-disc Help file spells out exactly where players must look and what they must collect to move on--resist the temptation to look at the Help file. You will miss the challenge and charm of this game if you lose patience and cheat.

As the story line leads from Charlie Brown's house to a library to Schroeder's piano room to a supermarket with many other stops in between, games are unlocked. The nine games are short, smart endeavors. Some of the standouts include a game in which Schroeder plays a short melody on his piano, and kids must click on sequences of actual notes that match the melody. Another great game requires kids to put poor, scrambled Peppermint Patty back together after she is magically rearranged by the Great Houndini. This descrambling has some added twists that push it far beyond typical match-the-parts games. Each of the nine games has two levels of difficulty, and once they are unlocked, they can be instantly accessed for repeat play.

On the way to these games are numerous other minigames, opportunities for problem solving, and goodies you can feed Snoopy to keep his Snoopy meter on full. Players can play this game in German as well as English. Where's the Blanket, Charlie Brown? probably won't hold up to a lot of repeat play by older kids, but the gentle way this program forces players to use their entire brains to find that darn blanket is remarkable. (Ages 4 to 102 according to the manufacturer; we say 4 to 8, although hard-core "Peanuts" fans of any age will also enjoy it.) --Anne Erickson

Amazon.com Product Description
Good grief! Linus's security blanket has come up missing, and it's up to players and the Peanuts gang to track it down. Team up with Charlie Brown or Lucy as Snoopy guides kids through the game. Along the way, there are nine hidden games to play at a computer camp or in the school library, or you can catch the magic show of the Great Houndini, who looks an awful lot like Snoopy. The Snoopy meter offers players an added challenge, and kids can print out scenes for coloring fun away from the computer.

Designed to delight children of all ages, this unique play story presents lessons with humor and heart. Kids build social and orientation skills, explore math and music, develop their problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities, and more. Educational concepts introduced directly into the story line keep the learning fun, while the artwork remains true to Charles M. Schulz, "Peanuts" creator.

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