JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Sapphire Falls
Encyclopedia
JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Sapphire Falls is a personal computer game
released by Knowledge Adventure
in 2000 to replace their earlier JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island
released in 1996. Despite the name being the same, this product contains no characters or storyline elements in the Haunted Island edition. However, it does contain a couple of games which bear a strong resemblance to their 1996 cousins.
In the game, a hairy, bipedal creature invades an old, abandoned mine
in the town of Sapphire Falls. Scaring away tourists
, the creature succeeds in stealing a mysterious treasure map
that no one has ever been able to read. Two aspiring fourth-grade
reporters named Sally and T.J. along with their pint-sized dog
Gizmo travel to the mine to solve the mystery.
must be turned on. This is done by guiding Sally over the scaffolding
to reach the lever with the correct answer to a math problem that appears at the top of the screen. Once this done, the lights usually stay on, but they do go out on occasion, requiring the user to play the "Platform Problems" activity again.
that can only be unlocked by placing gems
in indentations shaped like each of the three different gems available. There are three activities that the user can play to collect gems, but "Platform Problems" must be played before each of them.
In the main room with the secret doorway, the user encounters two more characters, Jilian Godszolus and Jed Mason, who can be conversed with in the same way as Samual Branon.
map, the user controls a mine car over a map engraved into a rock wall. Also, the enemy pirate ships are swapped for "steam clouds," the "food and supplies" for deposits of coal
needed to keep the mine car running and the treasures for gems. This version begins with a "wide view" of the entire map, the user having to "zoom in" to the "close-up view" to uncover the gems, whereas in original there was only the close-up view of the map.
as well as history and that, instead of resetting the puzzle when no move is possible, the user is given a new puzzle.
for them to use as transport. They also discover the monster, and Gizmo tries to capture it, but fails. A bit of its fur remains in the canine's jaws, and it actually bears a label, revealing that the creature is actually a fake. After traveling through caves and gathering enough clues, they move on to Crystal Keys and then Race Chase.
, antonym
or homonym
to a given word.
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
released by Knowledge Adventure
Knowledge Adventure
Knowledge Adventure, Inc. is a maker of educational software including the Adiboo and JumpStart series of grade-based and subject-based titles, such as My First Encyclopedia. It was established in the late 1980s in Los Angeles, then later merged with another large education software firm, Davidson...
in 2000 to replace their earlier JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island
JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island
JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island was a personal computer game in Knowledge Adventure's JumpStart series of educational software intended, as the title indicates, to teach a fourth grade curriculum...
released in 1996. Despite the name being the same, this product contains no characters or storyline elements in the Haunted Island edition. However, it does contain a couple of games which bear a strong resemblance to their 1996 cousins.
In the game, a hairy, bipedal creature invades an old, abandoned mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
in the town of Sapphire Falls. Scaring away tourists
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
, the creature succeeds in stealing a mysterious treasure map
Treasure map
A treasure map is a map that marks the location of buried treasure, a lost mine, a valuable secret or a hidden locale. More common in fiction than in reality, "pirate treasure maps" are often depicted in works of fiction as hand drawn and containing arcane clues for the characters to follow...
that no one has ever been able to read. Two aspiring fourth-grade
Fourth grade
Fourth grade is a year of education in the United States and many other nations. The fourth grade is the fourth school year after kindergarten. Students are usually 9 or 10 years old, depending on their birthday. It is a part of elementary school. In some parts of the United States, fourth grade...
reporters named Sally and T.J. along with their pint-sized dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
Gizmo travel to the mine to solve the mystery.
Characters
- Sally - Sally Chu (spelling of last name uncertain) is skeptical of the creature's existence. Based on her last name and her vaguely Asian appearance, she is probably of ChineseChinese peopleThe term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
descent. Sally is also featured in Adventure Challenge (also called Far-Out Field Trips, Ultimate Field Trips, and Extreme Field Trips), JumpStart SpyMasters: Unmask the PranksterJumpStart SpyMasters: Unmask the PranksterJumpStart SpyMasters: Unmask the Prankster is a personal computer game made by Knowledge Adventure where the user must stop the Prankster. As in other JumpStart games, one has to solve educational problems to complete the game.-HQ:...
and JumpStart SpyMasters: Max Strikes Back. - T.J. - Thomas James Adams (spelling of last name uncertain) is convinced the creature is real and wants to photographPhotographA photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
it as proof. He has sandy blond hair and carries a flash cameraCameraA camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
around his neck. Like Sally, he also appears in JumpStart Adventure Challenge, JumpStart SpyMasters: Unmask the Prankster and JumpStart SpyMasters: Max Strikes Back. - Gizmo - Sally and T.J.'s semi-anthropomorphicAnthropomorphismAnthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
pet dog, who can usually be seen on Sally's shoulder - Ranger Addy Wise - the local rangerPark rangerA park ranger or forest ranger is a person entrusted with protecting and preserving parklands – national, state, provincial, or local parks. Different countries use different names for the position. Ranger is the favored term in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Within the United...
