GeoTrax Videos - My Next Big Project

Creating Videos of GeoTrax Sets in Action, But First...

As you may already know (or have guessed), I have a lot of GeoTrax sets. They reside in various rooms of my home mostly on shelves I've purchased just for this purpose. Some are simply in stacks of boxes on the floor.

All of these sets were fairly well organized but not quite as well as I wanted them to be. So right now I'm in the middle of reorganizing them, so I can find what I need more easily and quickly. I should be finished with this task soon - hopefully by the end of this week.

When I'm done with the reorg, I plan to create some GeoTrax videos.

One GeoTrax Set, One GeoTrax Video

Still photographs, such as those currently on GeoTrax Packs, are wonderful for showing the pieces you get in each set. However, they don't give you a sense of all the fun you can have with them.

So here's what I intend to do: I want to make a short video for each GeoTrax set (that I own) showing what you can do with it.

Some of the larger (usually starter sets) have many moving parts. Sometimes you can use the train to activate a building. Normally you can manually make such actions happen too.

Some sets have remote controllers that make trains (and other types of vehicles) move and make sounds.

Some of the smaller sets have pieces you control by hand only. Though these may seem unimportant to you at first, your child probably will disagree. Sometimes all a child wants is a simple toy. (Clanging pots and pans, anyone?)

This will probably take weeks, if not months, to complete all the videos that I have in mind right now. Watch for the first of them in the next two or three weeks. I'll be posting them on YouTube and linking to them from GeoTrax Packs.

GeoTrax Compendium and Checklist Now Available

The Compendium and Checklist Is Here!

I finally decided to release the first version of my GeoTrax Compendium and Checklist. It's as ready for "prime time" as Version 1 is going to be.

I don't think there are any outright errors in it, other than those that are due to lack of verifiable information. So you should be able to trust at least 99% of the data you see there.

UPDATE: I did find a few small mistakes. They'll be corrected in the next version.

I am charging a small fee ($4.95) for access to it. I'm considering making this a one-time fee; that is, if you buy the current version, all future versions would be free. We'll see about that later though. If you buy a copy, you probably won't really need a future version.

You can purchase your copy here at GeoTrax Packs. You can see a sample page there too. Enjoy!

GeoTrax Catalog in the Works

GeoTrax Compendium Nearly Done

Fisher Price produced over 250 GeoTrax sets between 2003 and 2011. Unfortunately they never put together a catalog or compendium that listed all of them in one place.

For some time I have been compiling such a compendium (as I prefer to call it) online with the help of Google docs. I divided it into six volumes based on production years. It could have been kept as one document, but I think that would have made it far too large. Perhaps I'll eventually make more than one version of it. UPDATE: I just decided to do both - 6 docs, one for each volume and one huge document with every set listed. The latter currently takes 112 Google docs pages.

I listed each set and its components along with a picture, so you can see what it looks like. The pictures are either shots that I've taken myself or (usually) boxes that I've found online. I'm not a professional photographer, but most of my pictures look pretty good.

I now have it just about ready for the world to see, but I would like to get a picture of just about every set first. I find that I'm still short about 80 70 pictures. Some of these will be very difficult to recreate. If I can find an original box for them, that will be fine.

I'm listing the sets I still need below. If you would be able to provide a nice picture of one of more of these, please let me know. I would much prefer a white background in the style of most pictures you see on GeoTrax Packs. Most of those pictures use white tagboard or a homemade light box with a white cloth as a backdrop. If you have a set to contribute but don't have that kind of setup, any plain, uncluttered background will do.

(Ignore the random space between some sets. That's just Blogger being weird.)

Sets That Need Pictures in the Compendium

Set: C5792 Pacific Chief (First Release)
Set: C6448 Elevation Track Pack - (Ramps and) Flats
Set: G1438 On-the-Go Zoo Super Set [questionable as to whether this set exists]
Set: G6173 Deluxe Elevation Set
Set: H1640 Rescue Accessory Pack

Set: H2763 Tracktown Railway (with bonus items)

Set: J1535 Air and Sea Combo Pack
Set: J3929 Conductor’s Crossing Play Pack (Kohl’s exclusive)
Set: J3930 Bayshore Drawbridge Play Pack (Kohl’s exclusive)
Set: J3931 Oceanside Flier RC Play Pack (Kohl’s exclusive)

Set: K3014 Special Edition Vehicle Pack (Toys R Us)

Set: K5057 Big City Rapidrail Starter Set

Set: K8378 Mega Set (Toys R Us)

Set: K9442 Rainbow Bridge Play Set (Kohl’s; Second Release)

Set: K9443 Beamtown Fire Station Play Set (Kohl’s; Second Release)

