Boulder Canyon Mine Shaft

The Boulder Canyon Mine Shaft is a location and activity in JumpStart Adventures 5th Grade: Jo Hammet, Kid Detective. It is designed to teach U.S. and Native American history at a fifth grade level.

Location description
The Boulder Canyon Mine Shaft is a location in Hooverville. Maggie Mead works here. Jo Hammet can visit the mine shaft only when she requires items for stopping Dr. X's schemes. For each mission, one of the items that Jo requires will be in the possession of Maggie Mead and can be obtained by playing the Boulder Canyon Mine Shaft activity.

Activity description
Jo needs to go into the mines and bring up items for Maggie's studies. There are three levels to the mines, each one deeper than the previous level. The deeper the level, the older artifacts it contains. Maggie will always ask for three items, one from each level.

Once the player has picked a level, Jo will go there, and the player can control her with the keyboard. The left and right arrow keys are used to move Jo left and right, the A key is used to jump, and the Z key is used to duck. Parts of the rock wall will appear to have objects on them, and this indicates that an artifact is buried there. Pressing the spacebar when Jo is over one of these spots will make her examine what is located there.

When Jo is examining an item, a smaller screen will pop up displaying a picture of the item, its name and a description. The player can choose to pick up an item by clicking the green button on the popup screen. The red button is used to close the popup screen. The player can only obtain one artifact from each level, so if the player wants to obtain an object from a level they have already selected an item from, clicking the green button will swap out the item from that level that the player is currently carrying with the newly selected one.

Boulders will periodically fall and roll around the mines. If one hits Jo, she loses some health. If the health meter gets too low, she'll have to return to the surface for medical attention, and then the activity must be started over.

Difficulty level differences
Skill Game Play
 * Level one: Maggie will name the items she needs.
 * Level two/three: Maggie will describe the items she needs, but doesn't say their names.
 * Level one: Up to two boulders can appear on the screen at the same time. Jo can take up to 20 hits before the health meter runs out.
 * Level two: Up to three boulders can appear on the screen at the same time. Jo can take up to 15 hits before the health meter runs out.
 * Level three: Up to four boulders can appear on the screen at the same time. Jo can take up to 15 hits before the health meter runs out.

Help file description
You'll love this place. Though Maggie is a little, um, preoccupied. She's the Ranger here. Every time I visit, she asks me to find 3 new objects she needs for the museum. Here's how to help out:


 * Listen to hear the object Maggie is asking for.
 * Select a "crust level" to visit first.
 * Once we're down in the mine, we've got to avoid the rolling rocks and obstacles. This place is a mess.
 * Use the arrow keys to move around.
 * Press the A key to jump and the Z key to duck.
 * Once I'm close to an object, press the Spacebar to examine the object.
 * I can only hold three items at one time. If the object seems to be what we're looking for, pick it up. To discard an item I've already picked up, click the return button (circling arrows) on the object window.


 * Watch my health! If I run out of health by getting hit, we'll have to start back at the beginning. I do not want to do that!
 * When we return to the surface with the correct object, Maggie will give us what we came here for. Whew!

Trivia

 * The gameplay slightly resembles the 1981 arcade game Donkey Kong.