Where in Space Is Carmen Sandiego?

• Refs — yes • Title — Where in Space Is Carmen Sandiego? • Developer — Broderbund • Publisher — * Broderbund • Electronic Arts • Series — Carmen Sandiego • Platforms — Classic Mac OS, DOS • Genre — Educational • Designer — * Bob Arient • John Baker • Michael Barrett • Christa Beeson • Michelle Bushneff • Jim Everson • Ken Goldstein • Lance Groody • Tom Rettig • David Ross

With only minor aesthetic changes to the interface, the game is familiar to anyone who played the previous entries. Each investigation follows a variation on the classic Carmen Sandiego formula: Sandiego or one of her gang has stolen something, and players need to collect evidence across the Solar System in order to obtain an arrest warrant before capturing the villain du jour. Research into topics of space exploration—classical astronomy, constellations, contemporary exploratory efforts (e.g. the Viking program), and more—is needed to succeed in capturing the master thief and her 14 "henchthings". After capturing several gang members, the player will begin receiving increasingly obscure clues. The chief of detectives issues each assignment: a valuable artifact has been stolen from somewhere in the Solar System (e.g. the Skynd crater from Umbriel, Sacajawea Patera from Venus, or Hermes' winged hat from Mercury). After traveling to the last place the thief was seen, clues will indicate to which of 32 available locations the suspect fled, and once players search each new location for new clues, the chase continues. Following too many incorrect leads will exhaust the player's fuel, insufficient clues will preclude an arrest warrant, and over-analysis will afford the suspect time to fully escape; all of which are a game over. The game's built-in database (VAL 9000) not only contains data on the Solar System and space exploration (with digitized NASA photographs), but also criminal dossiers, a log of where the player has already been, and sarcastic commentary on the player's progress.

Developed by Broderbund, Where in Space was designed by Bob Arient, John Baker, Michael Barrett, Christa Beeson, Michelle Bushneff, Jim Everson, Ken Goldstein, Lance Groody, Tom Rettig, and David Ross.

Running Where in Space Is Carmen Sandiego? on an IBM PC compatible required an Intel 80386 processor (or compatible), VGA graphics, 640 kilobytes of random-access memory, eight megabytes of hard disk drive space, and DOS 3.1 or later; a sound card and mouse were recommended. No digital rights management was built into the game. On the Macintosh, Where in Space required ten megabytes of hard drive space.

Where in Space Is Carmen Sandiego? was released alongside the popular Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? children's television game show. In the UK, Broderbund and Electronic Arts published the game in May 1993. In the United States, Where in Space sold for in August 1993; by May 1994, a Macintosh version had been released, selling for. In 1995, University Games published a Junior Detective Edition of Where in Space. It sold for, and was marketed for ages eight and up. That December, The Columbian wrote that children enjoyed learning about outer space, and that Where in Space was better than other Carmen Sandiego games they had played, but that it was also "too difficult for 8 year-old kids". The Register-Guard agreed that, while more fun than other games in the franchise, it was too much for the youngest children in its advertised age bracket.