Set: L5891 Crankin' Round Crane with Figure (Toys R Us; Second Release)
Set: L5895 Lighted Bridge with Figure (Toy R Us; Third Release)
Set: L5904a Eco-D & Ethan - The Greenest Team (First Release)
Set: M2100 Switchin' Signs Covered Bridge

Set: M2809 Grand Central Station Set Mega Set (Kohl's)

Set: M3238 Fire Rescue Set (Kohl’s)

Set: N1446 Wheeler & Wes
Set: N3985 High Flyin’ Deluxe Airport (Second Release)
Set: N5964 Eco-D and Ethan - The Greenest Team (Second Release)
Set: N8258 Mountain Blast Construction Site (Kohl’s; Second Release)

Set: N8851 Mechanic's Garage (Toys R Us)

Set: N9989 High-Flyin’ Airport and Vehicles (Kohl’s; Third Release)

Set: N9993 GeoAir Mega Set (Toys R Us)

Set: O1193 Super Friends Track Pack - Batman

Set: O9600 Green Lantern Engine

Set: P1502 Chop ‘n Haul Sawmill with Miter, Chopper, and Stumpy

Set: P8546 Lumber Yard (Kohl’s)
Set: P8962 Ironface and Irving - The Stubborn Team

Set: P8964 Sweeps and Sven - The Cleanest Team

Set: P9696 Crossing Gate (Toys R Us)
Set: P9697 Rope 'n Ride Ranch (Second Release)
Set: R6357 Radiator Springs Mega Set
Set: R9745 On-the-Go Zoo Extra Value Pack

Set: R9746 High-Flyin’ Airport Bonus Set (Target; Fourth Release)

Set: R9938 Bridge and Helicopter

Set: R9940 Cranks and Mr. Cross (Toys R Us; Second Release)

Set: R9943 Old Rust and Tex (Toys R Us)

Set: R9944 Farm & Tractor (Toys R Us)

Set: T6200 Cars 2 - Brand New Mater
Set: T7159 Cars 2 - Red
Set: T7959 Cars 2 - Fillmore’s Tent

Set: V0420 Christmas Railway (Catalog)

Set: V2027 Christmas in ToyTown (Toys R Us)

Set: V7294 Timbertown with Goldstein and Grant Bonus

Set: V7867 Train Table and RC Set (Toys R Us)

Set: V7875 Joker Track Pack

Set: V8489 Super Friends Deluxe Playset - Gotham City

Set: V8491 The Joker’s Lair

Set: V9959 Cars - Criss-Cross Track Pack

Set: V9966 Cars - Rod Redline
Set: V9967 Cars 2 - Grem

Set: W0275 Cars - Shake ‘N Go World Grand Prix

Set: W6117 Cars 2 - World Grand Prix Value Set (Sam’s Club)

Set: W6843 Rock and Pete - The Smoothest Team

Set: W6844 Scorcher and Stephen - The Most Courageous Team

Set: W6845 Finney and Swifty - The Wildest Team

Set: W9964 Super Friends - The Penguin Lair

Set: W9965 Riddler Joke Factory

GeoTrax Online Games at the Fisher Price Site

Choose GeoTrax Engine Builder or Memory Match

I'm not sure how long ago Fisher Price decided to put a couple of GeoTrax games online, but they're still there as of this writing. There is a GeoTrax Engine Builder game and a GeoTrax Memory Match game.

Engine Builder

The Engine Builder game is really an online jigsaw puzzle rather than a (board) game. You can choose from three levels of difficulty. The Easy level is recommended for children aged 3-5 years. Medium is for 4-7 year olds, and Hard for 5-9.

You pick one of six engines - Aero, Woohoo, Goggles, Bull, Steamer, or Ironface - and then select the difficulty level. (Until I discovered this game, I thought Goggles was the engineer and Bunsen was the train engine. I was wrong.)

As far as I can tell, there is no difference between working on an Easy puzzle and a Medium one. Both have the same number of pieces each of which is outlined for you in the destination area. What makes a Hard level puzzle different is that the pieces are not outlined; the number of pieces remains the same.

Memory Match

The Memory Match game is a "concentration" style game with three distinct levels - again, Easy, Medium, and Hard. Each level is timed, so you can see how you improve over several plays.

The Easy level presents you with just two pairs of "face down" tiles. In each game (at every level), you click one tile to reveal a train. Then you click another tile to see if it matches your first one. If it does, the tiles disappear. When you have revealed all the matches, you get to see your time spent.

The Medium level gives you eight tiles, and the Hard level gives you twelve. The Hard level of the Memory Match game is the most difficult of all of these games.

If you think your child would enjoy these fairly simply online challenges, give them a try. They're harmless and - who knows? - may not be available forever.