Lots of games claim to be "for all ages." Travelrama USA succeeds. Up to four players race each other around the US, collecting postcards randomly assigned from a pool of over 600. The rules are elegantly simple, yet there are enough odd twists and wild cards to make the game play different every time.
Peter Maresca and team have put together an appealing mix of amusingly hokey sound effects, charming postcards (old and new), and graphics in the style of illustrations on paper placemats for roadside diners in the '50s. The result is a fun way to learn all sorts of facts about geography and culture. Where is Monument Valley, anyway? If you aren't sure, you might be able to find it in the handy "album."
I sat down for a quick look at new CD-ROM titles with a group of adults, and two hours later we were still hooked on Travelrama . Then I played it with a girl 7 years old, who loved it and wanted to read the information on the back of all the postcards. That a wide range of players can enjoy this game together is no accident.
Adjusting the playing field to fit each player's level of skill is one of the neater tricks computer technology can bring to the social aspect of game design. If I have played the game more often than the people I sit down to play it with, if I am older than they are, or just the kind of guy who memorized every state capital in the fifth grade and still remembers that kind of stuff, I can opt for a "drivers license" while they take a "learners permit." In various subtle ways the game will alter things to give me more of a challenge. Seven-year-old Chloe could peek to see which state she'd have to visit to collect a postcard showing Niagara Falls, but when I tried to do the same with the Buddy Holly Memorial, I found I was on my own.
When she made it back to her home base in Ohio while I was was still some distance from my own starting place in Florida, we both felt she had beaten me fair and square.
As Apple remolds itself into a software company, it could do worse than to produce a lot more titles like this. (p.s. The Buddy Holly Memorial is in north Texas).
Travelrama USA for Mac and PC:US$39.95. Zenda Studio: +1 (415) 777 9896
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Travelrama USA
