Compedia Shrine

Compedia is a company specializing in educational games. They were founded in 1987 by Gil Ilutowich, Shai Neiman and Ilan Goldberg. I decided to make a shrine for 'em because information on them is scattered all over the Internet and I would like to consolidate it, and also because I played one of their games as a kid (review below) and had a lot of fun with it, and have seen videos of the others, and they look like fun to me :P ;) The (all great) music for most of their games was composed by Amir Hacohen.

They used to make lots of children's educational games, but now do various other stuff (although not edutainment games for the PC anymore). They are most famous (especially in Europe ;) ) for their Timmy & Gordi series of games. Timmy is a boy (who also stars in books by David Grossman) and Gordi is a green alien. Most of the time, their series are separate, but the game I played is basically a crossover between the two.

If you're only here for the downloads of these wonderful games, almost all of them are on LegendsWorld.Net (search for "Compedia" in the Company field) and Archive.org. If you're looking for their names, though, scroll down on this page to see the two lists!

As usual for most edutainment game companies (The Learning Company, Knowledge Adventure, Humongous Entertainment and others), the games get confusing re-releases that people may mistake for new games, especially since there are usually new games released alongside these re-releases. Note that most playthroughs of these games aren't in English.

My favorite Compedia games are Timmy's Science Adventure, Timmy's Sea Adventure, Timmy Climbs the Walls, Timmy the Dream Hunter, Gordi's Magical Movie Adventure, The Puzzling Time Quest, and Invention Highway.

List of Compedia games with known release years (incomplete)

Gordi Classics (released throughout the 1990s): Various themed minigame collections featuring Gordi. Not available at old-games.org anymore as of 2024 due to Compedia's restrictive copyright rules. Playthrough of Gordi in Words Island here.

Advanced Thinking Skills (1992): First ever non-Gordi game? (It has Gordi in the title card, but nowhere else.)

Thinking Games 2 & the Learn about... series (1993): DOS games where you learn about various stuff through activities and exercises. Part of the Top Class series.

Quantum Castle (1994): Developed by Compedia and published by Ozisoft, this is a re-release of a Gordi Game from the early '90s. Gordi (with an old design) has to get a treasure in the castle from a dragon by traversing the castle and solving mathematical problems. It has funny animations. Full playthrough.

In Search of the Lost Words (1995): Developed by FlagTower and published by Compedia. A cool reading game for ages 7-12 with funny animations. MobyGames summary: A magic egg fell from the sky. The evil King Pondos took that egg, and used it to cause destruction. Now, it is many years later. King Pondos is dead, and the egg has just hatched. Inside lay a small blue creature that could bring peace to the world. All is not well, however. There are rumors of King Pondos' return; could he have planned this from the start? Each area consists of a group of rooms. The exit in each area is blocked with a story, which has several words missing. Items within these rooms are clickable, which will say and show the name of the item, display a short animation, and, if the name is used in the story, will give the player the word. Some items will display a puzzle instead. These puzzles may be word searches, tile matching, or other puzzles, and will reward the player with a word. These words can be used to fill out the story, which, once complete, will allow access to the next area.

Learning to Read with Titan (1995): (Known as Aprendiendo a leer con Titán in Spain; also known as Gordi in Titan.) A game about a visit to the planet Titan, where you learn to read words by exploring the space base, the hotel, the pizzeria, the cinema, and other places, clicking on stuff, learning what things are called and watching the animations. There are also some activities. Download at Archive.org (although that version teaches German and is in Danish). Similar to In Search of the Lost Words, but in space instead, and no story to uncover.

Timmy and the Magic Pictures (1995): As far as I can tell, this is the first ever Timmy game. It's also known as Timmy Climbs the Walls. It got re-released in 2004 as just Timmy and the Magic Pictures. The games (until Science Adventure) are basically 'Living Books'-like games ;) with the text narrated by David Grossman. This is one of the most beloved ones. Plot: Timmy can climb the walls of his room (which is the same in all of Timmy's games), which is a secret known only by Timmy and his teddy bear and monkey plushie. On the walls, there are three pictures (and a window with a huge moon in it :P ). Timmy rescues the lion cub of the jungle picture from the train picture with the help of the Stacey (a girl flying a kite) picture.

Timmy the Dream Hunter (1996): One of the most beloved among the European fandom of these games. Plot: Timmy, with the help of his Dad and a homemade trap, conquers his fear of a monster in his nightmares, named Timms, and makes friends with him. Similar to Pajama Sam 1, but I prefer Pajama Sam 1 solely because it's a full-fledged adventure game. Still really nice though.

