- Software
- Clue Book
- Junior Novels
- Travel Activity Books
- Board Games
- Puzzle Games
- Comic Books
- Merchandise that is a few years old (another sub-menu here)
- Merchandise that is related to the animated series (a separate page)
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Software:
More info on the titles can be found at the software page.
Clue Book:
The Official Carmen Sandiego™ Clue Books, for Carmen software games. Provides location clues, maps, flags, and sleuthing tips.
Estimated retail price $11.95
Junior Novels
There is a series of books published by Harper Trophy entiled, "A Carmen Sandiego Mystery." The books take elements from the animated series.
The Carmen in these books used to be an Acme Detective, and steals only for the challenge of it. However,
the books have a detective duo named Maya and Ben a 9 and 11 year old, respectively. Maya is the niece of the Chief (I guess the Chief is like the one from the PBS show.) and the
Chief's name is Velma. (Lemme guess, somebody was watching Scooby-Doo when they thought that one up, hee hee.)
The price of each book is $4.50 and the titles available are:
Travel Activity Books:
Carmen takes kids from coast to coast and around the world,
while they solve puzzles and learn fun facts.
From Troll Associates, Estimated retail price, $3.95
Board Games:
There are two that are trivia games where you are a detective answering questions while trying to find
out who the crook is:
Made by University Games. Estimated retail: $15.00
Puzzle Games:
Assemble the puzzle and solve the crime!
Made by the Great American Puzzle factory. Estimated retail, $10.00
Comic Books: (info care of Erin Mills)
They were published bimonthy by DC
Comics and while not based on the animated series, were
still pretty well done in their own right (albeit the stories
were very screwy.)
The main differences being that the comics are based on
both the games and the original PBS series. (They feature
Vic the Slick, Robocrook, Wonder Rat, and Top Grunge.)
Carmen herself is a lot like her animated counterpart,
although this version of her has a warped sense of humor.
(In the first issue, for example she stole one of the heads
from Easter Island. Two weeks later Acme found it in a
parking lot in Las Vegas with sunglasses and an Elvis wig.)
The basic premise is this: Carmen Sandiego is a real
person, and the computer games are actually a recruting
program designed by the Acme Detective Agency (run by
TWO Chief's; the one from "World" and the other from
"USA." Along with Wendy Warrant and Warren the
Warrant Robot.) 12-year-old Evan Sawyer craks his
1,000,000th case and is hired by Acme. He and his
partner Bazooka Mel, and their pilot Columbus Corrigan.
fly around the world hot on Carmen's trail.
Issue #1: Evan joins Acme, and he and Bazooka Mel
follow Carmen's flunkies Robocrook, Scar Graynolt, and
Vic the Slick around the world trying to figure out what
they are up to, until it becomes clear that Carmen has set
up the VILE Home Shopping Network. It's later revealed
that she did this in order to flush out some crooked
collectors she was assigned to bust before she left Acme.
Issue #2: After Wonder Rat, Robocrook, and Len "Red"
Bulk screw up the theft of Lincoln's nose due to their
collective incompetance, Carmen sends them in search of
items of great intellectual value, including Einstein's brain!
(There's a wonderful MST3K parody at the beginning of
this issue and Carmen's pet parrot Pauly is wonderfuly
abbusive [picture Iago on a REAL bad day.])
Issue #3: Action! Chaos! Adventure! With a stop at the
world's toughest frozen yogurt bar! Evan is plagued by
dreams that he caught Carmen in a previous issue, but he
didn't, however it seems that Carmen devised a time
machine with the help of Albert (a computer she designed
with Einstien's brain) and got away. Nothing real fancy, in
fact it's brought up and dropped just as fast, with the
exception of clocks being Carmen's next target. Introduces
Mandy Parker, a pint size master of disguise with an eye
on the Oval Office.
Back to the Other Merchandise List
Hand Held Game:
Tiger Games put out a hand-held version of "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" back in 1993. You would
go to a spot on the map and then try to figure out which of the 3 clues is the right one to identifing your suspect.
Back to the Older Merchandise Section
You Are the Detective Books:
John Peel wrote a series of "Choose Your Own Adventure"- type Carmen Sandiego
books a few years ago (back around 1992). They were entertaining! The whole series:
A thank you to Carmine for letting me know there was a USA/Part II and providing a scan of the cover!
Back to the Older Merchandise Section
Mark and See Books
You take a special pen and it reveals the clues to finding the bad guys:
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KFC Kids Meal Toys:
In October of 1997, (perhaps it overlapped two months, I'm not sure) Kentucky Fried Chicken offered 6 toys in their Kids Meals:
Back to the Older Merchandise Section
Wendy's Kids' Meal Toys:
Wendy's had 2 Carmen Sandiego toy promotions. Thanks CS for the following helpful info!
Sept. 19, 1994 - November 13, 1994
Back to the Older Merchandise Section
Cereal Watch:
Life Cereal (I believe it was Life) offered a watch based on the Jr. Detective characters
back in 1996. Again, further info would be appreciated.
Back to the Older Merchandise Section
Trivia Cards from Holiday Inn:
Back in 1992, Holiday Inn offered Carmen trivia cards to children guests. (thanks to Anita Knipping for info)
Back to the Older Merchandise Section
VILE Files Talking Game:
This was a talking trivia game that had various trivia books about such things as US History, World History, Geography and more. The Chief (the old man of the older software games) spoke as well as a couple of Carmen's henchmen.
Back to the Older Merchandise Section
(there are versions of "Where in Space..," and "Where in
America's Past..." but they're not as updated as the above ones. I did
hear from Broderbund that they're going to update "America's Past"
soon, so hopefully, it'll be out on the market again.)
(thanks to Shadow for the last 2 titles)
Now, the following merchandise is a bit old, and may be difficult to find...
May 6, 1996 - June 16, 1996
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