Reviews (13)

Wonderful!
My daughter is 8 and I recently bought this for her. She's never played chess before and her attention span can be somewhat limited at times. I played this game for a little while before letting her play (she had chores to finish and so I could see if it was something she'd be able to do). At first I was a little worried, some of the arcade games seemed to me to be too hard and not have enough instructions. At any rate I loaded it up and let her play, and she spent over 6 hours in one weekend totally absorbed and loving every minute of it. Some of the arcade games were too hard so she just skipped those, I don't know if it will have any negative effect on her later game play, but so far so good! Anything that is educational and can keep a child absorbed for so long is well worth the money. I hope she finishes the game so she and I can play chess together!

Great Chess Instruction, Clever, Funny and addictive!
My 5 year old wanted to learn how to play chess. I taught him, but I knew having reinforcement would help....furthermore, I didn't/don't know ALL there is to know about chess so I really wanted the help. I did a search and ran into this gem of a program...and I couldn't be happier.

With a story line, arcade like games, mazes, mini chess lessons and Chester the rat (who happens to be a chess master and your mentor) it doesn't get any better than this....Yes, there are flaws, but none worth mentioning, because they don't take away from the beauty and value of this program.

My son has already applied much of what he's learned...and he hasn't even finished his "training" with Chester yet! Moreover, the games you play with Chester (in preparation to face the evil king) can be set at vairious levels of difficulty. And that means it's going to take a while to grow out of this program (it'll challenge mom and dad easily!)

Truly a parents dream when it comes to software. I played it first to check it out, and I really didn't have to. This is a purchase you won't regret.

Best program to teach kids (or anyone) chess!
Purchased this for an energetic 5-year old known as my son!

To summarize: King White is feeling a little tired and disinterested (a mysterious malaise that can best be described as boredom or maybe even depression - seriously! Maybe something gets lost in translation, as this game is made by Chessbase, a German company, but marketed here by Viva Media. Maybe he is a victim of "ennui?"), so his queen suggests that they go on vacation. They put their son Fritz in charge for the duration of their absence, and as soon as the king and queen are out the door, Fritz is challenged to a chess duel by the nasty looking King Black. PROBLEM: Fritz doesn't know how to play chess!!

Follow Fritz and his cousin Bianca across the kingdom as they play a variety of games in order to learn chess basics. Learn how the pieces move, and learn basic tactics like pins, etc. Piece valuation, how to win, etc. are other topics that are taught.

The cool thing is that my son doesn't realize that he is learning! The games are so fun and arcade-like, that he learns how the pieces move without even knowing it.

Examples of the games:
1. Sumo wrestlers on a circular board to teach about the king and the concept of "opposition."
2. A Pac-man-like game to teach the horizontal and vertical movement of the rook.
3. A Pong-like game of smashing toilets (no joke!) to get across the concept of the bishop's diagonal movement.

After going through all the training sessions, my son was ready to take on King Black. He still gets mostly crushed, but that is because he doesn't spend much time thinking before he makes a move. He has managed wins on the lower setting, but that's because the chess engine plays some of the most horrible moves, like leaving a queen hanging, etc.

Highly recommended for youngsters! My son may leave it alone for 3 or 4 weeks at a time, but he always comes back to play the games and to try his hand vs. King Black. Money well spent to teach kids a wonderful game.

Love it!
I bought this game from a software club on a whim. My 7 and 8 year old boys were sort of interested in chess, and my husband's name is Fritz. So I thought if I was lucky, the software could help them learn some of the basics of chess. It has FAR surpassed my expectations. They love it, and have spent HOURS playing it. They know how all the pieces move, have learned some of the finer points such as "castling", and still keep playing. I hear them repeating the little rhymes that the program uses to help them remember different strategies...."a knight on the rim is ugly and dim"...."pawns are afraid of nothing; they move straight ahead", etc. In just a couple of weeks, they know WAY more than I know about chess. I would love to have this program in my middle school classroom, as I think my students there would enjoy it, as well.

"Daddy, can I play Fritz and Chesster! And Bianca!"
Fritz and Chesster was the holiday hit at our house. It lives up to all the reviews. I was a little nervous about unleashing a five year old on it, but my daughter is hooked on the game and has worked her way up the levels of challenge with an intensity that I haven't seen her put into other things. And Bianca, Fritz's queen, gives it a feminist angle.

What I found most interesting was her ability (and interest) in going back to replay parts she hadn't quite mastered conceptually even though she understood what she was challenged to do.

The learning approach is very thought out, and previous criticism of the game is accurate. It is clearly a "must buy" if you think your child might be interested in chess. ... Read more

Features

• Each gaming challenge will sharpen your skills, whether you're a beginner or advanced chess player
• Understand the strategies behind openings, pinning and delivering check
• Gain new insights into attacking and protecting -- and much more!

Product Description

Six All-Time Favorites In One Box!

Expand your game collectionfast!with six of the greatest board games ever, all ready to play on your PC. The buying-and-selling of a MONOPOLY® showdown A drive down The Game of Life® road Mysterious happenings in Clue™: Murder at Boddy Mansion... There’s excitement for everyone!

