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The ClueFinders 3rd Grade Adventures: Mystery of Mathra is the first game in the ClueFinders series. It was released on January 6, 1998.

Plot[]

Animals have been mysteriously disappearing from the Numerian rainforest, and rumors say that an ancient monster named Mathra has returned. Dr. Horace Pythagoras, a scientist who has traveled there to study the secrets of Numeria, believes that there should be a more logical explanation to the situation. However, one day while conducting his research, he was seemingly kidnapped by the monster. Dr. Pythagoras' last request to his computer companion LapTrap before his abduction was to call the ClueFinders, a group of detectives founded by Dr. Pythagoras' niece, Joni Savage.

The ClueFinders travel to the rainforest in an airplane piloted by Fletcher Q. Limburger, who explains the myth of Mathra to them. Legend had it that the ancient Numerian people encountered a monster named Mathra, who terrorized the animals of the forest. They eventually captured Mathra and locked him in a deep dungeon. Afraid that Mathra might escape, they left their city and locked the entrance with a golden key, which they split into two halves. The halves of the key were then buried deep in puzzles in two corners of the rainforest, in hopes that this would only allow the wise and worthy to enter the city.

The ClueFinders conclude that they need to find the two pieces of the key and get to the Lost City. Just then, LapTrap appears to assist the ClueFinders. LapTrap explains that Dr. Pythagoras recorded the location of the two key pieces and the Lost City on a map inside one of LapTrap's programs. Joni, Santiago, and LapTrap set out to explore the rainforest, while Leslie and Owen remain at the camp to provide backup via Santiago's video phone.

The two areas of the rainforest that contain the keys are the Monkey Kingdom and the Goo Lagoon. During their travels, the ClueFinders meet highly intelligent talking animals and plants who have valuable information on how to find the keys to the lost city. By helping out the creatures of the forest, the ClueFinders are able to obtain items required to complete the ancient Numerian puzzles: Sneezeberries from the Monkey Kingdom to the Rings of Fire, and Goo Beetles from the Goo Lagoon to the Walls of Goo Falls. Both locations also contain clues that suggest that Mathra couldn't be behind the animals' disappearance: a can of aviation engine oil and a business card labeled "Fletcher's Furriers".

After Joni and Santiago collect both key halves, Limburger offers to fly them to the Lost City. However, when they jump out of the plane with their parachutes, they land in the jungle canopy, far from the Lost City. The ClueFinders eventually make their way on their own to the Lost City's gates. When they take out both keys, they fuse together to form one key, which they then use to unlock the gate.

Inside, they find what appears to be Mathra sleeping, but then it occurs to them (having collected the evidence on their quest to find the keys) who is really behind the animals' disappearance — Limburger. Limburger reveals that he built a disguise for his airplane, so it would appear to be Mathra, having used the legend of Mathra to provide a cover of his smuggling of animal hides for his fur company. He reveals that he kidnapped Dr. Pythagoras because he felt that Dr. Pythagoras was too close to exposing the smuggling operations and is now being held captive with the animals that Limburger captured. After admitting that he was behind the mystery, Limburger locks Joni, Santiago, and LapTrap in the city and flies away in his Mathra plane to collect more animals.

Then two ancient guardians of the Lost City, which take the form of stone statues, reveal to the ClueFinders that Dr. Pythagoras and the captured animals are trapped on the other side of the Bottomless Pits of Doom. In order to save them, the ClueFinders must rebuild an ancient Mathra trap created by the Numerians long ago, by collecting snakes made from ancient Numerian magnets called Snagnets. After they do so, the Mathra trap becomes invisible, and the Cluefinders lure the returning Limburger to fly his plane into it. Upon falling into the trap, Limburger's plane drops into the pits.

As the ClueFinders leave the rainforest by boat, Dr. Pythagoras gives them LapTrap as a reward for them for saving the rainforest. LapTrap faints when he hears he'll be going on more dangerous adventures with them, as the forest creatures that the ClueFinders helped wave goodbye to them in the distance. Meanwhile, Limburger reappears in the rainforest, having survived the plunge on the bottomless pits. He swears his vengeance against the Cluefinders, and as he walks away with his dark mood unappeased, the real Mathra appears behind him, roars, and breathes fire.

