Minimum System Requirements for the Blue's ABC Time Demo CD-ROM Macintosh CD-ROM
System 7.1 or higher
PowerPC (80Mhz+ recommended)
10 MB Hard drive space available
16 MB of RAM (10MB free)
640x480 8 bit video
CD-ROM drive

Installation and Troubleshooting
There is nothing to install on a Mac.  Place the disc in the CDROM drive and wait for the icon to appear on the desktop. 

If you are having trouble first check to make sure you meet the requirements for the program.  These games are written to run with System 7.1 or higher.  This game requires a Power PC processor (80Mhz+ recommended), 16MB RAM, 10 MB available hard drive space and a quad speed (or faster) CD-ROM drive.  Make sure your system meets these requirements.

Check to see what the size of the largest unused block of memory is; there should be as close as possible to 10MB available for our game.  Click on the Apple in the upper left hand corner of your screen and then About This Macintosh to see this information.  

If this doesn't solve the problem click on the Apple again and then Control Panel and Memory.  Check for these settings:

Virtual memory = OFF
32-bit addressing or Modern Memory Management = ON RAM disk = OFF
Disk caching = 256k

Once all this is set, restart the system and try the game again.  If the problem was insufficient memory or incorrect memory configuration the game should run without problem.

If not, the last thing to look for is an extension conflict.  Click on the Apple, Control Panel and Extensions Manager.  Turn OFF all extensions EXCEPT Apple CDROM and Quicktime.  Restart the system and play the game.  If it now plays without problem you have an extension conflict.  To narrow it down to the culprit go back into the Extensions Manager and add back extensions in groups of 3-4, restart the system each time and play the game.  Once you encounter the problems you'll simply need to figure out which particular extension (by the same method) it is and then remove that permanently or remember to turn it off before trying to play our games.

It's also possible that something in the preferences folder has become corrupted.  You can take care of this by opening the System folder, then opening the Preferences folder.  Inside that folder find the Humongous Entertainment folder and drag it to the trash.  Restart the system and try the game again.

Starting the Demo
To start the demo, insert the game CD-ROM into the CD-ROM drive.  When the demo icon appears on the desktop double click it.  Click the Kid's Section button to play the demos, the Parent's Section button to see the slide show, Online Links to access the Web links or the Quit button to quit without doing anything. 

How to Use the Blue's Clues Demo

The Controls

Using the Mouse
Point and click to find clues and play the activities with Blue and her friends!  As you move the mouse around the screen, the pointer changes to reflect the type of action it will perform when clicked.

A clear arrow is the standard pointer in the game.  When you see the empty outline, it means the arrow is not pointing at an object or character that can be activated.

Pay attention when you see the pointer turn solid.  It means that the object or character you are pointing at can be picked up, used, or activated.

A large arrow indicates the entrance to or exit from a room or activity. 

NOTE:  It may be difficult for very young children to use a standard size mouse.  We suggest a child-sized mouse or some other device, like an EasyBall.

Blue's ABC Time Activities
There are seven activities in Blue's ABC Time Activities, including one where you create stories with the words you collect while playing the other six!  The activities include Alphabet Maze, Bathtime Rhymes, Felt Friend's Word Puzzles, Mailtime, Safari Snapshots and Snacktime.  Each one is designed to help build early vocabulary and pre-reading skills.

Each time you successfully complete an activity you'll collect one letter toward a word for Blue's Word Book.  You may have to repeat an activity three or four times to complete one word but you can play all of them again and again.  Some of the activities have multiple difficulty levels that automatically adjust as you play to continually challenge.

Since the demo is only a small portion of the full game you won't see all of the activities.  The demo is intended to give you an overview of what the game is about and how it works.  See the Parents' Section for more information.

In the Blue's ABC Time Activities Demo you can play one of the seven activities, Bathtime Rhymes.  The demo version of this activity has no difficulty level adjustment.

ABC Time Activity:
Bathtime Rhymes: Slippery Soap needs your help to make some rhymes!  In this activity, Blue stirs up the suds in the tub and four bubbles with pictures in them rise above her.  Slippery will tell you the name of each picture.  Click on one of the bubbles and Slippery will start a rhyme.  Then Blue will splash four more bubbles out of her tub so you can find a word to finish the rhyme!  To hear a word again move your cursor over the bubble and Slippery will say the word.

If you don't choose a word that rhymes Slippery will give you another try.  If you still can't find the word that rhymes Blue will show it to you and you can start another rhyme.  Each time you successfully complete a rhyme you collect one letter toward a word for Blue's Word Book.  You won't use the words in the demo but in the full game you use the words you've collected to make silly stories in Blue's Word Book.

When you want to stop playing click the Quit icon in the upper left corner of the screen and you'll return to the demo main menu.

Blue's Word Book

In the full version of Blue's ABC Time Activities you collect one letter toward a word each time you successfully complete an activity.  The words can be used to finish the stories in Blue's Word Book.  The stories can be downright silly depending on where you place the words!

In Blue's ABC Time Activities Demo you collect words but you won't place them in the Word Book.

Keyboard Commands

<Spacebar>	Pauses the game and opens the pause dialog box.  To continue, just click the Continue button. 
<Cmd><Q>	Quits the game without any prompts.
<Esc>		Fast-forward through the current cutscene. 
<F5>	Toggles the game between running full-screen or in a window. 

Contacting Humongous Entertainment

Order Department

Phone			(800) 499-8386
		         	(425) 867-2596
Fax			    (425) 489-3446

Internet Mail	custserv@humongous.com

U.S. Mail		
      Humongous Entertainment 
			PO Box 3383 
			Woodinville, WA  98073

Technical Support

Phone			(425) 485-1212
Fax			    (425) 806-0480

U.S. Mail		
      Technical Support 
			Humongous Entertainment 
			13110 NE 177th Place 
			Suite B101  #180 
			Woodinville, WA  98072-9965

On-line Web Site	WWW	http://www.humongous.com