Read-A-Rama: The Forgotten Maxis Game (thankfully.)

I'm not sure what part Maxis actually played in making this edutainment game happen, but Read-A-Rama is a bizarre sight to behold. Also looking at its twisted Selena Studios sibling, Spell-A-Rama from 1995!

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● Music used in order of appearance:
Parkside Lane 1, Last Ride Home 2

[LGR]

On further investigation... Maxis absolutely advertised this crap for a short time. DISAPPOINTED.

[KarlBaron]

Whoever was responsible for that empty shrink-wrapped box was clearly trying to do the purchaser a favor...

[LGR]

*For the morbidly curious, * I've uploaded the full intro logo "animation" for your pleasure. It is absurd.

[GentleHeretic]

6:45 Crashing. In front of the Twin Towers. As if this wasn't uncomfortable enough, random chance had to intervene.

[spongbros]

You did a great job of building the mystery and the creepiness. And thanks for uploading them; it's really interesting to browse the Internet Archive's software collection for oddities.

[SwitchAndLever]

My favourite part was how the flies have seven legs!

[DamnableReverend]

For some reason, the game ultimately freezing (?) in a flurry of digital farty noises is one of the funniest things about this.

[sandakureva]

I've got a hypothesis about both of these games since I vaguely remember playing them as a kid either at school or at a library.
Essentially, for a while back in the late 80s and 90s, state governments were handing out grants like candy to any company offering educational software to kids, and it resulted in a lot of lemons that everyone forgot, probably still sitting on 5-1/4" floppies in a file cabinet somewhere. Others resulted in companies like Davidson and Associates (of Blaster fame), The Learning Company, and Knowledge Adventure taking off.
Also the voice of one of these flies is familiar. I think the lady went on to do more stuff.

[darkroom]

You and Ross Scott are like Software/Game Archaeologists, digging up ancient (by digital standard) and forgotten items and putting it on exhibit. Just another reason why you guys are probably my favorite Gaming/Computer channels on Youtube.

[SpeedySPCFan]

This game feels like it shouldn't exist. It seems like one of those fake games, like Kekcroc or one of those many creepypasta things. I have a really hard time believing that I'm not just sleeping and dreaming this entire video :|

[SmeddyTooBestChannel]

This is like one of those things you bury deep in the back of the mind from your childhood and like, have nightmares and flashbacks about it at random

[MilitaryHistoryVisualized]

Pretty sure these games violate the Geneva Convention.

[GeminiTasiri]

5:00 Rainbow Girl looks like somebody's first Deviantart OC

[snorp]

At 5:58, that "Stop" Button blends in so much with the puzzle pieces, I would have clicked that so many times!

[LARKXHIN]

"Talk about vaporware." I legitimately laughed out loud.

Honestly the bit at 3:30 is a pretty kickin' tune.

[LazerLord]

I can count every frame in that opening animation.

[spiderjerusalem]

This game is literally hard to look at.

[ChrisPoindexter]

Delisted games are a treasure enough, but when they're *this* strange it's a treat, holy fuck this is weird

[synthraofficial]

Another wonderful video! On a side note, I didn't know you were a curator on steam. You were on their main page yesterday while I was game shopping, and I was like "Hey, news I actually care about!"

[KatKawa]

Ahh, breakfast, an Ale-8, and a new LGR vid; today's starting out great.