Quarky and Quaysoo’s Turbo Science is a great game from Sierra’s now defunct Discovery Series. In this game, you are part of a racing team called Los Turbos, the other members of which are the space aliens Quarky and Quaysoo.
Your goal is to win the Turbo Science Championship by winning as many races as possible across a map filled with interesting locations. In a race, some of these locations are chosen to be checkpoints, all of which you must stop at to answer science questions.
There is a wide variety of checkpoint locations, such as a construction site, an air show, a carnival, a sunny beach, or a campground. At each checkpoint, you are treated to a view of the site and are asked science questions related to what is happening in the scene. By answering questions, you are awarded money in order to buy a form of transportation to the next checkpoint. The more money you have, the faster the transportation you can buy. Each race gets progressively harder, with tougher, faster opponents, more checkpoints, and more expensive transportation.
Although it seems this game is about speed, during any question you are allowed to take a “timeout for research,” in order to look up information that you
do not know. During this time you use the research guide, which is included with boxed copies of the game. The book is filled with explanations of scientific concepts using great visuals and fun characters. The book does not give specific answers to the questions, but teaches the knowledge necessary in order to answer the questions correctly.
The game encourages taking timeouts by allowing an unlimited number of them. The questions cover a broad range of scientific concepts, including energy, light, pressure, friction, flight, the laws of motion, and famous scientists.
Each location in the game focuses on a certain concept. For example, the air show deals mainly with questions about flight.
The game lets you choose between easy questions appropriate for students aged 9-11, and harder questions for students aged 12-14. The developers did an amazing job making a wide variety of scenes in which everything in the picture relates with science in some way. This teaches that science is important in everyday life. There are also fun animations as rewards. After answering a question correctly, Quarky or Quaysoo will treat you to an animation praising your efforts.
When I was eight years old, my favorite animations were of the man who waves the flag at the end of the race. As you win more races, the man gets more and more “into” waving the flag, eventually going over the top and getting really hilarious. Overall, Turbo Science is a prime example of a high-quality educational game, which sadly, you just can’t find anymore.
