Money Town Version 1.0
A Pygg In A Park???
A Review of Money Town Version 1.0
Colin Steeksma
A personal belief of mine (having worked in the banking industry for
ten years) is that people in general have little knowledge of basic
finances: making change, estimating costs, budgeting and saving for
future needs and wants. How do you improve the situation? Teach the
kids and they’ll grow up with those skills. Apparently the people at
Davidson Software would agree. They have created an educational game
called “Moneytown” for kids that helps them learn all of these skills
in an extremely accessible and fun manner.
Kids won’t be the only ones learning, either, as I found out quickly.
If you first bring up the “Guide to Moneytown”, you will see a guide
for parents which includes five mini-seminars by Neale Godfrey. Ms
Godfrey is the chairperson of the Children’s Financial Network, mother
of two, and an expert on family finances, having appeared on many TV
shows such as Oprah, Good Morning America, and Today. The seminars
cover items like “Children need to be fluent in finances”, Money and
Children Ages 5-9″, and “Tips for Parents”; all very informative and
useful if applied to your family.
When ready to play, click on the Moneytown icon, and you will see
colorful cartoon graphics depicting (what else?) a little town. In the
centre of the town is a Money Tree. If you are unsure what to do next,
simply wait, and an owly character called Mr. Possibility pops up and
tells you. He introduces you to 5 characters: Buck, Small Change,
Penny Bright, Ona Budget, and Short Cut. Each character lives in a
house in Moneytown, each has their own particular song and activity
associated with them.
Here is the story: Greenstreet Park in Moneytown has fallen into
disrepair and is now closed. No one wants it to be closed, so your job
is to earn money to open it back up. How you do that is by visiting
each characters residence and playing the games found there.
For example, visit Buck’s house, and you will see him in his room. You
can click on various articles in the room, and they will make a funny
movement and sound. If you click on his toy truck, it will play his
song. Once in a while, Buck will ask you if you want to play football.
This of course is a clue. Click on his football and you go to play
Kick It, a game in which Buck is kicking a field goal with your help.
The object of the game is for you to identify coins displayed. If you
do so correctly, Buck kicks a field goal and you “earn” the value of
those coins. When you are ready to move on, click on the piggy bank
icon displayed at the bottom of the screen, and “Short Cut” will
deposit your earnings in the piggy bank. You’re on your way to saving
the park! Click on a door at the bottom of the screeen to move on.
Some of the other games are:
“Vac it Up”, where “Small Change” (a cartoon mouse) cleans up the rug
outside his mousehole and finds money for you, with the everpresent
danger of a dustball running interference.
“Change Up”, where you must beat The Decision Street Birds who are
filling up a moneychanger that displays, for example, two pennies, a
dime, and a missing coin. You must click on the correct button of the
cash register to make up the total. In this example, if the total was
.17 cents, you would click on the nickel key. The birds go fast, and
if they fill up the moneychanger with unsolved lines before you
identify them, they win and you get no money.
“The Penny Bright Show” (my personal favorite), where Penny Bright
hosts a game show with questions to answer. You receive prize money
according to the level of difficulty, which of course ends up in your
piggy bank. This is fun even for adults.
Each game can be played at three levels of skill, ranging from (in my
estimation) very young children, possibly 4 and 5 year olds, to almost
adult. I learned a few things myself, such as: Did you know that the
reason we call them piggybanks is because originally they were made
from a type of clay called “pygg”. The shape came later!
In each area there is a coin shaped fellow called “Common Sense” who
will supply you with or expand on all kinds of facts when you click on
him. There are also some running sight gags throughout the game
between the different residences.
Once you’ve earned some money, you visit the Money Tree,check ytour
total earnings, and see what you can buy for the park. Then when you
visit the park, you’ll see that the things you bought have appeared
there.
I loved this concept overall, especially the lessons learned about the
real worth of money (ultimately you are saving money not for yourself
but for a good cause), but there were some minor annoying features of
the game and some technical problems I encountered while playing.
The characters voices sounded “hokey”; I feel they could have been
more original, with the exception of Mr. Possibility’s voice- his was
good. The songs sounded somewhat forced in the writing- which may be
understandable given the parameters of the characters which they are
supposed to be representing. The characters responses to various
clicks on articles could have been expanded. Especially annoying is
Penny Bright’s response of “I knew that!” to correct answers in the
Money Quiz. What is this teaching kids?
Technically, the computer I was using could not seem to synchronize
the video and audio, especially during the mini-seminars in the
starting guide. I also experienced hang-ups in 2 of the 5 games, and
couldn’t complete them. In fairness to the company, they do have a
technical support line listed, that I’m sure would have been able to
fix it for me, had I called them. On the other hand, I like to be able
to buy a program, install it and run it with no problems. Especially
when it is for my kids.
I’d definitely recommwend buying it, but perhaps wait for the next
version.
School House Scorecard
| Product: | Money Town Version 1.0 |
| Company: | Davidson & Associates Inc / Simon & Schuster |
| Cost: | Not Available |
System Requirements:
486/33 MHz IBM or compatible,
minimum 4Mg of memory, Microsoft Windows 3.1 or higher,
1MB free on your hard drive, Windows compatible sound card,
and doublespeed CD-ROM drive.
Breakdown:
Ease of Use 3
Learning Value 5
Entertainment Value 4
Graphics 3
Sound 4
Overall Score:
(* 0 rating, 0 votes)
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