JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain

JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain is a JumpStart game that was made by Knowledge Adventure in 1996. As the title suggests, the game is intended to teach a third grade curriculum.

The original 1996 release of the game came with KnowledgeLand as a bonus disc. In 2000, it was released with JumpStart Adventure Challenge as a bonus disc.

It was later re-released as JumpStart Advanced 3rd Grade: Fundamentals.

Story
Set in a retro-futuristic universe, the game concerns Polly Spark, the bratty daughter of an apparently very wealthy inventor, and her attempt to alter history so that her inane answers to a history quiz she failed will be correct. To do this, she sends twenty-five reprogrammed robots back in time and, with her father conveniently away on a business trip, she takes over Mystery Mountain, the literal "mountain mansion" where she and her father live. The goal of the game is to help Botley, the robot assigned to keep Polly under control, save the world by retrieving each of the twenty-five robots and bringing them back to the present.

Prologue
A sign-in screen appears after the monitor has been activated. The user signs his or her name and presses Enter or Return. The interior of the school on the hill is seen. Certain objects within the classroom can be interacted with. The TransQuizzer is on the desk. Once the user clicks on the TransQuizzer, the main storyline begins there and then. Botley comes hurling through the window and talks to the user about Polly. He takes the user to Mystery Mountain and Polly appears on screen; she talks to Botley about her failed History test. The doorbell is activated by the user who must repeat what was heard in order to get into the mountain or house as Polly calls it. The game is similar to Simon. When the outside activity is finished, Botley takes out the toolbar called a "utility belt" and puts it at the bottom of the screen.

Epilogue
Once all the robots are rescued, Polly reveals her ultimate plan to use Botley for the extra credit question, which more than makes up for the entire quiz. For the extra credit question, Polly said that the universe began with Botley (she calls this the "Big Bot") and she therefore wants to send him all the way back in time to the Big Bang, which would cause him to be destroyed. Unfortunately for Polly, it's at this point that her father arrives home from the Inventors' Convention. Professor Spark and Ms. Winkle, via a video monitor, agree to let Polly take the quiz again, though Ms. Winkle states that she can't give Polly a test with the same questions twice. Therefore, Ms. Winkle decides to give her a quiz on Latin, which doesn't please Polly, as she's no good at Latin.

The storyline ends at this point, but the user can continue playing the Mountain's games for study purposes or for fun. The user can also enter the Time Machine Mission Control and view the "robot roost" without acquiring the Invention Points that would otherwise be required, but the Wheel of Invention cannot be played nor can the Time Machine be entered.

Gameplay
Each of the game's twenty-five missions (one for each robot that must be rescued) begin with the user selecting one of Polly's questions from the TransQuizzer. On the TransQuizzer, Ms. Winkle poses a historical question of Polly and Polly gives a surreallistic and humorous answer. Polly then appears on a monitor to state which robot she has sent back in time for the question and to list the four Mission Clues that need to be found for the mission. There are stairs and a tram to travel through three different floors.

Botley, using his powerful sensory device, then determines which games need to be played in order to retrieve the needed Mission Clues. Once all the Mission Clues have been collected, the user will still need to collect 1000 Invention Points in order to enter the Time Machine Mission Control.

Once inside the Time Machine Mission Control, the user has to get past the Wheel of Invention in order to acquire a Time Key and enter the Time Machine itself, though Polly has apparently reprogrammed the Wheel so it's not just a quiz, but rather a quiz show called "Pollywood Squares." Here, Monty Monitor quizzes the user with questions that provide the point in time where Polly has sent the missing robot and which eventually reveal the correct answer to Polly's original test question.

After this activity is completed, the user enters the Time Machine and travels back in time to retrieve the robot and bring it back to the present, where the rescued robots are deposited in an area called the "robot roost." After the robot has been rescued, the user begins a new mission by selecting another question from the TransQuizzer. The game continues in this manner until all twenty-five robots are returned to the present, at which point the game is completed.

