Knowledge Adventure

Knowledge Adventure

JumpStart (formerly known as Knowledge Adventure, Inc.) is an American maker of educational software including the Adiboo and JumpStart series of grade-based and subject-based titles, such as My First Encyclopedia. It was established in the late 1980s in Los Angeles, then later merged with another large education software firm, Davidson & Associates during the late 1990s. Davidson & Associates is well-known with its line-up of Math Blaster related games, as well as developing educational software for Fisher-Price, plus it is well-known with its purchase of Blizzard Entertainment in the mid 1990s, the maker of Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo.

Until 1994, KA (their slogan in the early years is "Have fun, Get smart" and their current slogan is "Discover.Learn. Excel") had created DOS games, including Space Adventure, Imax's Speed, Undersea Adventure (often bundled on the same CD-ROM), 3D Dinosaur Adventure, Kid's Zoo: A Baby Animal Adventure, and 3D Body Adventure.

After the merger with Davidson & Associates, Knowledge Adventure was owned by various firms throughout several corporate mergers. Its last owner was Vivendi Universal Games, as a part of its Vivendi Games division. During that time, Knowledge Adventure released many branded games such as Dr. Brain, Barbie, Jurassic Park III, Captain Kangaroo, Curious George and American Idol.

In late 2004, Vivendi sold Knowledge Adventure to a group of investors interested in taking a more active management strategy, and in developing new educational software. The company has since released new products under both the Jumpstart and Math Blaster brands.

In 2008 Knowledge Adventure Inc. was criticized for 'cramware' in their games. For some of the extra content made with the games, a subscription was required.

On October 4, 2012, the company has changed its name to JumpStart.