JumpStart Typing (Windows)

Pepp 2024-02-28 0 point

i remember playing this for hours at primary school computer classes. so much fun.

ItsFlashMF 2023-07-20 0 point

The whole jumpstart series is abandonware. i notice that at some point after 2021 these titles were given the buy online option but that option is no longer available. could you re-upload these? maybe include the quicktime installations people are mentioning? i appreciated these games as a child and would like to be capable of passing them on to my own children. this one was my favorite :p

Pearlite 2021-08-05 0 point

I downloaded the QuickTime that Androski indicated, and now the game works just fine for me. Thanks!

Here's some of my stories about this game. JumpStart Typing is designed to teach touch-typing by using muscle-memory drills. When I was a little kid, I found that boring and difficult. I actually learned how to type quickly thanks to a misspent youth in online chatrooms where every post was like writing a miniature essay. As an adult I appreciate it a little more because I can touch-type, but not so well in the dark. I have a bad habit of tapping the key adjacent to the one I want to use. My muscle-memory knows where the keys are, but my fingers must've gotten lost on the keyboard.

To charge a power card, you have to pass a timed typing test. The way power card goals are calculated involves taking an introductory diagnostic, and then each power card is either 2 or 3 WPM above the previous one, until you have to type about 17 WPM faster than your original speed to activate the last card. As an adult, my natural speed is already pretty fast, and I can barely go 17 WPM faster than that unless I'm in a real hurry. To make things easier on me, I "cheat" by deliberately under-performing on the diagnostic so the I can hit the power card goals without rushing. I certainly haven't heard Polly complain about my strategy to free the coach.

Regarding medals, the type of medal you're awarded in each game is not necessarily linked to your performance, but how high your strength bar is when you finish. If the bar is full, you get a gold. If the bar is empty, you get a lower medal. Even if you play a perfect game, if you walked into the game with a less-than-full strength bar, you're not going to be awarded a gold. But it doesn't matter what kind of medal you earn anyway because Botley passes them out like candy.

One goofy thing I once did was mess around with the text files that generate the lines for the timed typing tests. On the disk, you'll see a group of files named "ML01X.txt". Then, after turning off the "read only" setting, I erased the lines inside the file and wrote my own. The timed typing test then generated my lines. The game rotates which text file it reads from, and the lines aren't always generated in order. It also glitched because the lines ran off the page and were unreadable, but since I knew what I'd written there I typed it just fine anyway. This "hack" is not guaranteed, so do it at your own risk, and back those files up just in case.

Androski 2020-09-18 1 point

The rest of the game is working, but most of the minigames are not (except the rock climbing one). Any ideas?

Androski 2020-09-18 1 point

Found a fix, I went with Quicktime 4.0 instead, no compatibility issue with installing and game's working fine now.

http://www.oldversion.com/windows/download/quicktime-4-0

Androski 2020-09-18 1 point

Jugnel, I made it as far as installing the game and opening the .iso on a virtual disc drive, but I get the "unable to create window" error when I click Play. I tried installing the Quicktime 3 but even running in compatibility mode for windows xp it gives the unsupported 16-bit application error: "The program or feature cannot start or run due to incompatibiltiy with 64-bit versions of Windows. Please contact the software vendor to ask if a 64-bit Windows compatible version is available."

Any other solutions?

Jugnel 2020-08-17 0 point

Hey guys, so if any of you are getting the "unable to create window" error, you need to install a really old version of QuickTime. For whatever reason the QuickTime installation is not provided in the ISO. QuickTime version 3 worked for me, I was able to get it from here:
http://www.oldversion.com/windows/download/quicktime-3-0

Jugnel 2020-08-17 0 point

Hey guys, so if any of you are getting the "unable to create window" error, you need to install a really old version of QuickTime. For whatever reason the QuickTime installation is provided in the ISO. QuickTime version 3 worked for me, I was able to get it from here:
http://www.oldversion.com/windows/download/quicktime-3-0

Kemosabe 2020-05-27 3 points

I'm having an issue with this game. I've tried running it on virtualbox windows XP and several other windows versions, and am told that the window cannot be created. Nothing I can find online is helping.

Pearlite 2019-09-23 2 points

I'm surprised to see this game here. I never expected to actually find it ever again. Unfortunately, I downloaded it, and unlike other classic JumpStart titles, which are robust and relatively forward-compatible, I cannot get this game to run on my machine.

I remember this little typing game as a relic of a time when extreme sports justified anything. Having the cast of JumpStart 3rd Grade in it justifies it for me. But I also remember being able to "win" without actually leaving the typing center or playing any of the typing games, because it's only the power cards that count, story-wise. I'm still impressed that a small eight-year-old girl was able to subdue a grown man and lock him in a closet.