My boys, Nikolai (age 8) and Caleb (age 5), are big fans of I Spy books and computer games--especially the computer games, which are by their nature more immersive and interactive. So when we were handed the I Spy Treasure Hunt for LeapFrogs’s Leapster2 (NOTE: Works with all Leapster systems) I thought, “Excellent, now we have a traveling version of the game.” Then I remembered my one issue with the Leapster2 gaming system and that is it’s low resolution LCD screen. How in the world are the boys, or anyone for that matter, going to be able to spy the items described by the I Spy Riddles? Well the game designers thought of that. To find out how, and more about the game, please continue reading.

Welcome to Smuggler’s Cove

Like most I Spy computer/video games, I Spy Treasure Hunt is a themed scavenger hunt of sorts. This hunt takes place in Smuggler’s Cove, where three legendary pirates have hidden their treasures. To locate the treasures, the player must follow the riddles/clues on the treasure maps. To view the treasure maps, the player must assemble it from nine separate pieces. To collect the pieces of the map, the player must successfully complete nine I Spy Riddles/games, one for each piece of the map.

Grab Your Shovel and Compass

I Spy Treasure Hunt is geared towards 1st-3rd graders (ages 6-9) and is designed to engage the child in critical thinking, problem solving, logic, reading, memory building, spatial discrimination, and reasoning. To do this, the player is challenged with 5 different types of games. First there are the classic I Spy Riddles, where clues are given to items hidden in a picture and the player must ‘spy’ the items. Then there is the Rock the Boat game, where the player is challenged to build a boat before time runs out. Pieces for the boat fall from above and the player must rotate and move the pieces into the proper spots (think Tetris) in order to build the boat. Next there is Orders Up!, where the player is given a food order for say, a hamburger with toppings, and the player must memorize the order,then build and complete it from memory. Next there are the Underwater Bins, where the player must match similar objects based on their number, shape, rhyme, color, etc. Finally, there are the Treasure Hunts, which occur after the player has collected all nine treasure map pieces to complete the map. Here the player follows the Riddles/clues to search all over Smuggler’s Cove to find the Treasure. With nine map pieces required for each of three hidden treasures, you can see how this I Spy Treasure Hunt is not likely to be solved and completed in an afternoon.

Hand Me My Spyglass

I Spy Treasure Hunt game play on the Leapster2 was actually quite pleasant. Nice graphics and cool sound effects with lots of ‘tap on’ interactive effects. My concerns with being able to ‘spy’ items on the screen with the low resolution Leapster2 LCD screen were abated by the zoom with pan and scan functions that the game designers were thoughtful to include. In other words, screen resolution is not an issue.

Finally, because this game is played on LeapFrog’s Leapster2, children can, with their parents’ help, connect the gaming system to their computers to collect and download rewards as well as allow the parents track their child’s progress.

Overall Impression

I Spy Treasure Hunt is designed for the older kids playing with the Leapster2 systems, and should keep them hunting and engaged for a while, allowing them to possibly pick up a new skill or two along the way. So with that in mind, Nikolai has decided to give the game 100 out of 100 Thumbs Up, because though the game is challenging, it has a lot of game playing variety beyond regular old “I Spy”. Caleb says the game deserves 10 out of 10 Stars because “it’s just a fun game.” As for me, I found the aesthetics of the game charming and the fact that it challenged the mind rather than the trigger finger a pleasant change. So I’m giving the game 7 out of 8 Dancing Elephants.

Parting Thoughts

Why is it kids that kids can spend hours playing I Spy games and never tire of them, but when you ask them to find their shoes in the morning after one minute of searching they determine that the mission is nigh impossible?