On February 3, 1997, the privately-held Knowledge Adventure was acquired by CUC International, becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of the CUC Software division alongside Davidson & Associates, Blizzard Entertainment, and Sierra On-Line CUC Software would be the label that marketed the JumpStart games. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Knowledge Adventure "started the baby trend when it introduced JumpStart Toddlers in 1996". In October, Steve Chadima, vice president of marketing services at Knowledge Adventure said that while JumpStart sales were strong, and the series was about to be extended with JumpStart 2nd Grade, he said: "We're testing concepts for third grade to see if it is viable.I don't know if this is going to work with higher grade levels." However, JumpStart Adventures 3rd Grade: Mystery Mountain would end up being released in 1996, and many higher grade games followed.
Microtimes retrospectively wrote that the acquisition of the early learning products augmented Knowledge Adventure's strengths. During the period of time, Listick was also optimistic that the added resources of the larger organisation would allow him to create a "JumpStart Elementary School" of compelling and exciting children's software. Meanwhile, Knowledge Adventure founder, Bill Gross, hoped the acquisition would allow the JumpStart series to expand into international markets, as well as multiple platforms, on-line, and the Internet, to supplement the home and school markets.
Later, Fanfare founder and chairman, Barton Listick, became vice president of Knowledge Adventure, while his staff had relocated to Knowledge Adventure's headquarters in Glendale, California. Afterwards, Fanfare was also known to have developed two more games JumpStart Preschool and JumpStart 1st Grade before being acquired by Knowledge Adventure on August 9, 1995. The first game in the early learning software series, JumpStart Kindergarten, was created in 1994 by independent developer, Fanfare Software (founded 1988), and published by Knowledge Adventure (founded 1991).
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