JumpStart Games, Inc., formerly Knowledge Adventure, Inc., is an American

edutainment Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainment ...

video game company based in

Torrance, California Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...

. Founded in 1991, it owns the ''

Neopets ''Neopets'' is a virtual pet website. Users can own virtual pets ("Neopets") and buy virtual items for them using one of two virtual currencies. One currency, called Neopoints, can be earned within the site, and the other, Neocash, can eithe ...

'' virtual pet website, and is itself owned by Chinese holding company

NetDragon Websoft NetDragon Websoft is a Chinese company that develops and operates massively multiplayer online games in addition to making mobile applications. The company debuted its first product in 2002. Some self-developed games it operates in China are base ...

History

Until 1994, Knowledge Adventure had created DOS games, including ''Knowledge Adventure The Game'', ''

Isaac Asimov yi, יצחק אזימאװ , birth_date = , birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR , spouse = , relatives = , children = 2 , death_date = , death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. , nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...

's Science Adventure'', ''Space Adventure'', ''Mario Teaches Typing'', ''Mario Is Missing!'', ''San Diego Zoo Presents: The Animals!'', ''Dinosaur Adventure'', ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', ''Mario's Time Machine'', ''Mario's Early Years! Fun with Letters'', ''Mario's Early Years! Fun with Numbers'', ''Imax's Speed (1984 film), Speed'', ''Undersea Adventure'', ''3D Dinosaur Adventure'', ''Isaac Asimov's Science Adventure II'', ''Kid's Zoo: A Baby Animal Adventure'', ''3D Body Adventure'', ''Space Adventure II'', ''Aviation Adventure'', ''America Adventure'', ''Bug Adventure'', ''The Discoverers (video game), Imax's The Discoverers'', ''Mario's Early Years! Preschool Fun'', ''Magic Theater'', ''My First Encyclopedia'', ''Zurk's Learning Safari'', ''Zurk's Rainforest Lab'', ''Zurk's Alaskan Trek'', ''Mario's Game Gallery, Mario's Fundamentals'', ''Mario's Early Years! Kindergarten Fun'', ''Pyramid: Challenge of the Pharaoh's Dream'', ''Chess Mates'', ''Bricks the Ultimate Construction Toy!'', ''Flipper'', ''Drawing Discoveries'', ''Mario Teachers Typing 2'', ''Kid Keys: The Magical Typing Tutor'', ''Kid Pilots'', ''Dinosaur Adventure 3-D'', ''Lionel Trains Presents: Trans-Con!''. On November 5, 1996, CUC International announced that it would acquire Knowledge Adventure and was completed on February 3, 1997, its Davidson & Associates subsidiary that CUC acquired in February 1996 will later merge with Knowledge Adventure in October 1998. On May 28, 1997, CUC International announced plans to merge with Hospitality Franchise Systems to create a single, "one-stop" entity. The merger was finalized in December that year and created Cendant. As a result of the merger, CUC Software was renamed Cendant Software. On November 20, 1998, French media company Havas (later acquired by water utility Vivendi) announced that it would acquire Cendant Software for in cash and up to contingent on the performance of Cendant Software. Subsequently, the division was renamed Havas Interactive. During that time, Knowledge Adventure released many branded games such as ''JumpStart'', ''Dr. Brain'', ''Fisher-Price'', ''Barbie'', ''Bear in the Big Blue House'', ''Blaster Learning System, Blaster'', ''Teletubbies'', ''Noddy (character), Noddy'', ''Jurassic Park III: Dino Defender, Jurassic Park III'', ''Captain Kangaroo'', ''Curious George (video game), Curious George'' and ''American Idol''. In October 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 October 2012, Knowledge Adventure changed its name to JumpStart Games. On March 17, 2014, JumpStart Games purchased

from Viacom (2005–present), Viacom. On July 7, 2017, JumpStart Games was acquired by Chinese online game publisher

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 Games 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.

References

{{Reflist Educational software companies Software companies based in California Video game companies of the United States Video game companies established in 1991 Video game development companies Companies based in Torrance, California Former Vivendi subsidiaries 2017 mergers and acquisitions