Knowledge Adventure
| Subsidiary | |
| Founded | 1989 (as Davidson & Associates) |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles County, California, United States |
| Products |
software for CD-ROM Neopets |
| Website | KnowledgeAdventure.com |
Knowledge Adventure, Inc. is an American maker of educational software including the Adiboo and JumpStart series of grade-based and subject-based titles, such as My First Encyclopedia. It was established in the late 1980s in Los Angeles, then later merged with another large education software firm, Davidson & Associates during the late 1990s. Davidson & Associates is well-known with its line-up of Math Blaster related games, as well as developing educational software for Fisher-Price.
Until 1994, KA (their slogan in the early years is "Have fun, Get smart" and their current slogan is "Discover. Learn. Excel.™") had created DOS games, including Space Adventure, Imax's Speed, Undersea Adventure (often bundled on the same CD-ROM), 3D Dinosaur Adventure, Kid's Zoo: A Baby Animal Adventure, and 3D Body Adventure.
After the merger with Davidson & Associates, Knowledge Adventure was owned by various firms throughout several corporate mergers. Its last owner was Vivendi Universal Games, as a part of its Vivendi Games division. During that time, Knowledge Adventure released many branded games such as Dr. Brain, Barbie, Bear in the Big Blue House, Teletubbies, Noddy, Jurassic Park III, Captain Kangaroo, Curious George and American Idol.
In late 2004, Vivendi sold Knowledge Adventure to a group of investors interested in taking a more active management strategy, and in developing new educational software. The company has since released new products under both the Jumpstart and Math Blaster brands.
In 2008 Knowledge Adventure Inc. was criticized for 'cramware' in their games. For some of the extra content made with the games, a subscription was required.
On March 17, 2014, Knowledge Adventure Inc. purchased Neopets from Viacom.
Back-catalog digital re-releases
On November 25, 2014, five Knowledge Adventure titles were re-released digitally as DRM-Free exclusives on ZOOM-Platform.com through a partnership between JumpStart and the Jordan Freeman Group. The five titles included 3D Body Adventure, 3D Dinosaur Adventure, Dinosaur Adventure (Original), Space Adventure, and Undersea Adventure.
On March 6, 2015, another Knowledge Adventure title, Bug Adventure, was re-released digitally as a DRM-Free exclusive on ZOOM-Platform.com. This title was also released through the partnership between JumpStart and the Jordan Freeman Group. ZOOM-Platform.com indicated the game was released due to the "incredible reaction" they got to the first batch of Knowledge Adventure titles.[1]
Logo
Knowledge Adventure's logo in their early years (1992–1997, 1998) showed a gray figure juggling a sun, a purple/blue planet, and a teal-green planet with a white crescent on its base, all in a purple and green rectangle in outer space. An animated version of the logo was introduced in 1996, which later made a surprise appearance on JumpStart Typing. The current one shows a blue rectangle with 3 steps with a 5-point star at the corner. A white figure climbs the steps and touches the star.
References
External links
- Knowledge Adventure website
- JumpStart website
- Math Blaster website
- JumpStart World website
- "Make Learning an Adventure" - article about Knowledge Adventure article at apple.com
- Official Neopets Website