Effective strategies for these games involve both offensive thinking ("What move will enable me to capture more of my opponent's pieces?") and defensive thinking ("How can I best protect my pieces from capture?"). Such strategies require skills that are important in mathematics, science, and other disciplines: planning and predicting several moves ahead, anticipating opponents' moves, reasoning about logical consequences, and keeping track of and visualizing a sometimes complex series of events ("What will the board look like if I make this move? Will I put any of my pieces in danger? Will I block my opponent's path? What is my opponent likely to do next -- and then what will the board look like?"). Each game also provides experiences with additional mathematics: Tablut and Jungle Chess involve reasoning about distances and locations on a square grid; Surakarta involves reasoning about networks and grids- content that plays an important role in many branches of computer science and engineering.

Children can play the three games against a human or computer opponent. If they play against the computer, they can choose from three levels of challenge. Even at the simplest levels, the games can be difficult, in part because of the complexity of the rules. Many children are likely to need help keeping in mind the full set of rules the first couple of times they play. Although they can access a computer-based rule demonstration at any time, they might be better off referring to the rules in the game manual if they need a reminder. That way, they don't need to view the entire demonstration each time. Alternatively, children can play the first time or two with an adult present to help them remember all the rules.

The program provides several features intended to support children's strategy development. Some children will make use of these features; others will find them somewhat irrelevant or have difficulty knowing how to use them. One such feature is the "strategy coach" which gives advice. Unfortunately, this coach is only available occasionally in a game: a light (or cloud) suddenly appears, twinkling in the background, and if the player clicks on it in a timely manner, it offers help. Another problem is that the help is sometimes too general to be of much use. For instance, in Jungle Chess, the strategy coach advised one child to play carefully so that she could capture one of her opponent's pieces in the next few moves. This didn't help her know what to do next: while she could have captured a piece if she made several good moves (and her opponent didn't), that's nearly always true with this game -- and with many strategy games.

Another strategy support feature is the "undo" button, which erases the previous move(s), and its opposite, the "redo" button which re-instates moves you've erased. This feature is useful if you don't like the move you just made or if you want to explore alternative moves. Many children, however, will simply want to play the game, and may not be eager to take the time to stop to analyze and re-do moves.

A third feature that not all children will make full use of is the choice of two opponents at each level: one who plays offensively and one who plays defensively. This feature is intended to help children become aware of different game-playing styles and to further develop their own styles. Some children who understand a game well may be interested in analyzing different strategies. Others are likely to find this feature somewhat confusing. For instance, children trying to master the rules and develop some expertise at a game may not attend to differences in game-playing styles or know how to adjust their own strategies to accommodate those of the different opponents.

This program also offers a series of short videos and accompanying information about offensive and defensive strategies that animals use in the wild. Each description of an animal strategy includes a connection (often, a rather weak one) to human game-playing. For instance, the program gives information on how bears sometimes catch fish by waiting for the fish to swim to them; the related advice for children is that sometimes the best game-playing offensive strategy is patience. The program also gives information on ways that beavers defend themselves by looking for safe places; children are advised to create their own safe places when playing games of strategy. Both pieces of advice are so general that children may not know how to make use of them when actually playing games.

Is the Game Equitable?

There's no violence, time pressure, or hand-eye coordination in the program -- features that many girls tend to avoid. The characters who serve as opponents include both genders, different ethnicities, a character in a wheelchair, and even an alien. The attractive background graphics represent the area of the world in which the game originates.

Is It a Good Game?

Computers are no substitute for person-to-person discussions of strategies. If children are playing these games on the computer with a human opponent, they can share ideas about best moves and good strategies. If children are playing alone with the computer, they can benefit from an occasional adult presence to encourage them to talk about their strategies ("How are you deciding what move to make next? How can you avoid getting captured?," offer relevant hints, and help them make use of the strategy support features that the program offers.

For a review of a related CD-ROM, see Strategy Games of the World Collection 1: Around the World.