Listen up, Gumshoes...

July 12, 2006 9:05 AM

Was it possible to actually catch Carmen Sandiego?

I spent hours and hours as a kid playing the various Brøderbund releases of the Carmen Sandiego games (Where in the World, Where in the US, Where in Time, etc.) I know in the TV gameshow on PBS it was indeed posible to catch Ms. Sandiego. However, in the computer game, I remember even when you had caught most of her agents, there would be a jailbreak, and all the agents would be fair game for capture again. Carmen never seemed to do the dirty work on her own and thus, I never caught her myself. However, I was the type of kid to give up easily if something frustrated me.

So, my question, gumshoes, is did anyone catch her? Did you need to just pass a million promotions before she was able to be put behind bars? Seaching on wikipedia and everything2 did not yeild an answer to this for me. (I also realize she may have been completely unatainable, the carrot on the stick that kept kids playing. I just need to know for sure.)

posted by piratebowling to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (18 answers total)

Once you arrest ALL of Carmen Sandiego's cohorts, your final case is Carmen, herself. So, yes, with patience, it is possible to win.
posted by |n$eCur3 at 9:12 AM on July 12, 2006

Yes. I caught Carmen repeatedly. One of the ways to tell if you've missed her is if you make only about two wrong turns and lose the game anyway.
posted by oaf at 9:13 AM on July 12, 2006

This is the Where in the U.S.A. that was labeled "MAC II" on the side that I'm talking about.
posted by oaf at 9:14 AM on July 12, 2006

Damn you all. I couldn't catch her either!
posted by radioamy at 9:15 AM on July 12, 2006

Oh yes, and it was awesome.
posted by unknowncommand at 9:24 AM on July 12, 2006

Yeah, I caught her many times. Do they still make those games? I think they could be much better today, with more memory, games distributed on CD-ROM, etc. There really were not enough bits of information in the versions I played, in the late 80s, maybe early 90s.
posted by RustyBrooks at 9:25 AM on July 12, 2006

I remember catching her in Where in the World... and Where in Time.... From what I remember, you had to be promoted to the highest rank, and you'd run out of time if you searched for more than one clue in any given location. So it was tricky to get her, but it could be done.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:27 AM on July 12, 2006

They've made reincarnations, yeah. Pretty crappy, IMHO, though my brother (who is in the target age range) loved it. On second thought, they were fun, but kind of shallow. Had so much more potential that they could have fulfilled.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 9:51 AM on July 12, 2006

The FAQs I've read online seem to imply that you'd be chasing her on your 30^th case in Where in the World... and your 50^th case in Where in Time. Of course, these numbers could be platform-dependent.
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:55 AM on July 12, 2006

50th case? I really did more than 50 cases in that game? Yeesh.
posted by RustyBrooks at 10:04 AM on July 12, 2006

I caught her twice in Where in the World.... Proudest accomplishment of my life to that point.
posted by Zozo at 10:15 AM on July 12, 2006

I had "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego Deluxe" and it was possible, though I can't remember if I did it. Certainly not more than once or twice. This was for PC and came with a copy of a World Almanac (or something...).

Also, this is from the show but...

Do it Rockapella!
posted by utsutsu at 10:20 AM on July 12, 2006

Having been absolutely mad about Carmen Sandiego as a child, I caught her many, many times. In the earliest example of character levelling I can think of, I used to be able to get from rookie to catching Carmen in one long afternoon of play.
posted by jacquilynne at 10:24 AM on July 12, 2006

Yup. I caught her a number of times. Great game.
posted by onepapertiger at 12:21 PM on July 12, 2006

I also had the Deluxe version of Where in the World.. and caught her numerous times. I don't remember it being terribly hard and I'm pretty sure I could catch her a few solid hours of game play. This was a long time ago though ( on our 386!) so the memories are a little fuzzy.
posted by LunaticFringe at 12:34 PM on July 12, 2006

I love these discussions, because then I can point out the proud fact that I'm one of the few to play the only licensed state-based version of CS ... Where in North Dakota is Carmen Sandiego?
posted by blueshammer at 1:26 PM on July 12, 2006

I played "Where in Europe is Carmen Sandiego" on our Apple II c+ so often that I still have dreams about it, and I've also retained a shallow but extensive base of knowledge about European geography. It's surprising how many people have never heard of Luxembourg, much less Andorra or Liechtenstein. Anyway, it is possible to catch Carmen. I can still remember the first time it happened.
posted by cilantro at 9:51 AM on July 13, 2006

I played Where in Time...I thought I was a fairly smart kid up til that point. Never could catch her. I'm forwarding Brøderbund my therapy bills.
posted by CwgrlUp at 12:32 PM on July 13, 2006