Timmy's Birthday Party (1996): Features characters from the previous games and 13 activities and was re-released in 1999. Review here.

Gordi's Magical Movie Adventure (1997): Also known as The Quest for the Unfinished Movie. The game's graphics are like Starship Titanic (i.e. prerendered CG images and transition videos), and it also has a live-action cutscene at the start and end. Some videos say 1998 is the release date. People really love this game, and for good reason. Plot: Gordi and a talking yellow glove, who is your cursor in the game, have to help the animator finish his movie in one day, or else he'll be fired! Finish the movie by getting the necessary items and putting them in the right places in each scene of the movie. Full playthrough here.

Gordi's Enchanted Playroom (1997): A cute collection of activities for young kids, akin to similar JumpStart games, as well as Reader Rabbit Toddler and Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby. Gordi only appears in one minigame, though. Soundtrack here (the guy also has uploaded other Compedia soundtracks :D ), playthrough here, and review here.

Supermind (1997?): Collection of logic puzzles and activities, starring Gordi. Download here (Spanish).

Gordi and the Math Invaders (1998): This is one of the few Compedia games that actually has a direct sequel. Plot: Viruses have invaded Gordi's computer and it's up to you to stop them by playing fun math activities!

Gordi's Math Attack (1998): Sequel to Math Invaders. Plot: Viruses have again invaded Gordi's computer and it's up to you to stop them by playing fun math activities! (Yes, it's the same plot; the only differences are the puzzles themselves, and that at the end, you have to face the King of the Viruses himself.)

Invention Highway (1999): 12 puzzles that teach kids, teens and adults Advanced Systematic Inventive thinking / Closed-World thinking. Developed by Roni Horowitz and Compedia. Links: Official site, and playthrough video, and playthrough playlist.

The Puzzling Time Quest (1999, re-released in 2004): Sequel to Invention Highway. Official website here. Plot: A criminal, Miko, has stolen the time machine invented by the genius professor. A cop is called in to pursue Miko who has journeyed back through history in the stolen time machine, committing all sorts of crimes along the way. Join the cop on his mission back in time to Ancient Rome, the Wild West and beyond as you try to catch Miko, the fugitive!

Timmy's Science Adventure (2000): For ages 5-10. My review below has all info about the game.

Timmy's Safari Adventure (2001): Timmy is bored of watching TV, so his Dad gives him a ticket to the zoo. Timmy is sucked into the ticket, and Timmy has to collect stickers of all the animals on his safari adventure. Korean Review (of a newer version of the game which is not Nature & Animals) here (also has reviews of Dream Hunter Adventure and Sea Adventure, which are also newer versions of each), and playthrough video here.

Muppet Babies: Toyland Train (September 2001): Activity collection featuring the Muppet Babies. Non-English, but complete(?), video here, and incomplete English video here. There's a whole series of these, with each game just taking parts from the original and making that into a complete game.

Girl Detective: Sweet Sixties (2001): Much different from the rest since it's for teens instead of kids, and has two paths, which is cool. Gameplay video here. Description has link to other path.

Timmy's Sea Adventure (2002): Review here (which has the plot; not mine). Judging by that review and an English video of it on YouTube, it's similar to Freddi Fish, but I prefer Freddi over this (if only because not all the activities require Freddi to hand over sea urchins or shells, but that's not the only reason due to FF3 and FF5 existing [SuperKids reviews here and here]). Still, it's cute and fun.

Girl Detective: Roaring Twenties (2003): Sequel to Sweet Sixties. Video here.

Young Einstein (2003): AKA Młody Einstein. Re-release of Supermind. Playthrough video here.

Spin Off (2004): Published by IncaGold/Compedia/ZetaGames and developed by Simis. Similar to Neverball for Linux and Ballance for Windows, and so it's very fun. Download at MyAbandonware.

Timmy and Gordi's World of Science (2004): Learning Adventure Line Re-release of Timmy's Science Adventure, with a few changes detailed in my review of it.

Timmy in the English World (2004): Unofficial title since I don't know the English title. A game about learning English through various activities. It has a unique artstyle. Plot: While Timmy is stargazing at night, he sees a spacecraft from the English galaxy. An alien robot called Parrot-Tech, sent by the inhabitants of the distant galaxy, urges him to help them deal with the space pirates, who threaten to take over the galaxy. But to do so, Timmy has to learn basic words and sentences in English: the names of numbers, colors, family members, animals, foods and more. To access any planet, you have to finish the activities on its moons first. There are five planets with two moons for each (except the home planet of the pirates). You have to finish the activities three times to be able to access the pirate planet! Activities include: matching up colors or numbers to remove them with your spaceship and get a higher score than your AI opponent, serving the aliens the meals they ordered at the restaurant using a conveyor belt, serve the aliens the food they order from the fridge, navigating through alien spaceships to rescue animals and collect items, a Concentration game, etc.

