200
I spend HOURS reading these as a kid
(hexbear.net)
Fuck iPads, having kids look at glossy pieces of paper with diagrams of castles and pictures of cool pirate swords is what the children need.
I got tricked into buying the software version of the one about colonial era ships, because the person working the book fair told me you could launch cannon balls and blow up the dude in the toilet, like it was some kinda wacky action game, and I was a wacky little action dude at the time so of course I had to check that out.
Turns out it was closer to Encarta but without the Mind Maze part. The guy blowing up was a tiny little animation, and you could not, in fact, fire the cannon at all. Something something disappointment immeasurable etc.
Encarta was such a fascinating relic of the time
encarta's moon orbit simulator was goated
kind of a cool idea in retrospect.
anyone know?: is there an archive version available anywhere?
cross section edutainment game but crossed with The Incredible Machine
Encarta 98 and 2000 lost the Mind Maze part, which is a shame.
Truly the last good year in Western history was 1997.