Space Technology

By: Mitchell Hampson
Even the Carmen San Diego are kids' games, adults can get a kick out of them. and get a geography, history, or astronomy education at the same time. At least this big kid fell in love with the series. And trusts you will, too.

There was first "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" ACME Chief (played by the dynamic Lynne Thigpen) sends you [gumshoe name inserted] on the hunt for suspected criminals who have stolen a significant artefact and have absconded to somewhere in the world.

You, as Carmen San Diego, must track by visiting a number of locations in the world, answering questions that will help you decide where you can acquire, in a mandatory order, the particular loot stolen, then the warrant for the criminal's arrest, then the criminal, whom you arrest to be awarded a higher rank and to move on to the next case.

"Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen" "?" works on the same above strategies and premises, as does "Where in Europe is Carmen San Diego?"-while "Where in Time is Carmen San Diego?" and "Where in America's Past is Carmen San Diego?" follow the same strategies but teach history at the same time as the player learns geography and while "Where in Space is Carmen San Diego?" teaches astronomy and some science, as well.

This game was also a television game show, with kids guessing clues, proving their finesse with geography, and winning trips to related vacation and tour sites in the world. Lynne Thigpen also starred as the ACME chief, and Rockapella sang a capella songs intermittently (they were awesome!), while guest stars occasionally popped up and mini scenarios entertained audiences at home. At the core of the game were three rounds-of a questions quiz; a simulated video process of finding the loot, getting the warrant, then capturing the fleeing criminal; and a map locations-finding challenge, wherein the final contestant (who had made it through the other rounds first) got to locate countries on a continent by running to them with a giant parking meter like marker, which lighted up when the player was right.

Evidently, the Carmen series, made by Broderbund originally, was based on a Broderbund founders' childhood game-in which they used an almanac and relevant maps to compete in quizzes. The tools and concept have been carried over to the CD Rom games, whereby kids are not cheating but enhancing their research and deductive skills by accessing a massive collection of facts regarding the world, history, the U.S., and/or Europe. A thrilling game series, really, of which this overgrown kid has played four different games and was hooked on the show when it was on years ago. I highly recommend any of the Carmen San Diego games!

Mitch Hampson writes for Games