Kanji Safari 1.0

Kanji Safari is a fun and addictive Kana and Kanji learning game for up to 4 players. It can be used by students just starting Japanese who need to learn Hiragana and Katakana (the Japanese phonetic alphabets), up to more advanced students who already know a range of Kanji characters (the more complex characters derived from Chinese).
Each character in the Hiragana and Katakana tilesets comes with native Japanese pronunciation, so you can learn the sounds of the Kana as you learn to recognise how they are written. Each Kanji in the Kanji tilesets include the Kanji character itself (drawn in a beautiful calligraphic style), its English meaning and its primary Kana readings. Kanji Safari thus includes all the key information you need to learn Japanese characters effectively.
Kanji Safari is very easy to set up and play. You can use it as a simple matching game to reinforce your Japanese Kana and Kanji skills by leaving the play area uncovered, or play challenging multiplayer games with your friends which will test your memory to the limit!
This makes Kanji Safari a superb learning tool for students and schools, since you can use it for self-study on your laptop or home computer, or up to four students can use the same computer to play in the school language lab.
Main features:
- helps students learn Kana and Kanji whilst playing by themselves or against other players.
- up to 4 players can play simultaneously, adding a great deal of fun to learning.
- sound effects enhance gameplay significantly: a lion roar is played for the first highest point score awarded for matching tiles and an elephant trumpet for any subsequent highest point scores awarded. A turkey gobble is played for the first lowest point score awarded and a goat bray for any further lowest point scores awarded.
- suitable for students of all ages
- scores are based on the number of strokes in each Kanji character, motivating students to learn more complex Kanji.
- a double-score is given for triple tile matches, significantly rewarding players who know all the properties of the Kanji.
- supports handicaps to ensure multiplayer games can be balanced when being played by students with different skill levels.
- can be played with tiles covering the play area (to increase difficulty), or the play area can be left open.
- a wide selection of attractive tile styles are included.
- the Round counter can be used to limit games to a certain number of rounds.
- a Player timer shows how long a particular player has taken to have their turn.
- a Game timer shows how long the game has been running.
- Three different play area sizes are supported: small, medium and large.
- progressively works through all selected tilesets by randomly selecting words from them until all have been used. Then it begins the full set of selected tilesets again. Thus, students are exposed to a comprehensive set of Kana or Kanji whilst they play.
- a new tileset data file will be released periodically to users free at the www.lavasoft.com website, building up the number of Kanji supported in the game from 240 to 480.
Version restrictions:
- Some features are disabled.