Logical Journey of the Zoombinis

Overview

The Logical Journey of the Zoombinis is an educational game for the PC and the Mac that has players guiding Zoombinis from an island ruled by evil overlords. They make their escape across an ocean to a new mainland, where they must find a place for a new homeland. There are 12 puzzles on the journey to Zoombiniville, that increase in difficulty as they are beaten. You can take 16 Zoombinis with you at a time, and puzzles use them as fodder. For example, in the puzzle where you make a crazy troll (or trolls) a pizza that they like, if you fail to create a pizza they like after a certain amount of time, they give one of the Zoombinis a nice big punch, sending him back to the island. The first time you get 16 Zoombinis through a section of the game, a building is erected in your honor in the new city of Zoombiniville. Once a total of 625 Zoombinis have been taken to safety (2 of all possible combinations of Zoombini characteristics), the game is won.

Puzzles

Allergic Cliffs

The first puzzle has two bridges separating two cliffs. Each bridge has a face carved into stone underneath them. You must select one of the two bridges for your chosen Zoombini to cross, if you choose the wrong bridge the face will have an allergic reaction knocking a Zoombini back and knocking one of the six pegs out that are holding the bridges up, if all six of the pegs come loose then the bridges collapse and the Zoombinis that are left on the wrong side do no make it through the puzzle.

Stone Cold Caves

In this puzzle there are 4 cave entrances which have paths leading up to them, each path is defended by two stone guardians which will only let a Zoombini pass if they have the right facial characteristics. If the wrong path is chosen the Zoombini is knocked back down the path, if too many Zoombinis fail then a rock slide occurs due to the guardians blocking the cave entrances from the remaining Zoombinis.

Pizza Pass

Three guardians (depending on difficulty) are blocking the pass, Arno, Willa and Shyler, and next to them is a pizza making machine which has multiple different topping options. The Zoombini must make a unique pizza for each troll that they are happy with, if they are unhappy with the pizza they thrown it in the pit and knock the Zoombini back, eventually the Zoombini will get knocked all the way back to the island and out of the game. Once all three trolls are satisfied the rest of the Zoombinis can pass.

Captain Cajun's Ferryboat

Captain Cajun will take the Zoombinis on his ferry across the river, but only if they can all sit in an appropriate place on the boat. The boat has enough seats for all the Zoombinis but they can only sit next to another Zoombini which they share at least one characteristic which. If they don't then the captain will eject them of the ship.

Titanic Tattooed Toads

This part of the river is inhabited by tattooed toads and lilly pads with those same tattoos. The Zoombinis much choose a toad to ride across the lilly pads, but the toad can only travel over lilly pads with the same shape, color or pattern as itself. The same toad cannot be used twice in a row, and if the toad takes the wrong path they will be stuck in the middle of the river with no escape.

Stone Rise

This puzzle is similar to Captain Cajun's Ferryboat. Zoombinis must sit on a stone bench in pairs where they share a characteristic, but this time the characteristic is etched into the stone behind them. Once all Zoombinis have a pair to sit with the stones will activate and lift them up out of the riverbed so they can continue their journey.

Fleens!

The Zoombinis come face to face with their "cousins" the Fleens. The Fleens are occupying a branch on a tree and must be lured away by one of your Zoombinis with a similar characteristic, if the right Zoombini is chosen then the the Fleen will chase it until it escapes onto a different branch. This branch can only hold six Zoombinis on it a time, when a seventh one is added the first one will fall off and be chased away by a Fleen. If the original three Fleens get taken off the tree branch then a bee hive will fall down scaring away the remaining Fleens.

Didimension Hotel / Hotel Dimensia

This puzzle see a tree hotel run by a musical squirrel who is starting to close up the hotel for the night. The Zoombinis must find a seat to fill in the hotel regarding to one of its characteristics, if a Zoombini sits in the wrong sit it will fall out and 5 more minutes will pass on a clock. Once enough mistakes are made it will eventually be midnight and the Zoombinis who didn't make it into the hotel will be left out for the night and for the game.

Mudball Wall

A large stone wall is unfortunately in the way of the Zoombinis, there is a catapult and a machine that created colored and shaped mudballs. The Zoombinis must fire certain mudballs at locations on the wall, if they get it correct, one, two or three Zoombinis will get catapulted over the wall. Once all the mud in the machine runs out the rest of the Zoombinis who didn't make it will be stranded.

The Lions Lair

In this dark cave there is a stone Lion guarding the path. Underneath the lion is a pathway with 16 stones, the Zoombinis must fill these stones depending on their characteristics. If a Zoombini fills the wrong place they will be teleported to the correct place but one of the stone pegs holding up the exit gate pops out making it closer to closing. Once all the pegs are lost the remaining Zoombinis can not continue.

Mirror Machine

This puzzle contains a set of glass panes, each has an image of a Zoombini. A matching Zoombini has to be paired with the glass pane. If it's correct then the Zoombini and the glass pane will be projected onto a large pendulum. If the pendulum is even then the Zoombini on it can pass, if they get it wrong the pendulum will tilt down dropping the Zoombini.

Bubblewonder Abyss

The final puzzles uses a bubble machine to transport individual Zoombinis from one side of a maze to the other. Once the Zoombini has chosen a route through the maze the player has no control over them, they will either make it to the other side or their bubble could get popped by various traps which will drop them into the Abyss.

All the Zoombinis who survive the Bubblewonder Abyss will make it their goal of Zoombiniville. Once more Zoombinis make it to Zoombiniville it will get more populate, and if 16 Zoombinis make it through one of the puzzles a special building will be constructed in Zoombiniville, those buildings are:

• 

  Band shell
• Windmill
• General store
• Swimming pool
• Clock tower
• Bowling alley
• Fire station
• Opera house
• Paper clip museum
• Court house
• Monument
• School
• City hall
• Library
• Observatory
• Playground

Branching path

During the game the player is presented with a choice of two branching paths. After the Pizza Pass puzzle the Zoombinis will make it to Shelter Rock, the first campsite. If the player has 16 Zoombinis they can take one of the two paths, if they don't have enough Zoombinis they can store them at the campsite and get more later. One of the paths leads through the following three puzzles; Captain Cajun's Ferryboat, Titanic Tattooed Toads and Stone Rise, the other path leads through the following puzzles; Fleens!, Didimension Hotel / Hotel Dimensia and Mudball Wall. These two separate paths will eventually lead to the second campsite, Shade Tree. At this final campsite there is only one path which leads to the final 3 puzzles.