The Treehouse

The Treehouse is an educational game released by Broderbund software, originally in 1991 and with a windows 95 re-release in 1996.

The game consists of a series of minigame features that are accessed from the central treehouse hub. In the game, the player chooses between one of two opossum siblings and is free to explore the various hotspots that exist in the main screen. Some of these lead to small two-or three part animations. The remainder lead into separate screens with educational minigames

Minigames

The Theater

In the Theater, the player is tasked with recreating a combination of Character, Action, Setting, and Time, copying a sentence read aloud by a narrator. However, the player is free to create their own scene, which plays to a smattering of applause.

There are in total 8 characters, 8 actions, 6 settings, and four times to choose from, with additional props that may be simply added to the scene. The character has the option of saving the scene or printing out a copy.

The Keyboard

The Keyboard is a music game where the player attempts to play simple tunes from sheet music using a purple piano. The Piano's range is a standard octave and a third based on middle C. There are 24 total songs consisting of 4 measures each, pulled mostly from folk and classical tunes (e.g. London Bridge, and a Bach Minuet). These can be played on a variety of "instruments" ranging from traditional instruments (bassoon or Trumpet) to barnyard noises and a synthesizer voice.

The player may also compose her own songs one note at a time and save the score to listen to later.

The Keyboard also serves as the access to the computer level.

The Computer

The computer takes the form of a memory game in which the player must pursue a small cyclopean reptile named "Looks-a-lot" through a computer landscape complete with oversized resistors and transistors. On each screen, a sound is played and the player must choose the path that pictures the source of the sound (e.g. a dog's bark) in order to continue. Each correct guess provides the player with another note of the first measure of a song from the piano. When the player has enough notes to guess which song is playing, the opossum and Looks-a-lot meet at the entrance and do a little dance while the song plays.

The Race Track

The Race Track or "Money Game" puts the player on a game board grid representing a series of city blocks. The player rolls a die to move through the grid, trying to collect colored chips to reach a goal amount before the other player (either a computer or a second person) achieves it first.

Upon reaching a tile, the player is presented with a choice of chips presented as a More or Less problem designed to develop math skills.