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Richard ScarRy’s Busytown Best Activity Center Ever By Pam Gleichman Tribune Media Services Richard Scarry’s Best Activity Center Ever is the latest CD in the "Busytown" series. Clicking on different buildings in Busytown takes you to one of eight activities. At the ski chalet, you can practice spelling, while trying to help Hilda get to the top of the mountain so she can ski down. In level one, you see and hear words and you must match the letters in the words with the letters on the screen. In level two, the words are given orally and you must try to spell them. The word in level three is a mystery; you must guess the correct letters. At the observatory, you connect the stars to trace a picture in the sky. There are also three levels of difficulty and you can choose the alphabet or numbers. Other activities include a memory game at the post office, jigsaw puzzles at the Billboard, mazes in the A-Maze-ing Hedge Garden. You can also color, paint and print characters and buildings at the Art Studio, watch cartoons from the television show and make a scene at the Backyard Stage. Richard Scarry’s Best Activity Center Ever combines good activities with the familiar Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, Hilda Hippo and other Busytown characters you love. The activities, however, lack the power to excite. Our testers tried each activity and, unfortunately, nothing kept their interest. Publisher : Simon & Schuster Interactive, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020, (212) 632-3544, http://www.ssinteractive.com . Category : Early Learning. Age : 3 to 7. Installation : Easy. Use : Easy. It took children a little time to figure out where to click to reach activities, though. Graphics : Cute. Written Materials : Included on the CD jacket. System Requirements : Windows 95/98, Pentium 90 MHz or better, 16 MB RAM, SVGA Video Card with 256 colors, SVGA monitor 640 X 480 resolution, 4X CD-ROM drive, 100 percent Windows compatible sound card and speakers, Macintosh -- Power Macintosh, System 7 and higher, 16 MB RAM, 8 MB free, 640 X 480/ 256 colors, 4X CD-ROM drive. Tested Version : Windows/Macintosh. Cost : $29.95. Rating : Two stars. Richard Scarry’s Best Activity Center Ever does not have enough pizzazz or excitement to keep kids interested. If you like Busytown, try one of the original titles in the series. They are "Busytown" and "How Things Work in Busytown" both produced by Simon & Schuster Interactive. WEB SITE OF THE WEEK LINCOLN PARK ZOO http://www.lpzoo.com/ The Lincoln Park Zoo Web site strives to build understanding and respect for wildlife and natural lands across the world. There is information on more than 1,000 animals in their zoo and great photos of animals as well. DEAR PAM : My son is almost 6 and he enjoys both the computer and checkers. Is there any good software to play checkers on the computer? I’d also be interested in any instructional chess software or Web sites you could recommend. DEAR READER : There is a cute checker game in Putt Putt & Fatty Bears Funpack (Humongous Entertainment). It has four levels of difficulty. Hoyle Board Games (Sierra 800-757-7707) also has a checker game. This game, however, is geared more toward an older audience. If you purchase it, I would recommend turning the sound off (to eliminate inappropriate comments). There are many good chess programs on the market. I would recommend Lego Chess (Lego Media 800-453-4652) as a beginning program. RATING KEY : ***** — Outstanding; **** — Very Good; *** — Good; ** — Fair; * — Not Worth Purchasing. Pam Gleichman welcomes questions/comments from readers. Write to Pam at Tribune Media Services, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, Ill. 60611. Send e-mail to pamgl(at)msn.com. � 1999 Tribune Media Services, Inc. Techno file index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA