Matchmaker! / Logix! / Buzzword!

Also known as: Associations! / Logix! / Devinettes! (Canada)

Developer: Magnavox

For some reason, this cartridge is listed as Matchmaker! / Buzzword! / Logix! instead of Matchmaker! / Logix! /Buzzword! in most places. I'm not really sure why, either. Maybe they're going in the order that they're put on the cart? The box art and manual state the games in the order that I've used for this site, and even if you check the Odyssey 2 "game catalog" magazine advertising the games available for the console, it lists them in that order. Anyway, I threw that out there, so if you're wondering why I list it differently than other sites do, I'm not just trying to be difficult. This game isn't really trying to be difficult, either, honestly. The game catalog I mentioned, calls this a "Challenging EDUCATIONAL Game." Yes, they put "educational" in all capital letters. They really wanted to let you know. Anyway, this trio of games is mostly a disappointment. The first game is Matchmaker! This is basically just a game where you've got 20 spaces on the screen with a letter assigned to each. You just press the letter on the keyboard to reveal what's behind that space. The goal is to find two of the same image to match them, and eventually find all ten matches to clear the board. If you press 1 on the keyboard at the game select, it's a single player game. If you press 2, you'll enter a two player game. The two player option is really what saves this game from getting a lower score from me - competing against a friend makes it a mildly more entertaining experience. At the game select screen, pressing 3 on the keyboard gets you the next game, Buzzword! Buzzword is a very poor game of hangman. By very poor, I mean this game is likely out panhandling out on a street corner somewhere with a sign saying that it will work for food. Don't trust the sign. This lazy bum will take a nap after only one game. By that, I mean that Buzzword! does not reset itself after you solve (or fail to solve) the hangman puzzle. Yes, you need to reset the game after every single attempt to play this game. It's already a poorly-made version of hangman with minimal visuals, but by forcing you to reset after every single word forced me to drop the score on this awful game. In fairness, you have to reset after EVERY ONE of the three games on this cart…but since Buzzword! tends to last roughly 30 seconds or less, it's much more annoying here. By pressing 4 on the keyboard, you get to the only worthwhile game on this cart, Logix! Logix! is a passable game of logic. The computer has generated a five-digit number with all five digits being different from each other. Your goal is to type in your own five-digit number and see if you can guess what that computer's secret number is. After you type in your number, there are two more numbers just to the right of your number. The first one of the two numbers shows you how many numbers you have in the proper position and the second number shows how many correct numbers you've got, though they may not be in the proper position. Using those two numbers as clues, your goal is to try to find the mystery number in as few turns as possible. While not amazing, it did have me hooked for a little bit - I like logic stuff like this. Anyway, as a whole, this trio of games is sub-par. Logix! stands as the only passable game on the cart, but it's not enough to make up for the other two. Honestly, if you've got any logic, you'd probably choose to stay away from this cartridge.

Matchmaker!

My Score

5.5

Avg Score

5.6

Placement on the List

Logix!

My Score

6.0

Avg Score

5.9

Placement on the List

Buzzword!

My Score

2.5

Avg Score

4.3

Placement on the List

Review added: 12/03/2025

Math-A-Magic! / Echo!

Also known as: Matemágica! / Jogo da Memória! (South America), Mathematician / Echo (Europe), Mathématicien (Europe)

Developer: Magnavox

I don't mind educational games, but I view them like I view adult-oriented games - having that stuff in the game is fine, but focus on the gameplay, then add the other stuff into it…not the other way around. In Math-A-Magic! / Echo!, there isn't very much gameplay. There's a math problem on the screen. You solve it. That's pretty much it. I'll get into the individual games. Math-A-Magic! is basically just you solving math problems. When you being, you'll be asked what kind of math that you wish to work on - addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division. Then you're asked what skill level you want, on a scale of 1 to 3, with 3 being the highest difficulty. The input may confuse some folks, specifically on the higher difficulty, but it's designed to be like how you would solve the equation on a piece of paper. Essentially, if the math problem is left to right, like 21+21, then you would type in a 4 and a 2, in that order. But, if the equation is vertical instead, like in the screenshot with this review, you need to enter the numbers from right to left. So in the screenshot, I had entered 3, 0, 5, and 1. This lack of consistency may mess some folks up, but I didn't really have an issue with it. I do, however, think it just would have been easier to have all problems vertical, then there's no need to swap the way you input numbers. You get a jingle for every ten questions that you solve correctly…and I'd have to imagine that every time a Math-A-Magic! jingle is heard, you know that a child has been punished by their parents by having to play this game. The other game on the cartridge is described by Magnavox as a "brain draining, mind bending, mental gymnastic challenge!" It's such an accurate description because after playing, my motivation to keep playing was drained, I wanted to tell the developers to get bent, and I wanted to turn my middle finger into a gymnast so I could flip off the person responsible for making this cartridge. Everyone who has played this likely echoes that thought…that's how this got the name Echo! Anyway, Echo! is one of my least favorite games…as the blokes across the pond would say, "It's bloody Simon!" The game Simon (named after "Simon says," I assume) is a game where you've got four colored buttons and the computer will light them up in a random order. Your job is to repeat it exactly how the computer did it. It's a very boring game. Echo! is just Simon, but with numbers that light up with different colors rather than buttons. You just need to press the correct number key in the correct order to continue on. This cold-heated game will only respond to numbers, though. Typing "HELP ME" or "PLEASE STOP" doesn't seem to deter this game from continuing on. Anyway, Math-A-Magic!, while lame, likely will help children with their math skills. Echo!, on the other hand, is the equivalent of having your child stick a fork in an electrical outlet - they'll be shocked by how bored they are. Since Math-A-Magic! Can be useful, I bumped the score up a tad, but this still is not a cartridge worth getting. There are better games to help your kids learn, and games that manage to be entertaining at the same time.

