App Review: Treasure Kai and the Seven Cities of Gold - Great Interactive Adventure Book

Details

Treasure Kai and the Seven Cities of Gold is an interactive storybook app on the iPad for boys and girls ages 5 and above. Follow Kai and his best friend Kate as they embark on another grand adventure in this sequel to the award-winning first story, “Treasure Kai and the Lost Gold of Shark Island”.

Treasure Kai awakes from a treasure hunting dream and finds a real treasure map and clue in his pocket. This signals the start of the adventure as Kai and Kate follow the trail of clues which sends Kai into the past to race Francisco Coronado for the Seven Lost Cities of Gold. See what treasure Kai experiences as he tries to beat the conquistadors to save the Seven Cities of Gold. Are you ready to face the challenges with Kai and try to help him get back home?

The app has all the basic features of a standard storybook app like the full page illustrations, story text, the option for narration, interactive elements within the page, and “Next” and “Previous” buttons to turn the pages. When you reach the part where Treasure Kai finds the seven golden keys, the reader is suddenly immersed in the adventure as you help Kai race through the different Cities of Gold. The reader chooses which key to use and put into the map and the story becomes a choose-your-own-adventure type format that will allow users to read, re-read, and experience the story uniquely.

After going through the seven cities, the only way to help Treasure Kai get back home is by remembering the order in which you chose the seven keys. Can you help Kai get back home? Aside from the story, the app gives children a matching game where they have to match the shape of the golden keys into the shapes of the cities on the map to be able to travel there. Towards the end of the story, there is a memory game in which children have to remember the order of the chosen keys.

What iHeartThisApp Liked

This app has all the basic features of a good storybook app: great artwork, story text, narration, and interactive elements to explore within the screen. The artwork is scenic and colourful to entice kids and give them a vision of the grandness of the adventure.

Within the pages, there is a section for story text that appear in parts so as not to overwhelm children and actually help with their reading comprehension. The narrator’s voice is clear and voice acting is great to help support the story text but there is also the option to turn the narration off for more advanced readers. Music and sound effects all add to the experience of the story.

A great feature of the app is the interactive way in which users can choose to experience the story by choosing the specific key to a city that they want to go to first. The choose-your-own-adventure type format gives children a unique adventure every time and raises the replay value of the app. This is capped off with a memory game that requires children to remember the order in which they chose the keys in order to help Kai get back home. This is another unique feature that lets children take control of the their adventure and make them feel like they are actively participating in helping Treasure Kai in his adventure.

The app does not contain any ads, no further in-app purchases, or social media features. It also provides goo d support in its website by providing an online game, fun facts videos, behind the scenes, and different activities such as word searches, mazes, crossword puzzles and download colouring pages all for FREE!

Overall

Treasure Kai and the Seven Cities of Gold is an interactive storybook app where boys and girls can actively participate in Kai and Kate’s grand adventure back into the past as Kai races against Coronado to save the Seven Cities of Gold. Choose the order of how you want to visit the cities and help Kai get back home. This app is an engaging and immersive experience that your children will definitely want to play over and over again.