Learning with Leeper

Learning with Leeper
Developer(s)	Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Publisher(s)	Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Platform(s)	ColecoVision, Commodore 64
Genre(s)	Educational (preschooler), single-player, third-person

Learning with Leeper is a 1983 game developed and published by Sierra On-Line, Inc.. It is similar to Learning with FuzzyWOMP (1984).

Gameplay

Mobygames described the gameplay:

In Lunar Leeper, one of Sierra's earlier arcade games, players had to rescue prisoners on a planet's surface while avoiding the "Leepers", who would leap into the air in an attempt to grab them, and one of the Leepers feature in this game. Similar to Learning with FuzzyWOMP, the player can select one of four games, by moving the Leeper to the icon and pressing the fire button to select it.

Clockwise from the top, the first game encourages the player to select a series of bones that match the number of dogs on the left side. In the second, the player matches a series of items at the bottom of the screen (including letters, shapes, people, and three-letter words) with the one shown on a platform. In these first two games, the correct answer will flash if a wrong one is given.

In the third game, players have to make their way through a maze while they are assisted by a caterpillar. The mazes are randomly generated. Finally, the fourth one has players paint a series of pictures ranging from a house and mountains to a human figure.

Critical reception

Learning with Leeper was well received, gaining the award for "1984 Best Educational Video Game/Computer Game" at the 5th annual Arkie Awards where judges described it as "a painless way for youngsters to learn such tricky concepts as counting and shape recognition". It was predicted that children who had not yet learned to read would still have "a fine time" with the game and that the game's "Painting" segment would "be a spur to youthful creativity".

In regard to creating a softkey for the game, Hardcore Computist writer Marco Hunter wrote: "The three things you can count on in this life are death, taxes, and Sierra On-line nibble counts. With this in mind, I tackled Learning with Leeper, a recent educational release from Sierra. I quickly discovered that, as usual, the disk is normal DOS 3.3. This means it is easily copied with COPYA."

In an episode dedicated to ColecoVision titles, comedic reviewer Angry Video Game Nerd quipped: "it's one of the most juvenile games I've ever played", noting that each of the four games are simplistic and primitive.