Kindy Kip: I.T. for Tots (Lost Media)
I know I’ve been posting more about obscure stuff rather than bootlegs lately, but I want to share this since I’ve been thinking about it for a while.
When I was younger, I used to play a series of edutainment games called “Kindy Kip” by Kip McGrath. It features a yellow furry monster with human hands and legs called “Kipster” and a mouse called “Monty”. There’s also a white monster with glasses which is supposed to be Kipster’s grandfather.
Looking it up doesn’t reveal any images and there is hardly any info other than trademark information, two LinkedIn profiles for people who worked on the game, a brief mention of the game on Google Books, and a webpage showing the location of the company responsible for the game. Trademark Elite states the “Kindy Kip” trademark was filed on August 23, 2000.
The games were briefly mentioned in “Cyberlines 2.0: Languages and Cultures of the Internet” on Google Books:
“Some software developers such as Kindy Kip: I.T. for Tots have taken marketing right into childcare centres. The centres pass on promotional material to caregivers. Their purchase of the software earns the centre a commission.“
Even though it was used by childcare centers (according to the book), you could buy the games yourself from the official website. If you wanted the free trial version, you had to send an email to the company; it wasn’t up for download on the website.
I don’t remember how many games there were. The Wayback Machine only has two shockwave files saved. One shows you what the start menu for the games looks like and the other asks you if you’re a girl or a boy and to enter your name; the loading screen is continuous.
Aside from clicking on things the games would ask you to click on, there were coloring sheets and songs. Some coloring sheets were archived on the Wayback Machine, along with desktop wallpapers. The screenshots in this post and the picture of the computer also came from the archived website. There are more screenshots archived on the Wayback Machine.
The games were targeted toward kids from ages 2-5 and were sold in Australia. I don’t know if they were ever sold in New Zealand.