JumpStart Around the World

JumpStart Around the World is a game released in 2000 for grades preschool to second grade. The game focuses on building a knowledge of geography and different cultures.

In all versions, the player travels around the world with one or more travel buddies and collects souvenirs in their scrapbook.

Gameplay
First, the player must pick one of four trips: Rushing to Russia, Can Ya Get to Kenya, Outbound to the Outback, or Cha-Cha to China. At the beginning of a new trip, the player always starts at JumpStart Central, which is located east of the United States. The goal is for the player to go from location to location until they reach their destination. The world map shows all the places that they can travel to, which are marked by red dots. If a dot is flashing, that means the player can go to that location next.

After the player chooses a location, then they have to choose how they want to get there. There are four methods of travel: boat, train, blimp, and plane. Each one has its own game. The player needs to win the game to successfully travel to the next location. Each time the player goes somewhere, they need to use travel tokens to pay for the transportation. The boat and plane both cost two travel tokens, the train costs one travel token, and the blimp costs three. When the player runs out of travel tokens, they have to go back to the JumpStart Travel Agency to win more.

Each time the player visit a location, they can collect a souvenir. There are four types of souvenirs for each location: a postcard, a fun fact card, a photo, and sounds. Once the player collects all four souvenirs for a location, they get a set of stickers that they can use to decorate that location's scrapbook page.

Games

 * Boat Afloat - Move the boat from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen while avoiding the obstacles. You can move up, down, left, or right. Many obstacles will be moving left or right across the screen. Sometimes a power-up will appear. If you get the power-up, it allows to take one hit from an obstacle without taking damage.


 * Back on Track - Steer the train around the grid using the arrow keys. You have to collect the things that fit the description at the top of the screen. Each time you collect an item, you get another train car. Your train cars trail behind you.. As you collect more train cars, be careful not to drive the train engine into them. Sometimes a power-up will appear on the grid. If you get a power-up, it allows you to run into train cars once without taking damage. You need to collect a certain number of train cars to win. When you've collected as many train cars as you need, the farm will appear. Drive to it to win.


 * Blimp Bounce - Move the blimp back and forth. Your travel buddy will bounce off the top of it and hit the clouds to clear them. Clear all the clouds to take off. Sometimes a cloud will turn yellow. If your travel buddy hits it, you'll get a twin travel buddy to help out.


 * Wings and Rings - Fly the plane through rings while collecting fuel and avoiding storm clouds. Your fuel will steadily run out if you don't collect more, and storm clouds deplete more of your fuel. You need to fly through a certain number of clouds to win.


 * Travel Agency Game - Use the arrow keys to move Brady Bear through the maze. Eat all the honeycombs in the maze to win the game. Bees will wander around the maze as well. If Brady Bear gets stung, you lose one of your tries. If you lose all of your tries, the game ends. There are honey pots scattered throughout the maze. If you get a honey potShapes or math problems will appear at the top of the screen. Each time you get a correct number or shape you get a travel token coupon. If you win the game, your travel token coupons become travel tokens.

Characters

 * Eleanor (preschool version)
 * Kisha (preschool version)
 * Casey (preschool version)
 * Pierre (preschool version)
 * Hopsalot (kindergarten version)
 * Frankie (first grade version)
 * CJ (second grade version)
 * Edison (second grade version)
 * Brady Bear (all versions)

Locations

 * California, United States
 * New York, United States
 * Brazil
 * France
 * Italy
 * Egypt
 * Kenya
 * India
 * Russia
 * China
 * Japan
 * Australia

Gallery
For a larger gallery of images from this game, see JumpStart Around the World/Gallery