It’s very important you know one of the main characters in Encarta 1994 is a bear wearing khaki. With an entire encyclopedia stuffed into the Encarta disc, it’s no wonder there wasn’t more room for catchphrases.

Sometimes, it’s, “I’m a woman of destiny, choose your path to find yours.”Įvery character you encounter, from noblewomen to anthropomorphic bears, has a particular soundbite they’ll repeat over and over for every room you encounter them in. It’s probably why I have every soundbite from MindMaze ’94permanently stuck in my head - I’d fail so often I still hear, “The world is your oyster, choose a path and the question will appear,” in my sleep. Of course, that often meant failing miserably at the game. Usually, you’d tackle MindMaze after you’d studied the lessons in the Encarta itself but if you were an enterprising (or impatient) kid you’d just skip straight to the goods. Each has a riddle or puzzle to solve and players must use their knowledge to answer questions about topics like world history, performing arts and science. In MindMaze, players explore a hidden map tile-by-tile and encounter various historical figures. In an era where edutainment was swiftly gaining popularity and PCs were starting to enter school classrooms, MindMaze was a brand new way to teach kids about world history.Īll The PC Games You've Forgotten From Your Childhood While each version differed slightly in appearance and style, their basic premise was simple, fun and engaging.

MindMaze was a fantastic game for kids learning all about the wonders of the world. Image: MindMaze 1995 (left), MindMaze 1994 (right, credit to Jayskillz/YouTube) No matter what version you had, your Encarta contained a copy of iconic trivia game MindMaze. While this resource was a valuable and fun way to learn about the world during the digital media revolution, it held a very important secret. There’s also a fair chance you had a copy of Microsoft’s iconic digital encyclopedia, the Encarta. If you grew up in the 90s, there’s a fair chance ‘educational games’ were your introduction to PC gaming. Easter eggs are fairly common in modern games, but they’ve yet to top the best Easter egg of them all: Microsoft Encarta’s MindMaze.

Encarta game mindmaze download