Characters[]

Main

Monkey Kingdom

Goo Lagoon

Jungle Canopy

Lost City

  • Dragons: Entrance to the Chambers
  • Zoe (offers Gold Snagnets)
  • Lefty and Righty (offer Purple Snagnets)
  • Yorrick (offers Red Snagnets)
  • Orb (offers Blue Snagnets)
  • Brainstorm (offers Green Snagnets)
  • Zep: The Stoneman in the Bottomless Pits of Doom

Voice Cast[]

British Version[]

  • Charlie Borland - Joni Savage
  • Matt Adecott - Santiago Rivera
  • Matt Lyne - Owen Lam
  • Jessica West - Leslie Clark
  • Dai Jenkins - LapTrap, Liverpuddlians, Righty
  • John Hughes - Dr. Horace Pythagoras, Liverpuddlians
  • Simon Parrish - Fletch Q. Limburger, Liverpuddlians
  • Steve Brett - Liverpuddlians
  • Francesca Brown - Queen Itchybella, Twin Spider
  • Brian Butler - Tree
  • Wayne Fields - Vine
  • Andrea Fulton - Zoe
  • J.S. Gilbert - Vasco de Bongo, Antonio, Oomla, Goocifer
  • Martin Goldman - Chest Monkey, Orb
  • Les Hedger - Vine Monkey, Lefty
  • Colin Hussey - Bird
  • Judith Kelly - Twin Spider, Charlie
  • Jeff Kramer - Door Monkey, Centipede, Bat
  • Rance McDougald - Bird Brain
  • Caroline Rippin - Spit Spot
  • Irene Trapp - Monument Monkey
  • Rebecca Wink - Flower

American Version[]

  • Chrissie McCarron - Joni Savage
  • Clayton Stroope - Santiago Rivera
  • Brian Gregory - Owen Lam
  • Keoni Asia Gist - Leslie Clark
  • Les Hedger - LapTrap, Vine Monkey, Lefty
  • Jeff Kramer - Dr. Horace Pythagoras, Fletch Q. Limburger, Door Monkey, Centipede, Bat
  • Doug Boyd - Liverpuddlians
  • Jackie Brambles - Brainstorm
  • Brian Butler - Tree
  • Marina Cashmark - Charlie
  • Andrea Fulton - Zoe
  • Wally Fields - Liverpuddlians, Vine
  • J.S. Gilbert - Vasco de Bongo, Antonio, Oomla, Goocifer
  • Colin Hussey - Bird
  • Roger Jackson - Zep
  • Rance McDougald - Bird Brain
  • Irene Trapp - Queen Itchybella, Monument Monkey, Sentinel
  • Rebecca Wink - Chest Monkey, Twin Spiders, Flower, Spit Spot

Locations and Activities[]

Monkey Kingdom (Math)[]

  • Address Stones
    • Gameplay: Place the address stones in the grooves on the monkey's doorway to create a number that fits his requirement.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Place value
    • Items Earned: Purple sneezeberries
  • Monument
    • Gameplay: Read the inscription on the monument. Then click and drag the correct plaque to the empty space.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Word problems
    • Items Earned: Blue sneezeberries
  • The Pit and the Vines
    • Gameplay: Find the vine that fits the pit's perimeter.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Perimeter
    • Items Earned: Red sneezeberries
  • The Queen's Calendar
    • Gameplay: Read the clues, then place the marker on the correct date on the queen's calendar.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Deductive reasoning with numbers
    • Items Earned: Gold sneezeberries
  • Treasure Chest
    • Gameplay: Place the correct amount of money in the treasure chest for it to open.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Addition with money
    • Items Earned: Green sneezeberries
  • Chasm of Snakes
    • Gameplay: Find the correct pair of stones that together weigh equal to the big stone.
    • Skills Taught: Addition with whole numbers or decimals
  • The Rings of Fire
    • Gameplay: Look at the numbers on the stoneman's head and choose the either operation and the right number by throwing a sneezeberry to uncover a letter to complete the clue to cross the bridge.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
    • Items Earned: The left half of the key to the lost city
    • Items Required: Sneezeberries (One color per bridge)

Goo Lagoon (Logic)[]

