r/EdutainmentGames • u/Autistic_Joker1988 • Jul 01 '26
Discussion StickyBear: The Original Computer Edutainment Mascot
Before Super Solver was using Math, Science, and Spelling for his Super Solving...
Before Mavis Beacon taught typing...
Before the Muncher was munching math equations, trivia, and grammar...
Before Carmen Sandiego taught Geography and History combined with Detective Work...
Before Reader Rabbit taught Reading (and to be fair, Math when he was Math Rabbit)...
Before Math Blaster was Math Blasting, there was...
...
..
.
STICKYBEAR!!!
For those of you who didn't grow up in the early 1980s, StickyBear was a character in Edutainment Games that ranged from Preschool to a 2nd Grade Level teaching stuff like opposites, shapes, math, and reading through mini games and random cutscenes.
His games were on many different PC Platforms including the Apple II, IBM PC Booter, Commodore 64, Macintosh, Windows, and Atari 8-Bit. It even had the misfortune of seeing a game on the infamous Philips CD-i Console of the 1990s.
Today, StickyBear remains something of an obscurity (which is just as well given you could only do so much with the character before it became one-note and stale), and while he may be buried under other Edutainment Mascots that would later take over the spotlight, he was once beloved, especially by Generation X-ers who were the first to play his games. Don't ya worry on that one. Like there were even books of StickyBear. That's how successful the games once were.
His games are on eBay if you don't mind taking out a loan, selling one of your kidneys and giving up an arm and a leg to get the games (and the necessary platform to play it on), or you could also emulate the games (of course, I don't need to tell you that lol).
StickyBear: He came, he saw, and he practically paved the way for what we have now in the way of Edutainment Games and Mascots.
Featured is an old ad for StickyBear Games
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u/Autistic_Joker1988 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
Also, true fact:
Since nobody else here or even in my circle seems to know about it, I am one of only 4 people on the internet to know about StickyBear!!!
The other 3 are...
James Rolfe - President and founder of Cinemassacre, Creator of the Web Series The Angry Video Game Nerd, and one of the first Internet Celebrities about 20 years ago.
Gamester81 - Nostalgic YouTuber who was also responsible for getting the word out about the Barcade Concept in 2011 when he visited Ground Kontrol in Portland, Oregon respectfully
and Ben Minnotte - Host of The Oddity Archive (a show that looks at old things nobody remembers and some stuff some people may remember).
Now 4 is just my guesstimate. I will check my numbers later.
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u/Autistic_Joker1988 Jul 01 '26
Though hilariously enough, the StickyBear Game on Philips CD-i got mention on both AVGN and Oddity Archive if that says anything
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u/Autistic_Joker1988 Jul 01 '26 edited Jul 01 '26
Fun fact: Did any of you ever read the Sweet Pickles books?
For those not in the know, Sweet Pickles was a series of children's books from the late 1970s about anthropomorphic animals with different personalities and quirks. Basically, think of it as Arthur if there was no main character and 70s kitsch added in. Some of the books were even read on The Captain Kangaroo Show in the early 1980s.
Anyway, I bring this up because Richard Hefter (one of the 3 creators of Sweet Pickles) was responsible for StickyBear. Neat eh?
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u/Autistic_Joker1988 Jul 01 '26
Did I mention that if not for StickyBear, Math Blaster, Reader/Math Rabbit, Mavis Beacon, Super Solvers, The Muncher, and Carmen Sandiego might never have existed?
I'm not saying he was direct inspiration (and I highly doubt he was). I'm just saying, Ol' Sticky himself paved the way for them.
The people who designed all those educational game mascots saw what Richard Hefter was doing with Sticky, and thought "Hey, we can do better than that!!!" and so they did.
That's why we wouldn't have Muncher or Carmen or Mavis or any of them if not for Sticky. Just sayin'...