Scooby-Doo: Phantom of the Knight (PC Games, 2000)

We got this game for our 7 year old who is a big fan of scooby doo. She has played it a number of times. You are solving a mystery and the mystery changes each time. There are several different levels of play that are different difficulites. She likes it a lot and is teaching her 4 year old sister how to play also.

My 5-year-old LOVES this game! It is set in a medieval castle in Nova Scotia, which is of course haunted by the phantom Black Knight who has kidnapped the princess Bernice (the niece). It is somewhat Clue-like, but has an RPG style.

PROs: The best part about this game is its replay value. There are 5 suspects, and each time you play the game it randomly picks a "villian" and gives you the clues accordingly (e.g., clues for Sir Lacksalot include a mail glove, a Pizza Palace coupon with hair gel on it, etc.) Additionally, there are 3 levels of difficulty. Like all good RPGs, there is a sequence that you should at least semi-follow in order to solve the mystery. For example, when give the jester one of his lost juggling balls, he will tell you the code for a shield that lets you into the garden. The graphics are reasonable (it's Scooby-Doo -- what do you expect?). My daughter also likes how the rooms are arranged. There are several things in each room that you can click on while you are looking for clues, and most items in the room do 3 different things (first click lion roars, second click bats fly out, etc.). The Black Night will also appear and scare you away if you click on the wrong thing.

CONs: Although the box says it for ages 5-10, it is really too easy for a 10-yr-old. More for 5-8.