Characters

 * Botley the Robot/AndroidXL2
 * Polly Sparks
 * Professor Sparks
 * Ms. Winkle

Activity Presenters

 * Mort
 * Mrs. Beasley
 * Bothoven
 * Maestro Trombot
 * Egbert
 * Buster
 * Monty Monitor

Activities
Except for the opening scenes, which takes place inside Ms. Winkle's classroom, the entire game is set within Mystery Mountain. The games found within the Mountain are as follows:


 * The Front Door
 * The First Floor
 * The Jumbo Electro Generator Room
 * The Robot Kitchen
 * The Art Gallery
 * The Professor's Virtual Collection
 * The Painting Gallery
 * The Music Hall or Concert Hall
 * The Second Floor
 * The Biosphere
 * The Shrinking Machine Room or Shrink-O-Matic
 * The Third Floor
 * The Observatory
 * The Robot Maze or Robot Obstacle Course
 * Time Machine Mission Control
 * The Wheel of Invention
 * The Time Machine
 * The Robot Roost

Educational Concepts

 * Spelling
 * Vocabulary
 * Grammar
 * Numbers and Values
 * Addition and Subtraction
 * Multiplication and Division
 * Measurement
 * Logic
 * History
 * Earth Science
 * Life Science
 * Physical Science
 * Astronomy
 * Visual Arts
 * Music

Credits
See JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain/Credits

Associated Books
The JumpStart 3rd Grade Summer Vacation Activity Book is inspired by this game, and uses artwork from it.

Trivia

 * Users must play a minimum of one hundred activities in order to win the game, as a minimum of four different activities must be played for each of the twenty-five missions.

Errors

 * Ferdinand Magellan died in 1521, yet the game depicts him as alive and well in 1522.
 * The scene depicting Amelia Air-bot destroying Leonardo da Vinci's sketches for the aerial screw takes place in 1483, yet there are sketches for the Mona Lisa, which Da Vinci did not begin work on until 1503, hanging on the wall.
 * In one level of the Music Room activity, "Autumn" from Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" is referred to as "Spring."
 * As a result of the game's age, an anachronism now appears in one level of the "Wheel of Invention" activity, which identifies the year 2010 as being in the future. This was not an issue for the first 13 years of the game's release, however.
 * Flying dinosaurs called pterosaurs in the "Wheel of Invention" should mean "reptile," but dinosaurs can't fly.
 * Headless Botley is shown when changing the levels in the generator activity.
 * In the robot obstacle course activity, Botley disappears when comes back talking.
 * Another head of Botley is shown when talking while the other head is looking at the obstacle course with the robot walking.
 * Botley's head is shown in the virtual collection activity when talking.
 * The right painting shows up with Botley talking which means you need to go to the cellar to need more energy. A puzzle is shown to earn the invention points to put in the inventory.
 * The boa constrictor is actually one of the few reptiles to give live birth, yet in the Shrinking Machine Room, this animal is listed in "Lays an Egg."
 * The bald eagle and hammerhead shark are listed in "Fascinating Pets" in the Shrinking Machine Room, even though they're obviously very illegal species to house as pets. Even the amoeba, which is actually a cell, despite what Egbert says, is too microscopic to be suitable pets.
 * Despite Egbert saying that sea lettuce is something you wouldn't want to eat, it's actually an edible algae that is perfect for salads (which is even referred to as something that belongs in a salad in-game) and even soups.
 * Egbert has referred to the fire ant, jellyfish, and sea anemone as poisonous, which is actually incorrect as all three species are venomous, which has a different affect compared to poison (i.e. if venomous, you get bitten, and if poisonous, you bit it).
 * The term "peacock" is used to refer to both male and female species of colorful bird. In actuality, the term "peacock" only refers to the males, while the females are called "peahens." The term "peafowl" is the correct and general name for both genders.
 * The giant squid is referred to as the world's largest invertebrate. However, the colossal squid, which is shorter in length, but heavier than the giant squid, is the actual world's largest invertebrate.
 * Calling the hammerhead shark "ferocious" is rather unfair as hammerhead sharks do not target humans as a food source since hammerheads rarely attack humans, they're normally harmless, and if they do attack humans, it's only when they're provoked. Also, hammerheads are just naturally aggressive when they hunt prey, so calling it "aggressive" naturally would be more appropriate and fair, considering sharks in general have a reputation that's very exaggerated.
 * Mold, sea pen, and toadstool are listed as plants, even though they're not. As listed in the game, sea pen is a type of coral with a soft body and mold and toadstool are fungi (the game even says that toadstools are no longer considered plants).