Favorite Edutainment Games and What Makes Them Special

[Nz17]

Yago, Typing of the Dead is excellent. It is so much fun, and a great motivator to learn to type faster! Too bad the Western world never got SEGA's Typing Space Harrier, which is another excellent entry in SEGA's Typing series. However, we did get Typing of the Dead: Overkill. Personally, I don't like the game upon which it is based, but if you don't mind the content in House of the Dead: Overkill, Typing of the Dead: Overkill is another game worth your consideration. (And yes, it also has words appearing which are funny based on what's happening on screen.)

[8-Bit Archeology]

I like all of the above games in their own way. But I have to throw this one out there.
Zoombini's Logical Journey.

There's a soft spot in my heart for that cheesy old edutainment game.

[Nz17]

Zoombini's Logical Journey

I am definitely for things that increase people's awareness of and usage of reason and logic.

Carmen Sandiego [sealed CIB] for the Coco 3 $12.99 plus shipping

Ahh yeah, nothing like a complete copy in a big computer game box.

[calthaer]

Carmen Sandiego games have to be my favorite. If I recall correctly, "Where in the USA?" was the first, followed by Europe, and then World, and then Time. I am pretty sure Time is the last; a little unsure about the other ones. Even though they were largely a process of hunting through the reference books included with the game along with some minimal logic / deduction, they were great for children to learn.

Other than that, Number Munchers - definitely a favorite.

[Pr3tty F1y]

Operation Neptune. Great shump and math game Back when I played this as a kid in school, it was thoroughly enjoyable. Definitely better than Math Blaster.

[Highwind Dragoon]

My favorite one was on a snowy mountain with 4 levels, and every time you cleared the mountain, you would parachute out of a palace/fortress to the base and receive a treasure for your trophy room in a cave. Forgot the name of it.

EDIT: It was the mac version of super solvers: treasure math storm.

[WulfeLuer]

Oh man, it's kinda embarrassing, since I have two that I remember having a total blast with, but I can't recall their titles to save my life. OT is okay, and I chewed through multiple iterations of Carmen Sandiego (to the consternation of actual educators) on Apples (think the IIc and IIe, I forgot). But the two that I loved and can't recall the names of...

The first was this truck driving simulator. You drove a 18-wheeler hauling whatever to various places in the US, having to worry about things like eating and sleeping, picking the best route between cities, and deciding whether or not to speed and risk a pullover. If you got to the destination on time, you got a little prize in-game. I don't remember if you just drove off again or had to start a new haul. It was one of those things that should have totally sucked, but ate your brain and your free time, and actually gave something like meaningful decision points.

The second was this game where cartoony robots were rampaging through the school, and you 'shot' them with a camera to drive them off, and then you tried to match details on the photos with evidence you collected to figure out which one was the actual bad guy. I think there were variations where the 'evidence' was linked to a particular subject, but I can't remember for sure. It was kinda 20 years ago now.