Timmy and the Magicians' Secrets (2005): High-res screenshots here (right-click on the small images and click View Image). The start and end cutscenes are in live-action for some reason :P

To learn to perform all the ten magic tricks in the album, the player must collect the missing card halves by helping the other characters (the witch Grambola, the rabbit who wants to be a magician, the genie, and the king of cards) in four activities. Diko the magician teaches you the magic tricks through video, and you can customize and print out the magical accessories you unlock through the pages through the craft workshop. The pages also have detailed explanations of how to perform the magic tricks.

The book the game was based off of also served as the basis for an animated film in the Israeli videotape series "Films from the Books" by the Classicta Company: directed by Danny Wellman with animation by Noam Meshulam and Udi Rabina.

At Home and Around (2006[?]): The English World game was split up into multiple games, like this one and Me and My Family. No known differences other than the main screen. Italian playthrough video here and Russian playthrough here.

Compedia Learning Adventure Line: Creativity Mission (Nov[?] 2007): https://www.amazon.in/Compedia-Lal-Creativity-Mission-PC/dp/B00HR2093M Learning Adventure Line re-release of the game Timmy and the Magicians' Secrets, with no known changes other than the name. (LAL = Learning Adventure Line)

Spin Off 2 (2008): Published by IncaGold/Compedia/ZetaGames and developed by Simis. Half the levels are recycled from the first game, and there's lots of unfitting music. Download here (Polish abandonware site).

Timmy's Science Adventure Review

Timmy's Science Adventure (2000, ages 5-10) was re-released in 2004 as Timmy and Gordi's World of Science with updated, more colorful graphics, and the statistics activity was removed (don't worry, it's in Gordi's Math Attack).

Plot: Timmy's Dad reads Timmy a bedtime story about a green alien (Gordi) who couldn't find a way back to his planet, Gordiland, but then his planet glowed and Gordi found his way back home. When Timmy goes to sleep, Gordi wakes him up, and explains that he can't find his way back to Gordiland, like in the book. Upon hearing Timmy's idea on how to get Gordi back to his planet, Gordi teleports himself and Timmy to the science machine in the science museum. Timmy's idea is that by using the science machine, it accumulates enough energy to contact Gordi's family, who give him directions to Gordiland. At the end, Gordi goes back home through his rocket in the museum, and Gordi's family offer Timmy a chance to go to Gordiland.

Gameplay: By playing cool and fun activities on the science machine, you get puzzle pieces from the machine to put in the proper part of the picture to the left of the machine, and there are 3(?) different pictures to be filled in (2000 version) or different parts of space (2004 version) until you get to a really hard Space Invaders minigame. After finishing that, you get the ending.

Activities: Ranked from most favorite to least favorite.

1. Microscope: There are actually 2 parts and an instruction video in this activity. In the first part, you just look at various objects, animals, and food close up. You need to memorize the close-up pics for the 2nd part (the main game). In the second part, you need to guess what object, animal or food the close-up pic is. The instruction video instructs you on how to use a real microscope. My favorite, obviously.
2. Science Quiz (tic-tac-toe): Science Trivia quiz show crossed with tic-tac-toe. How? Well, Timmy asks a question, and one of the various characters (cat, girl, lion, lioness, professor, teddy bear, lobster chef, etc.) in one of the tic-tac-toe-arranged screens will answer it. Then, you need to decide whether the answer is correct or wrong. If you get 3 in a row, column, or diagonal right, you win! Fun, but I needed to Google some of the questions and answers ;) At least there's a time limit.
3. Space Travel (ID objects): Starts off with Space Invaders (there's a mini-game of just that in the main menu), and after a while, you come across a silver ball hiding an object or animal. You need to guess what it is, by using the sensors Sound, Metal Detector, Touch, and Sight. Awesome idea for a game, and I think it's executed well too, but the Metal Detector should've just been called Metal (as in Metal Sensor).
4. Sound Memory: Memory game with sound. Find the matching sound to the picture above the matching board to reveal a big picture in the matching board. Also fun.
5. Experiments: Try these at home, using the videos. Cool.
6. Movies: Same as Experiments, but they're experiment videos done by random schools around the world. Also cool. Best music. Only ended up at the bottom due to the others having to be at the top.

Bonuses: Bonus mini-games that aren't part of the actual game, but are accessed from the blue main menu. Ranked from most favorite to least favorite.