Math-A-Magic!

My Score

4.0

Avg Score

5.6

Placement on the List

Echo!

My Score

2.0

Avg Score

4.3

Placement on the List

Review added: 12/02/2025

Monkeyshines!

Also known as: Itazura Monkii Geemu (Japan), Macacos Me Mordam! (Brazil), Singeries (Europe/Canada)

Developer: Magnavox

Some folks may not know this, but I wanted to be a zoologist when I was a kid…I love animals and thought it would be fun to spend my work hours around them. I still do, honestly…even if the foot-in-the-door jobs are almost definitely going to involve me shoveling up poop. Anyway, I mention that because a pet peeve of mine has always been when people mix up apes and monkeys…probably an oversimplistic way to explain the difference is that monkeys have tails and apes do not….so gorillas and chimpanzees are apes, not monkeys. I say this because Monkeyshines! has a gorilla on the cover, along with other apes inside the gorilla's noggin'. Granted, the inside of the manual corrects this with monkeys everywhere, but since there aren't any apes anywhere once you begin to play the game, I kinda question the reason behind putting apes on the box art for a game called Monkeyshines!…and I'm sure that everyone is thinking that's a pretty odd thing to be bothered by, but those arrogant apes get the cover while those hard-working monkeys that star in the game are relegated to being background images in the golly darn manual, gosh dang it!! Anyway, now that I've rambled on about the cover, let's get on with the game. Monkeyshines! is a collection of five monkey-themed games. The first game is Monkey Tag, a one or two player game.The goal of this game is to navigate a crude maze and tag as many monkeys as you can, without being tagged back. You tag a monkey by catching it and pressing the action button. If you fail to press the action button quickly enough, the monkey will jump away and you'll fail in your score attempt. Next is Tailspin, which is essentially the same game, but with a maze that scrolls upwards as you play, forcing you to change up your strategy. Shuteye is another variation, but this time, you're navigating an invisible maze…well, invisible to you. The monkeys seem to see everything perfectly fine, so you'll be the only one bashing your face into the transparent walls. Monkey Chess is next, and it's a three player game. The manual says that this is like playing a new kind of chess, and you're up against the Great Monkey, who is the monkey chess grand master. The Great Monkey has twice as many pieces as you, but you've got complete control of the board. Two players control the hand controls while the third player tries to outwit the Great Monkey by changing the patterns of the chess board and monkey bars while the game is played. If you'd played this game before, you may be wondering why there are letter and number coordinates on the screen - it's for this game. The third player can manipulate what they see on screen by typing in those coordinates and pressing either clear to delete or enter to add. If you type in the number first, you'll add or remove a vertical bar and if you type in a letter first, you'll add or remove a horizontal bar. By doing this, you can essentially build ladders to help your teammates, put up barriers to block off monkeys pursuing your teammates, or even build cages to temporarily hold off monkeys, making it easier (or harder, if you're mischievous) for your teammates to tag the monkeys. The last game is Bananas, and it's like the developers threw all of the above mentioned games and tossed them in a blender. The manual states that this mode is "for professionals only," but it's really a mode for anyone that just wants to play a game full of chaos for a minute or two. Anyway, Monkeyshines! is a decent game for what it is. The forced need to play with two other people for Monkey Chess, the gem of the cartridge, is a bit lame, though. An option where you team up with one or two computer allies while you strategically alter the board would have been nice. Still, for what it is, Monkeyshines! is an enjoyable game, even with the misleading ape cover…yes, I'm still on that soapbox.

Review added: 06/30/2026