"All of these people want to know..."

"And here's ACME's senior/special agent in charge of training new re-cruits..."

GREG LEE!

THE MAIN GAME:

Three contestants (kids) competed, who were referred to as "Gumshoes." Each contestant started out with 50 ACME crimebucks. Then Lee, the Chief, or a special person in the show would give a description of a question for the contestants. Sometimes, there would be Mrs. Putkinclinger(?), the upstairs neighbor who always threatened to call the authorities if the case wasn't gone on with.

Each questions answer was a specific location where the crook might've gone to with the artifact. Lee would then give the 3 locations at the end of each question, and remind the "Gumshoes" the clues, and each contestant would have their answer concealed by a colored card (the colors changed after each question, to help the contestants stay with the assigned question). On cue, the contestants would then show their answers. Correct answers won the correct "Gumshoes" 10 ACME crimebucks.

THE LIGHTNING ROUND:

With the sound of thunder and the room flashing with bright lightning, Lee said that it was the indication for the Lightning round, which would refer to things related to where the crook was last seen. Lee would give the "Gumshoes" a question with 3 possible choices, and this was something like Sale of the Century. Correct answers won 5 ACME crimebucks. After 3 questions, the scores would be re-capped, and then..."Greg? Come to my office, please." And then, Lee would go to the Chief's office, which was located behind a door next to the "Gumshoes" podiums.

Interactions with the Chief and Greg:

The Chief and Greg would always have a chat about something in particular, nothing too specific. But, the Chief would usually remind Greg to tell the "Gumshoes" that the one to capture Carmen Sandiego would win a trip to anywere in the USA, all expenses paid. And then, Lee would usually try to keep talking to the Chief, until she finally said, "GREG! Go away!"

THE PHONETAP:

After Greg left the Chief's office, he would help the "Gumshoes" get another clue on the crook with a "Phonetap," in which ACME Bugnet tapped into a phone conversation between the crook and Carmen Sandiego herself. The "Gumshoes" would listen in to the clues Carmen was giving.

THE CHASE:

The Chase is preferably one the best-known quickest games in the front game. Initiated by at least two Rockapella members running across the screen, including "THE CHASE" onscreen, it follows the crook around in the specific country they're in. Like the Lightning round, the players are allowed to buzz-in for 5 ACME crimebucks on a correct answer. The "Gumshoes" look at a screen of a location, with 3 possible answers. Every correct answer helps them out in gaining up on their score.

For the final clue of the game, Greg would show the "gumshoes" 3 different locations, and allow them to risk 0-50 ACME Crimebucks. If their given answer was correct, they'd win the bet. If incorrect, the bet was deducted from the player's scores. The two "Gumshoes" with the highest scores would move on to the next round. The player with the lowest score was sent home with an ACME Travel Kit, which includes:

	A traveler's world atlas
	The "official" Carmen Sandiego watch
	A Carmen Sandiego t-shirt
	A subscription to National Geographic world magazine

And then, the Chief would brief the two remaining "Gumshoes" about the known location of where the crook and the artifact was.

THE SEARCH FOR THE CROOK:

After a briefing on the location of the artifact and the crook, the players would arrive to that particular "location." They would face a board of 15 locations pertaining to the country where the artifact and the crook were. The idea was to find the loot, get the warrant, and arrest the crook. The player in the lead from the last round (if there was a tie, there'd be a coin toss) would choose a place. 12 of those locations were black with red shoeprints. The idea was to find the loot, the warrant, and the crook in that particular order. Finding any of those 3 won a free turn, regardless of what it was. Should the contestant find all 3 in that order (loot, warrant, and crook), confetti would fall over him/her, and the crook would then be arrested, by the use of pulling the handy chain. The runner-up would receive a consolation prize.

According to Wikipedia, if a "Gumshoe" could get the loot, warrant and crook in that order in just their first turn, they'd have a chance to win $100 using the rest of the locations on the board. To win the bonus, the "Gumshow" would have 5 chances to try and find it at the other 12 locations. The only time this was gone for in my view was "The Gateway Getaway," which is marked at #42 on the GST Countdown.

THE SEARCH FOR CARMEN SANDIEGO:

After the last player left, Greg would allow the last "Gumshoe" to secretly write down where they would like to go in the United States, in a special portfolio. After it was completed, the "Gumshoe" would receive a phone call from the day's crook, telling them that they want Carmen Sandiego to join them in jail, and telling them where to find her.

"Here's a list of the places Carmen may have traveled."

The Chief would then refer to the continent and give a number of places where Carmen may have traveled. Afterwards, Greg would take the "Gumshoe" to a giant map that was in front of the audience. The numbers changed according to the continent. The "Gumshoe" had to place markers in the correct locations within a specific amount of time. If they were on Asia, he'she'd have 60 seconds to place the markers. Other continents, he/she'd have 45 seconds. If they were right on the dot, they'd hear a "siren" and continue on. If incorrect, they would hear the game's buzzer and try again. 2 incorrect answers, he/she could leave the marker later and return to it if time permitted. At first, they had to find 6 locations. Later, it became 7 to 8 locations. If the "Gumshoe" could get all the locations within the time, they'd "capture" Carmen Sandiego and win their trip, and then also win a "Sleuth" jacket: .
No matter what happens win or lose, the screen would show a grab of THE GLOBE newspaper, showing Carmen's escape/capture.

	This would show if the contestant had not found her in the number of locations when time expired
	The win would show that Carmen was captured, like right here

"DO IT, ROCKAPELLA!":

At the end of the show, Greg, the contestant and the audience would point in the air and yell, "DO IT, ROCKAPELLA!" During the main credits, Rockapella would sing the full theme to the show. And at the end, the Chief would give a nice quote telling how ACME might catch crooks real soon.

"This is Lynne Thigpen, speaking for Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"

"See you next time!"

"All contestants have been briefed regarding game rules prior to their appearance. All geographic information was accurate as of the date this program was recorded."

-Carmen Sandiego is a fictional villain by Broderbund Software. This show was depicted from the computer game with easier, but harder-to-win tactics.
-Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? became Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? in 1996, but it didn't last as long as World, because the format changed completely. Kevin Schnick replaced Lee as host, Rockapella was gone, and no trips were won. Just a computer. Although Lynne Thigpen stayed on the cast as the Chief from the previous version, there were no interactions between her and the host. Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? was cancelled in 1998.

R.I.P. Lynne Thigpen
(1948 - 2003)

Lynne Thigpen was the ACME Chief for the entire run of the show, both World and Time. Thigpen was also an actress in her lifetime, also acting as Judge Brenda Daniels in the Jack Nicholson, Adam Sandler comedy, Anger Management. Her voice was also heard as Luna on the children's learning show, Bear in the Big Blue House. Lynne Thigpen died on March 12th, 2003. A friend of hers found her dead, as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 54.

 

MY GRADE:
What an awesome show! This was a game show that taught geography, and Greg Lee and Lynne Thigpen made an awesome tag-team. Rockapella was AWESOME for the show's theme song, which is still sung by them as of today. It is also known that Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? was ranked the second best children's game show behind Nickelodeon's very own Double Dare with Marc Summers. Greg Lee also did some assistance of some sort with Double Dare. When this format changed to TIME, it was made a little worse.

 

WORLD: 5 stars
TIME: 2.5 stars

 

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