  • The Spider Sisters
    • Gameplay: Look at the two bugs on the first sister's plate. Then click and drag a bug the other sister's plate, so that her bugs go together in a similar way as her sister's.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Graphic analogies
    • Items Earned: Purple beetle bag
  • Crabalock Attack
    • Gameplay: Look at the top two words and deduce how they go together. Find the key that goes with the bottom word in a similar way.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Word analogies
    • Items Earned: Blue beetle bag
  • Attack-nids!
    • Gameplay: Carefully look at the designs on the leaves and find the one that is different from the rest.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Visual thinking
    • Items Earned: Red beetle bag
  • Moths and Fleas
    • Gameplay: Find the creature that fits the description carved on the tree.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Attributes
    • Items Earned: Gold beetle bag
  • Worms' Day Out
    • Gameplay: Read the directions on the sign, and then place the worms in the correctly numbered seats.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Deductive reasoning with story problems
    • Items Earned: Green beetle bag
  • River of the Goo Creature
    • Gameplay: Look at the bridge pieces to deduce the pattern. Then drag bridge pieces to complete the pattern and fill in the gap.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Patterns
  • The Walls of Goo Falls
    • Gameplay: Guide a beetle to the top of the wall by marking correct tiles depending on the colour of the beetle and the design on it.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Logical reasoning
    • Items Earned: The right half of the key to the lost city
    • Items Required: Beetle Bags (One color per wall)

Jungle Canopy (Geography)[]

  • Where Are You?
    • Gameplay: Use the hints to find out where you are on the map, then place the marker on that spot.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Map skills
  • Birds on Vacation
    • Gameplay: Use the hints to figure out which U.S. state each bird wants to go to.
    • Skill(s) Taught: United States geography

Lost City (Science and Language Arts)[]

  • The Chamber of Order
    • Gameplay: Classify the stones to their respective categories.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Classification
    • Items Earned: Purple snagnets
  • The Chamber of Vision
    • Gameplay: Place the eyes in the empty spaces as per the sequence.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Sequencing
    • Items Earned: Gold snagnets
  • The Chamber of Structure
    • Gameplay: Place the pieces of the picture of an animal's skeleton.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Constructing animal skeletons
    • Items Earned: Red snagnets
  • The Chamber of Illusion
    • Gameplay: Identify the picture shown and place the correct label on the pedestal.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Making inferences
    • Items Earned: Blue snagnets
  • The Chamber of Knowledge
    • Gameplay: Arrange the sentences in the right sequence.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Reading for main ideas
    • Items Earned: Green snagnets
  • The Bottomless Pits of Doom
    • Gameplay: With the help of snagnets, place the bridge stones on the empty spaces on the bridge so that the two words touch depending on the relation between them. One move uses up one snagnet.
    • Skill(s) Taught: Antonyms, synonyms, categories, homophones, parts of speech
    • Items Required: Snagnets (One color per bridge)

Trivia[]

  • This is the only ClueFinders game to feature full song sequences.
  • This is also the only ClueFinders game to have different music play during the title sequence, as well as the only one to have three full-fledged stages (The Monkey Kingdom, Goo Lagoon, and the Lost City)
  • Some of the animations for Joni and Santiago in this game were reused in The ClueFinders 5th Grade Adventures: Secret of the Living Volcano.
  • The video screen that pops up when using Santiago's video phone has the screen (when off) in different colors: at the starting point it's charcoal gray, in the Monkey Kingdom it's light gray, and at the Goo Lagoon it's blue in some areas whilst pink in others.
  • When Joni's backpack is clicked and the backpack with items appears on the screen, it always appears near the upper right-hand portion of the screen by default. In the later game The ClueFinders 5th Grade Adventures, it appears in various parts on the screen depending on the location.
  • If the player repeatedly clicks on Joni's backpack, it will only show animations of the backpack being closed. This was fixed in 5th Grade Adventures where it will only open and close and vice-versa if clicked repeatedly.
  • The player has to do the activity only once to get the item. If the player wants to get one more, the activity place should be visited again.
  • The player will get to see the already prepared bridges in the Rings of Fire and the completed walls in Goo Falls but in only the present pit in the Bottomless Pits of Doom.
  • There are golden artifacts the player can obtain in this game.
    • There are 5 different artifacts in total
    • They can either be obtained at the cave at the center of the Rings of Fire (from Monkey Kingdom) or the chamber at the top of Goo Falls (from Goo Lagoon)
    • After getting a golden key from the cave, these artifacts can be obtained one at a time
    • Once the player completes the task and the artifact gets revealed, Joni (from Monkey Kingdom) or Santiago (from Goo Lagoon) has a new dialogue, before putting the artifact in the backpack
    • They aren't really used for any purpose, except possibly for collection's sake
    • In Practice mode, these artifacts are already in the backpack.
  • The full game can only be played once for the user. If the user has to play again, the user has to register with a different name or uninstall the software and re-install it if they choose to play again under the same name. This was remedied in later games where the player has the option to play again at any time to restart the adventure after finishing it.

Gallery[]

Screenshots[]

Other[]

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