1. Simon Says (with musical instruments)
2. Blocks (Breakout, with 'poisonous' bricks [bricks to not hit])
3. Germs (destroy the Germs before they eat the food; tower defense)
4. Space Shuttle (Space Invaders)

My Experience: I got the 2004 version when I was around 10 or 11. I almost finished this fun game, but I never actually finished it because the Space Invaders minigame at the end was so hard that my CD stopped working ;) (No, I didn't throw the CD across the room or anything like that; :P it simply stopped working just before I could master the Space Invaders minigame at the end of the game; basically, I got interrupted and had to close it, but the next time I tried to start it up, it did not start up ever again.) I've never played the 2000 version.

Fun Fact: The quiz show activity's characters are from previous Compedia games. The girl (Stacey), lion, and lioness are from Timmy Climbs the Walls, the orangutan is from Timmy's Safari Adventure, the professor is from Invention Highway, the blue monster is from Timmy the Dream Hunter, and the lobster chef is from Timmy's Sea Adventure. I don't know which games the others are from, though. The cat in the trashcan could be from Timmy's Safari Adventure.

Links:

Full English playthrough uploaded by Joseph Smon; major thanks to him :D Finally saw the ending after all these years!

This is an older English video on it (2004 version) I found. It's edited in funny ways, but there's no commentary at least. The player didn't finish the game though (he only shows off the Intro, Microscope activity and the Experiments). A non-English playthrough is here.

Trivia: The awesome Menu Music was composed on Nov 27, 2000.

Download: The CD (on Arch Linux, it says CD required when it's already in! Likely to be a copy-protection measure, so... ;) )

Games with an unknown release date

I don't know when these games were released, so I've put 'em here. For the non-italicized names, I (or someone else) made up the English names because I don't know what the official English names are (i.e. the names Compedia would've given them if they were officially released in English).

Gogo's Search for Schlompi and Gogo More or Less: Two JumpStart-style games published by Compedia about Gogo.

Baby Gordi series: Interestingly, there's an entire series of Baby Gordi games: Baby Gordi's First Adventure, Baby Gordi in Toyland, and other Baby Gordi versions of the Muppet Babies games. The games are effectively cute collections of activities for young kids, akin to similar JumpStart games, as well as Reader Rabbit Toddler and Reader Rabbit Playtime for Baby. I don't know which came first: the Baby Gordi series, or the Muppet Babies series. But both are the same, just with Baby Gordi instead of the Muppet Babies.

Compedia Learning Adventure Line: Nature & Animals: Re-release of Timmy's Safari Adventure with updated graphics.

Downloads for most of the games (and Science Adventure) are on LegendsWorld.Net and Archive.org.

Links

Compedia Games Wiki - My very own Compedia Games Wiki! This wiki contains more detailed info about characters, games, media, etc., than what's on this page. I didn't want to make this page too bloated, but I do want all info about Compedia to be in one database instead of scattered around the internet, which is why this wiki was created. As for why it's on Miraheze instead of Fandom (don't worry, you can still edit anonymously and without an account!), well... let's just say Fandom isn't the best. ;)

Sources

In case the pages vanish, I have both the original Hebrew and Google translations of them saved. I also have most of the videos linked to here saved.

Page first published on Wed, Jan 20, 2021, then updated for the first time on Sat, Jan 23, 2021 (fixed some errors hiding in plain sight). Updated again on Thu, Apr 1, 2021 (not April Fools, :P just clarifying that I saved Alice-In-Wonderland's comment a long while back ;) ). Updated yet again on Fri, June 18, 2021 (added a remake of Timmy in the English World and corrected the description of English World). Updated once again on Sat, July 31, 2021 (added weekdays for previous updates, and added link to my very own Compedia Games Wiki! :D ). Updated once more on Mon, Aug 2, 2021 (added playthrough of Timmy and the Magicians' Secrets! :D and fixed an improperly-formatted link). Updated yet again on Thu, Aug 5, 2021 (added more games to the list, and various other edits). Updated again on Wed, Sep 8, 2021 (fixed Invention Highway and PTQ links as Start2Think is now gone; possibly due to Flash dying, as the site did use it a lot). Updated once more on Sun, May 22, 2022 (added more info about Timmy's Science Adventure and Timmy and the Magicians' Secrets). Updated once again on Sun, Sep 29, 2024 (added favorite games, corrected some info, fixed Sources section, added new playthrough links, added release year of English World, and replaced or removed defunct links). Updated again on Sun, Oct 6, 2024 (added release year for Magicians' Secrets and Puzzling Time Quest, fixed LegendsWorld link, and added other misc info).

Comments

Amir Hacohen

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