Difficulty levels

Difficulty levels, also sometimes referred to as skill levels, are a feature that appears in almost every JumpStart game and are typically accessed via the toolbar. They determine how difficult the activities in a game will be.

A few JumpStart toys also feature difficulty levels, as well as some JumpStart books.

Overview
Most games have three difficulty levels for each activity in the game. Adjusting the difficulty level for an individual activity can usually be done during an activity by clicking on an icon on the toolbar. Some games also allow the player to adjust difficulty level of any activity from the Sign-in Screen. In addition to being freely selected by the player, difficulty levels will adjust automatically depending on how well the player is doing.

In many games, changing the difficulty levels only affects the academic content of an activity. Some games segregate academic skill level and game play/speed level.

A rather unusual system for difficulty levels can be found in JumpStart Learning Games series titles such as JumpStart Spelling, JumpStart Numbers and JumpStart Music. The player can choose their grade level (from Preschool to 3rd Grade) at the beginning of the game, and within that grade level, there are many more gradations of difficulty levels than just three.

JumpStart Preschool (1995)
There are three difficulty levels for every activity except for Nursery Song Book, which doesn't feature any difficulty levels. Since there isn't a toolbar in this game, instead there are three numbered purple bars at the lower left corner of the screen during activities. Clicking on one of the numbered bars changes the difficulty level of the activity.

JumpStart 1st Grade (1995)
Although this game lacks a toolbar, many activities feature an icon that looks like a gauge, which can be used to adjust the difficulty levels. Several activities, such as Music in the Mouse Hole, The Milk Cap Game, and Field Trips, don't feature difficulty levels.

JumpStart 2nd Grade
There are three levels for most activities, which are named: Scout (easiest), Explorer (moderate), and Trailblazer (hardest).

JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain
There are three difficulty levels for most activities.

JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island
In the original release of the game, difficulty levels could only be changed by pressing Ctrl + L during an activity. Later releases added an icon to the toolbar for changing the difficulty level, which has the appearance of three witch hats. Many activities have multiple levels, though the number of levels per activity can vary quite a bit, with some activities having as many as six difficulty levels. The difficulty levels screen also varies from most other games, in that it doesn't allow the player to freely choose any level, but rather prompts the player if they would like to advance to the next level, or return to level 1 if the player is at the highest level already.

JumpStart Adventures 5th Grade: Jo Hammet, Kid Detective
The difficulty levels can be set by clicking on the badges on the toolbar.

JumpStart Pre-K
Each activity has three difficulty levels.

JumpStart Kindergarten (1997)
There are three difficulty levels for each activity. Some activities allow the player to adjust the academic skill and speed/gameplay difficulties separately, such as Pattern Blaster and the Tricycle Game.

JumpStart Preschool (1998)
There are three difficulty levels for each activity, excluding Player Piano, which doesn't feature difficulty levels at all. The Wagon and Balls activity is the only activity to feature adjustable difficulty levels for both skill and gameplay.

JumpStart 1st Grade (1999)
There are three difficulty levels for each activity.

JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Sapphire Falls
The compass icon sets difficulty levels in each activity.

JumpStart Adventure Challenge
The player will be prompted to choose a skill level each time they start an activity. The difficulty levels are titled beginner, intermediate, and expert.

JumpStart Artist
Three of the activities have difficulty levels, and the other two do not. The activities to feature difficulty levels are Casey's Concentration, CJ & Edison's Art Expeditions, and Hopsalot's Invention Tent. The difficulty level of an activity can be changed by clicking on the icon on the toolbar that resembles three rulers. The current level that the player is on for each of the activities is also indicated on the progress report.

JumpStart Explorers
In this game, the player chooses their difficulty level for the overall game at the Sign-in Screen. There are three levels to choose from.

JumpStart Spy Masters series
There are a total of six difficulty levels. The first two are designated as being for 3rd Grade, the third and fourth as being for 4th Grade, and the fifth and six as being for 5th Grade and above.

JumpStart Advanced series
An assessment test can be played before the game to set the difficulty levels to the player's skill. In addition to this, there is an icon on the toolbar to bring up a difficulty levels screen during an activity that is present in most of the Advanced series games.

JumpStart Legend of Lost Island
Each activity has three difficulty levels: easy, medium, and hard. There are fifteen stages for each difficulty mode. The player must always choose a difficulty level at the start of the activity and then choose a stage to complete.

Games Without Difficulty Levels

 * JumpStart Baby (1998)
 * JumpStart Baby (2000)
 * JumpStart Toddlers (1996)
 * JumpStart Kindergarten (1994)
 * JumpStart Advanced Toddlers-1st Grade: Art series
 * JumpStart Art Studio
 * JumpStart Punk Punk Blitz

JumpStart Alphabet Card Game
This card game features three difficulty levels, each corresponding to a different reading level.

Books
The JumpStart workbooks published by Scholastic for prekindergarten through second grade all feature difficulty levels. Each book contains three sections, and each section's activities are split into three difficulty levels.