MONOPOLY: The World's Most Popular Board Game Brought to Life!

• Move from GO to Boardwalk with witty animated game pieces
• Choose from ten cities, or customize the board with your own images

• Get a "car-cam" view as you head down the road of life
• Drive from the 1950s to the 1990s with up to six players

• Take over the world and witness interactive battle sequences
• Play the classic game or a fast simultaneous-turn match

• Bump and slide opponents with supercharged animations
• Move pawns through four game modes including Way Sorry!

• Sink enemy convoys in Arcade Adventure or play Classic Mode
• Score winning power-ups to strengthen your attack

• Leap into the board game and crack the case of poor (dead) Mr. Boddy
• Adjust the challenge so everyone can play

Features

• Includes: PACK MB Monopoly Game of Life Clue II: Murder at Boddy Mansion Risk II Battleship Surface Thunder Sorry!

Reviews (8)

Candyland comes alive!
My girls (...) always want to play the board game Candyland - there are just not enough hours in the day for mom to play all the time with them...so, this is the perfect alternative! In fact, they prefer the computer game to the board game now.

The Candyland game comes to life! The different places have different areas to click & play for as long as you choose, then back to the game! Lord Licorice is ticklish & afraid of the dark-try visiting him! The kids learn to recognize their colors and learn some matching skills as well. And it's just plain fun!

I recommend this for ages 3 & up.

Preschool helper (2 different games)
For those who got comfused on the similar titles like me, let me help. This is an edit of my earlier review.

Candy Land Game (this one)3 stars

It looks like the board game at first glance. You can have 1-4 players and each player takes turns clicking on the candy machine to get a card and then moves. The 1st to reach the end wins.
You can click on each specialty picture to have a mini adventure: sorting with plumpy, throwing gumdrops at gumdrop mountain, planting candy flowers with Grandma Nut, Making patters and colors with lollopo, builing a sundae with queen frosteen, scaring lord licorice, etc. It is mostly designed just to play around with as there are no goals at the mini stations. My 3 yr old quickly dismissed the main game as too hard. You have to click where your character is going to move to by yourself, and it is confusing to young kids. But she could play around in the other areas herself. It is good if you play with your toddler. Ages 2-5 recommended.

Candy Land Adventure (4 stars)

King Candy was kidnapped by Lord licorice and all the candy from the candy store was taken as well. Two kids (1-2 players) have to save king candy by going around in a roller coaster cart and helping the candy land characters. The adventures are coloring, numbers, ABC order, matching, etc. Each area gives you a prize and after you get them all you can rescue king candy. There are no dice or things to roll, you just pick where you want to go next.
We got this game for our special needs pre-school. The children love playing it, and it teaches them different things as well. They can finish the adventure in about an hour, so they can possibly do it all in one sitting. Or, they have a saving option that shows a picture of where they stopped in the game for easy retreival of up to 9 games. You can play each area more than once for hours of fun. Great toddler teaching game. Ages 3-8 would probably enjoy this.

Candy Land
this game is great for kids, I was sitting one day and looking through my closet, and noticed i had candy land, and no one who was willing to play (don't ask), anyway, I bought it and put it into my computer. it has great effects, and interactive activities, as well as the classic board game, candy land...i would recommend it for parents who have children, who love candy land, and just can't get the time to play it with them, fun game!

Nice Game but very slow!!
I am not sure why, but with my HP Pavilion Pentium III, this game runs so slow. It is really aggravating. My 4-year-old still likes the game, but he gets antsy waiting for the game to catch up to his keystrokes. This is the only game we have that acts this way. Maybe it is the real time media on the cd that it has to keep accessing. If anyone has any suggestions as to why this is so slow, please write them in the reviews. Thanks.

wonderful color learning game
I bought this for my 4 year old. He knows his colors, but was new to the computer. He would play this game 24/7 if I allowed it (which I don't). We also have the board game which he also loves. Great game for a great price. ... Read more

Features

• For kids age 8 and older
• A new chess adventure with Fritz, Bianca, and Chesster
• Covers openings, middle-game tactics, endgames, and more
• More than 20 mini games within the game for practice
• Powered by "Fritz", the world's leading chess software

Features

• Monopoly Junior, the best-selling board game, comes to kids in a new version just for them
• Rugrats -All Growed Up lets you play as teenage versions of Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, Phil and Lil
• Let your child's imagination fly with Crayola Creation Corner
• Multiple artistic activities with their favorite Crayola colors, for hours of fun
• Kids will design their own little amusement park in LegoLand

Amazon.com Product Description

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: Kids Edition CD-ROM allows kids to experience the thrills and excitement of the hit TV show with a kid-centric twist, featuring hundreds of questions on topics such as boy bands, pop divas, cartoons, extreme sports, and movies. Delving deep into the world of popular culture as seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old, it's the Millionaire game you have to be a kid to win. ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Fun and entertaining game!
There is not all that much change in the difficulty of questions,making it seem like the 4th edition,rather than a Kids edition,and still missing sound effects in the show that the 1st and 2nd edition games had,why did it's publisher do that? Aside from that this is a great game for all ages,and I like that you can get codes from the web-site for unlimited lifelines,and Regis seems a little more perked up compared to the 3rd edition. The fastest finger is like on the show,and question difficulty (compared to the show) is a little bit more on track for a change compared to past editions,and another good reason to get this game is IT PLAY's IN FULL SCREEN!! About time...the last few Millionaire games play the size of a post-card in the middle of your screen,for the hefty-price tags on these games,you should at least be able to read the questions! Anyways this has to be the best edition in the series yet.