; her name is given in the "Tutor Times" - Samual Branon Jr. - the mayorMayorIn many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Sapphire Falls, who wants to be president of the "U.S. of A."President of the United StatesThe President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.... - Gillian Gonzales - a geologistGeologistA geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
and a "real" fedoraFedora (hat)A fedora is a men's felt hat. In reality, "fedora" describes most any men's hat that does not already have another name; quite a few fedoras have famous names of their own including the famous Trilby....
-wearing adventurer, who wants to keep tourists and miners away from the mine - Jedidiah "Jed" Mason - a former miner, who wants to buy the mine and put himself back to work
Entering the mine
At the start of the game, Sally, T.J. and Gizmo arrive at the mine and ask Ranger Addy Wise for permission to go inside so they can take a photograph or two. She allows them to enter for this purpose, but they apparently decide to start hunting for the creature instead. In the first room, they meet Samual Branon Jr., who the user can make them converse with by selecting comments that appear on the screen. After the conversation ends, Sally, T.J. and Gizmo journey deeper into the mine.Platform Problems
Before any new tunnel can be entered, the lightsLight fixture
A light fixture, light fitting, or luminaire is an electrical device used to create artificial light and/or illumination, by use of an electric lamp...
must be turned on. This is done by guiding Sally over the scaffolding
Scaffolding
Scaffolding is a temporary structure used to support people and material in the construction or repair of buildings and other large structures. It is usually a modular system of metal pipes or tubes, although it can be from other materials...
to reach the lever with the correct answer to a math problem that appears at the top of the screen. Once this done, the lights usually stay on, but they do go out on occasion, requiring the user to play the "Platform Problems" activity again.
Opening the secret passage
After the first "Platform Problems" activity is completed, Sally, T.J. and Gizmo discover a secret passageSecret passage
Secret passages, also commonly referred to as hidden passages or secret tunnels, are hidden routes used for stealthy travel. Such passageways are sometimes inside buildings leading to secret rooms. Others allow occupants to enter or exit buildings without being seen...
that can only be unlocked by placing gems
Gemstone
A gemstone or gem is a piece of mineral, which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments...
in indentations shaped like each of the three different gems available. There are three activities that the user can play to collect gems, but "Platform Problems" must be played before each of them.
In the main room with the secret doorway, the user encounters two more characters, Jilian Godszolus and Jed Mason, who can be conversed with in the same way as Samual Branon.
Laser Letters
This is a spelling game, where the user is presented with a few different words, only one of which is correctly spelled. This word must be boxed in by a laser, which starts at the center of the screen. Naturally, there is something to stop the user: a robot which cuts through the laser, making it restart at the area where it was cut.So, don't forget to be careful because you have to restart it again and you will lose some points.Map Madness
This game is nearly identical to the "pirate ship" activity from the 1996 version of this game, even using an almost identical map of the world. The biggest differences are that, instead of a galleon on a parchmentParchment
Parchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin, often split. Its most common use was as a material for writing on, for documents, notes, or the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. It is distinct from leather in that parchment is limed but not tanned; therefore, it is very...
map, the user controls a mine car over a map engraved into a rock wall. Also, the enemy pirate ships are swapped for "steam clouds," the "food and supplies" for deposits of coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
needed to keep the mine car running and the treasures for gems. This version begins with a "wide view" of the entire map, the user having to "zoom in" to the "close-up view" to uncover the gems, whereas in original there was only the close-up view of the map.
Tablet Turnover
This is essentially the same game as the mummy's tomb activity in the original version of JumpStart 4th Grade. It even uses tablets the same shape and size although here, of course, the user is uncovering gems instead of Egyptian mummies. The only differences related to gameplay are that this version teaches scienceScience
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
as well as history and that, instead of resetting the puzzle when no move is possible, the user is given a new puzzle.
Looking for clues
Once the door is opened, Sally, T.J. and Gizmo fall into a canyon, which conveniently has an abandoned hot air balloonHot air balloon
The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
for them to use as transport. They also discover the monster, and Gizmo tries to capture it, but fails. A bit of its fur remains in the canine's jaws, and it actually bears a label, revealing that the creature is actually a fake. After traveling through caves and gathering enough clues, they move on to Crystal Keys and then Race Chase.
Clue Climber
The user guides T.J. up a cliff by selecting the word which is a synonymSynonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
, antonym
Antonym
In lexical semantics, opposites are words that lie in an inherently incompatible binary relationship as in the opposite pairs male : female, long : short, up : down, and precede : follow. The notion of incompatibility here refers to the fact that one word in an opposite pair entails that it is not...
or homonym
Homonym
In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that often but not necessarily share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings...
to a given word.