Tot Towns

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By Newsweek Editors

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BASED ON ITS POPULAR SimCity program, Maxis has created a scaled-down version just for kids called SimTown. As with SimCity, the CD-ROM puts the user in charge of creating a livable city out of essential parts-houses, businesses, roads, trees, ponds, people and so forth. Budding urban planners can design bustling minimetropolises on empty plots of land, or try to clean up a town plagued with problems like air pollution or a water shortage. The straightforward interface is intuitive enough to master in a few minutes without the help of the manual-although designing an intricate town with a thriving population can take hours. Learning what it takes to manage a realistic city with no real-life consequences is the beauty part. The penalty for creating a town that doesn't work? You get to try again.

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