JumpStart Adventures 4th Grade: Haunted Island

Ms. Grunkle is the game's villainess and the fourth-grade substitute teacher who turned the kids into monsters and brought them to Haunted Island, which she apparently rules over. Her appearance fits the popular depiction of a witch to a tee, with her having gray skin (although it's blue on the icon), black clothing and a pointed hat. Presumably, she was voiced by Jeannie Elias, since Elias was the only female voice actor credited.

Ms. Grunkle appears at the beginning and ending of the game as well as whenever the protagonist enters a new room in her house. Sometime after you finish playing one of the minigames she flies by on her broomstick to taunt the protagonist with typical villainous comments ("So, you think you're pretty good at my little games? Well, you haven't seen anything yet!") before flying off. Curiously, she is sometimes referred to as "Mrs. Grunkle," prompting one to wonder whatever became of her husband (she has a skeleton in her living room watching TV and holding a remote, which could have been her husband at one point). She does not have an explained motivation for her actions in the game.

Flap is a large, purple bat who provides help to the protagonist, most often by explaining how the game's activities are played. He is commonly seen as the mascot for this version of JumpStart 4th Grade (as Botley is for JumpStart 3rd Grade, Jo Hammet is for JumpStart 5th Grade, etc.) He was probably voiced by Tony Pope.

Madame Pomreeda gives the player the challenges needed to save each kid. Each time she is visited, Madame Pomreeda gives the protagonist one of four cards, each containing three challenges. After the protagonist finishes with four cards, Madame Pomreeda will use the collected objects to determine what the child's true personality is and say a poem aloud to change the kid back. These poems, the spells she uses to activate her crystal ball and the cards she gives the protagonist all make great use of rhyming couplets.

Madame Pomreeda apparently lives in a circus carriage at the end of the island opposite Ms. Grunkle's house. Although she, her carriage and her magic seem to be very reminiscent of popular depictions of Gypsies, she is blonde-haired and blue-eyed and therefore does not have the physical appearance typically associated with the Roma people. According to Flap, Pomreeda has a "rotten sense of humor," considering the bugs in the Spider's Web activity cute.

Her name is an obvious play on palm reading. She was also probably voiced by Elias.

Repsac, also referred to as Random Threat by the bugs in the spider web, is a menacing ghost who serves Ms. Grunkle. He occasionally springs upon the protagonist to ask multiple choice questions that will deplete the protagonist's health if answered incorrectly. Most of his questions seem to involve science and grammar, as well as sentence structure. This is presumably due to the fact that the game does not have activities which specifically address these topics.

Repsac is "Casper" spelled backwards, which is quite fitting considering that Repsac's personality is the complete opposite of Casper's. Repsac was probably voiced by Pope as well.

These kids are shown in order of the haunted yearbook.

At the beginning of this activity, a word is stated and given in a sentence. The user must then guide a tiny spider over a spider's web but it crawls over the letter-shaped bugs that correctly spell that word. On the higher levels, there is also a giant red spider that must be avoided. Once three words are spelled, the game is completed.

Here, players move a toad around the top of a well to make it eat the number-shaped bug that correctly completes the equation at the bottom of the well. Eating one of the "poisonous" bugs that incorrectly complete the equation will make the toad sick. Also the user has to eat the purple bugs buzzing towards the top, Otherwise, the toad will fall in. After three "rounds" of the game are played, the activity is completed.

In this game, the user attempts to harvest various kinds of exotic swamp plants so that enough of them grow large enough to meet a given quota. To do this, the user must experiment to see how the different plants react to different amounts of light, water and space. On the first level, there is only one kind of plant needed, but, on the higher levels, the user must use two different kinds of plants on the same plot. The game is completed after three successful harvests.

Inside the island's clock tower, the user helps a hunchback named Semimoto (a play on "Quasimodo") play various pieces of music on an old keyboard. The user moves Semi's hand over to the correct key, indicated by a bat flying over a blank musical scale, and presses it. If the key is correct the bat will fly away, but, if the key is incorrect, a skull will appear to show where the key was pressed. If the user misses three times, a new round will begin. Three melodies must be played to complete the game. This game is reconceived as "Crystal Keys" in the newer version of JumpStart 4th Grade.

In this game, the user selects the correct parts of speech to fill in the missing portions of a spooky story written on a tombstone in order to save a friendly ghost from the Grim Reaper. The constructed story does not have to make sense, but must merely be grammatically sound. On the higher levels, the user does not see the story and is only given the part of speech, making the game rather like Mad Libs. The ghost who appears at the end of the game to thank the user for saving him is modeled on Rodney Dangerfield. Three (identical) ghosts must be saved to complete the activity. In fact, the ghost is actually the same, as even he notes, despite the fact Madame Pomreeda's challenge specifies that three souls must be saved.

Inside the island's token Egyptian tomb, mummies lie buried under stone tablets that have images and writings related to various bits of history on them. Here, the user must play a game resembling a simplified version of Mahjong solitaire to match the related tiles and uncover the mummy. However, there are rules regarding which tiles can be "selected" and, if no move is possible, the game resets. After three mummies have been uncovered, the game is completed. "Tablet Turnover" from the newer version of JumpStart 4th Grade is virtually identical to this game.

In this game, the user must guide a vampire through a maze of hedges while avoiding a ghost who will turn the vampire into stone. In the center of the screen, a long division problem appears and the user must lead the vampire to the correct answer. Selecting the wrong number will cause another ghost to appear, although, if the user gets more than two ghosts, the extra ones will eventually fade away, leaving just the two. Once several division problems are solved, the vampire will be allowed to enter his coffin in the center of the screen. Three vampires must be put to rest in order for the game to be completed.

In this game, the user controls a ghostly galleon on a giant map of the world. The user must use geography clues to discover which countries have buried treasures and move the ship over to the correct countries. The user must also take care to not run out of food and supplies, since doing so will end the game. This can be avoided by running the ship into the "food and supplies" icons scattered over the map. There are also "cannon ball" icons that come in useful if the user runs into one of the several pirate ships that speed across the map. The "Map Madness" activity in the second version of JumpStart 4th Grade is nearly identical to this game.

In this game, the user uses decimals and fractions to mix three magical potions that will turn a frog back into a "rather handsome" prince. The running gag of the game is that the "rather handsome" prince is actually pretty disfigured. Another running gag is that the same prince is repeatedly turned into a frog. You could also notice cameos of the characters from Jumpstart Preschool.

The fountain of health is located in the center of the labyrinth. It is where people go to increase their health by answering questions similar to Repsac's. The more questions answered correctly, the more your candle will glow.