Whenever somebody asked my daughter what she wanted for Christmas this year, she would immediately respond with, “A push-me popper!” Apparently what she was referring to is one of those old corn-popper toys that they’ve had around forever. About a week before Christmas, I asked again, just to make sure we weren’t missing something important (by this point I’m sure we’d already bought her half of Toys’R’Us). Sure enough, she told me she wanted a push-me popper and a baby brother. I told her that Santa shouldn’t have any problem bringing her a push-me popper, but if she wanted a baby brother she was going to have to start going to bed on time.


The next best thing to tying a bell around her neck.

We compromised and she got a LeapFrog ClickStart instead. Bedtime be damned!

My fellow old school gamers should immediately feel familiar with this concept from our C64/Atari days. Personally, I had an old Tandy color computer console. The ClickStart is a console with a wireless keyboard/mouse attachment that plugs directly into the television screen. When you first turn it on, it asks you to set up a profile and then gives you some fun intro screen about a green dog named Scout, who is your pet and guide. Disturbingly enough, he’s also the face you stare at whenever looking down at your keyboard. That’s right folks, the ClickStart teaches your young child to type on the faces of puppies.


No assembly required!

What would any console be without a nice game selection? While the ClickStart doesn’t necessarily have an expansive game selection, it at least has game licenses that she’s familiar with. The ones we picked up were Disney Princesses, Diego, Backyardigans and some Learning Carnival game.

Upon first inspection, I swiftly realized that you get what you pay for. While trying to figure out why it refused to work in a television hooked up to cable, I read a lot of reviews saying that the mouse was faulty. I haven’t had this issue yet, but I’m sure after it gets thrown in fits of rage and frustration a few times it’ll begin to show symptoms of failure.

The games look okay. The voices aren’t bad and the colors are nice and bright, it’s just not the high resolution that I’m so spoiled by these days. What kills me is the boring game play. I realize that it’s “funducational” or whatever the hell that thing is, but damn is it like pulling teeth. I haven’t had much exposure to it yet, just the games that come installed in the console and the Ariel games from the Disney Princess cartridge. I was pleasantly surprised that booger didn’t have any trouble navigating the keyboard to find the letters she was supposed to type, but I’m thinking of sticking to flashcards for purposes of letters and words. It’s just more fun if I get to be involved.

With the excitement of Christmas and a crap-ton of goodies from some fat guy with a stag fetish, I don’t think her new games have held her interest for more than an hour. I’m not surprised, it’s only been a couple of days and it has to compete with a remote control dinosaur, a dollhouse and an art easel. However, I’d say that it’s worth the investment if you’re looking for something to kill the time.


Even helps with math homework!

If anybody would like me to go through and review the individual games, let me know and I’ll get on it. Otherwise I’ll return you to your regularly scheduled dribble.

On a side note, do NOT play Fallout 3 while your animal loving daughter is awake. There’s nothing quite like the flood of shame and guilt when you just finished setting up VATS to unload a clip of 10mm ammo into the head of an oncoming ferocious doggy, hit the action button, then watch in horror as your daughter comes in to see what you’re playing and stares in silent awe as Old Yeller’s head goes flying off in slow motion, leaving only a bloody stump where his neck used to be. NOT my best daddy moment… probably not my worst.


Not a dog, use your damned imagination.