Cheap LEGOLAND (Video Games) (Windows 98, Windows 95) Price

A series of tutorials teach the fundamentals of park management, from landscaping to ride repair. Free play is possible once the tutorials are mastered. The more a player builds, the more troubleshooting is necessary. Build too many rides and an alarm sounds--you'll need to build a power station to keep them all running. If you don't hire enough mechanics, rides break down. Panic and hire too many mechanics and you'll hear a "ka-ching" as your cash reserves are depleted by a bunch of lazy LEGO fix-it folks loafing around the park with nothing to do.

This game is about management, multitasking, and sucking up to the boss. The folks at LEGO Media even created the perfect supervisor. He pleasantly orders players to do difficult tasks while never deigning to lift one of his own little yellow pincers to help out.

Kids who have visited an actual LEGOLAND may enjoy slaving away in this virtual one. One warning: LEGO manages to plug the product with a selection entitled "Watch LEGOLAND Movies." Click on it and you'll end up watching an ad for LEGOLAND theme parks. Evidently the only creatures more ruthless than little plastic managers are the flesh-and-blood ones managing them. (Ages 6 and older) --Anne Erickson