Putt-Putt Enters the Race
Humongous Entertainment	Ages 3 to 8

Rating Scale 5 = great,    1 = poor

Educational Value 4.0

Kid Appeal 4.0

Ease of Use 4.5

System Requirements

PC / Mac Price Survey

Product Support

Putt-Putt Enters the Race is the ninth title in a popular series of children's problem solving software programs. In this adventure, Putt-Putt has been invited to enter the CarTown 500 race. Just as in earlier Putt-Putts, (and similar to the Freddi Fish series), the user must guide the title character past a sequence of obstacles to collect a number of objects that require genuine problem solving skills. Once everything has been collected, Putt-Putt is entered into the race, where the user must guide him around the track five times, avoiding oil slicks, ducks and other cars.

How can Putt-Putt get past a possum in the road? Where can Putt-Putt find produce to help the grocer? How can he see in the dark? These questions and several dozen more confront the user, along with a myriad of fun clickable hotspots and repeatable activities.

Educational Value

Putt-Putt enters the Race provides fun practice in developing spatial recall (where did I see the flashlight batteries?). One of our parent reviewers noted that her daughter "had a better memory than I did" while hunting for specific objects. It also incorporates many of the social mores parents of this age group work to instill in their children, like a positive work ethic, good samaritan behavior, and politeness.

Kid Appeal

Putt-Putt enters the Race builds on a character familiar to many children from previous programs. "Everybody likes Putt-Putt," according to one eight year-old girl reviewer on our team. Kids liked the problem solving challenges that required resolution before the ultimate goal could be achieved. Parents of younger users, however, noted one downside to these challenges; they were frequently asked by frustrated chidren to help them find one missing object -- and it's hard! (Hint: the Humongous website contains some tips.)

Among the kids who were familiar with other Putt-Putt titles, they felt that this program provided "more things to do" than most of the others. As in the other Putt-Putt titles, each time the program is used, objects and obstacles are found in different places, improving its replayability.

Ease of Use / Install

The program installed itself without difficulty on our test Mac. Program navigation is intuitive for most children, but ease of use is a function of spatial recall, and patience. If your child isn't good at remembering where things are, this program will be difficult.

Best for... / Bottom-Line

Putt-Putt enters the Race is especially well-suited for children who like to accomplish goals, and have curiosity and patience.

See SuperKids' comparisons with other Problem Solving software titles, and the Buyers Guide for current market prices of the PC and Mac versions.

PC: Windows 3.1/95/98, Pentium 90 or faster, 16 RAM, SVGA PCI video card running in 640 x 480 resolution, with 256 colors, 4X or faster CD-ROM, Sound card

Mac: System 7.1 or higher, Power PC 90MHz or faster computer, At least 16 MB RAM, 640x480 8 bit video , 4X or faster CD-ROM

Reviewed on:

PowerMac 6400/200 with 32MB and 8XCD

Pentium166 with 24MB and 12XCD

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