Edmark’s Early Learning House series
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! (No Japanese Hepburn romanization for this post, sorry!)
Hello, everybody, and happy Teacher Appreciation Week! Since I’ve reviewed non-educational video games, I’ve decided to give this one a treatment on Substack this week. Ready? Go!
The first order of business is Millie’s Math House, released in October 1992 (enhanced in August 1995) and starring the female anthropomorphic cow Millie. It primarily focuses on counting, quantities, and simple figures divided into nine different activities (seven in earlier versions and six in the first version). Millie wears an orange shirt, blue jeans with cuffs, white socks, and black Mary Jane shoes.
Bailey’s Book House was released in June 1993 and stars the male anthropomorphic cat Bailey. It primarily focuses on reading, playing with words, and phonics, divided into nine different activities (seven in earlier versions and five in the first version).
Bailey is a male gray cat wearing a red baseball cap, glasses, an azure blue T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and red Converse-inspired sneakers that are always untied. The Converse logo on his sneakers is black in all of the games (including the official art, in contrast to the white Converse logo in both real life and in fiction). He lacks a tail, as opposed to the majority of anthropomorphic cats and catgirls.
Sammy’s Science House was released on July 1, 1994, and stars the male snake Sammy. It primarily focuses on biology, experiments, and matter, divided into seven activities (five in earlier versions). The Windows 95 version of the game was shipped on July 31, 1995.
The next one up is Trudy’s Time and Place House, which was released in September 1995 and stars the female anthropomorphic crocodile Trudy (I hope you’re not watching The Crocodile Hunter on Hulu or the film on Paramount+!). It primarily focuses on geography, simulation, and time, divided into seven activities (five in earlier versions). Trudy is a female crocodile wearing a pink jumper (albeit without a shirt) and yellow Chuck Taylor-inspired sneakers. She has a bandage on her left leg.
Stanley’s Sticker Stories stars the sea otter Stanley, clad in a pair of glasses, a blue striped T-shirt, gray shorts, and yellow Chuck Taylor-inspired sneakers. The game features characters from various House series. It is the fifth game in Edmark’s Early Learning Family of educational games designed for young children, released in the summer of 1996. The interface is point-and-click and click-and-drag, and instructions are given verbally when the mouse is rested over an icon.
Sadly, I never played Stanley’s Sticker Stories… or have never heard of it. Since I’m on a modern Mac, I can’t get it to work, not even a single playable game on the Internet Archive, which I use for looking at the past. If I can get an old iBook G3 Clamshell shipped with Mac OS 9 or 9.2 — doesn’t matter which color — then I can get it to work.
Remember, kids: Take care of your siblings, listen to your parents (or legal guardians), and don’t forget to stay in school! And more importantly…