Not What I Expected
Well, I bought this game thinking that it would be really easy kid questions that kids can answer, that weren't that tough. After buying the game and playing it I figured out that the questions were really hard. Some questions my mom couldn't figure out. I would recomend this game if you like hard questions with an occasional easy question.

Fun, but HARD
This is a really fun game!! But some of the questions are hard! When our relitives came to our house for Christmas, it took them probably at least several hours and at least two times starting over before they finally got it. I think the questions are aimed at kids that are about 10, 11. But still, this is a fun game. I would recommened it!

Not for Sensitive Children
My 8 year old son was so looking forward to this game, and likes to play it because he likes answering the questions to see how high he can get, but he's wound up in tears over the nasty comments made by Regis (paraphrase - "It's OBVIOUS the correct answer is 'c' - DUH!"), and is frustrated when tricks not found on the show like the phone a friend person not being home fouls up the game. Perhaps older children or ones that are less sensitive may find this funny, but if your child is sensitive at all or you are trying to teach your child good sportsmanship, I would definitely not recommend this game.

Great for kids and adults to play together!
This is a wonderful cd-rom. My daughter and I have so much fun playing each other. She is learning so much. We played the one we have so much that is is scratched and she has begged me to order another one. I would recommend it to anyone. ... Read more

Features

• A set of 15 games that will take kids on wild imaginative journeys -- from playing cards with aliens to playing strategy games with a dinosaur
• A cast of animated opponents keep the game moving
• Games include -Battling Ships, Checkers, Chinese Checkers, Crazy 8s, Go Fish, Hangman, Memory Match, Old Maid, Placer Racer, Snakes & Ladders, Speedy Racer, The Music Game, Tic Tac Toe, War and Bump 'em

Product Description

Enter Fritz: A tournament player's dream and Grandmaster's worst nightmare. Now, anyone with a PC can have a tireless companion aid in their opening research, flawlessly calculateing variations and comparing thousands of positions to its database. No longer is opening research a slow, painstaking process. No longer will sharp, tacticly difficult positions take hours of post mortem analysis to work through. You have Fritz, and your work has become that much easier.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

This is Fritz 6
The Fritz 6 engine and current interface with a database of mates in 1, 2, & 3. 300,000+ game database as well. This is a great trainer and sparring partner for less than $10. It will crush anyone including GMs. The current version is Fritz 8. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

3 year old loves it.
This is a sweet game that my son loves to play again and again. Playing includes a coloring page, arranging shortest to tallest, counting, alphabet, size comparison, and memory match. You can choose between two levels - easy or hard.

He can play most of the game by himself, except for the shortest to tallest board, he has some trouble. But ability to complete game play without assistance will vary among each child's skill level.

Cons: This game was made before Windows XP. Therefore we experience error messages. Sometimes we have to start the games two or three times before it will begin game play without an error message. Then there's the problem with playing in two player game mode. You can't! The main solution given by the game's web site, is to let kids take turns on the 1 player option.

Other than the game errors, this is a good game for preschoolers.

A great first computer game for kids
Good news here - this game is truly fun and engaging for kids 3 and up. What's more, it gives kids much more thinking opportunities than its board game predecessor. My son and I started when he was 3 and aseat on my lap. We had hours of fun and never got one cavity from all that candy!

Candy Land Adventure
My 4 yr. old son loves this game so much we had to buy a second copy! This game is great for teaching counting, following directions and patterns. I highly recommend to parents looking for a true preschooler game.

Four stars for four year olds
I considered being a bit harsher grading this, but given that my four year old daughter really enjoys this, I figure four stars is fair. My problem with it is in the Queen Frostine area where the user has to color several pictures to advance. This is the hardest area and is made even more difficult by the small spaces the user has to point and click into in order to add color. This isn't a major problem and does get easier as their mouse skills improve, but on first use, I thought it unnecessarily hard. Otherwise, my kids all love it (ages 10-4) and my youngest, who it belongs to, loves playing it again and again. It's fun and sweet with songs and silliness a youngster would enjoy. ... Read more

Features

• Single Player Chess
• Two Player Chess
• Live Internet Online Chess
• Email Chess
• LAN / Office Network Chess

Features

• Single or two-player gaming and live online tournaments
• Play a game via LAN or your office network
• Multiple chess utilities to customize your game, for more enjoyment
• Includes bonus board games like Backgammon, Checkers, Dominoes and more