I was probably one of the first Spot the dog enthusiasts in the US. Now Spot is the star of his own CD-ROM from Hasbro called Spot and His Friends. I suppose my infatuation with Spot makes me a bit less than the most unbiased critic, but I think Spot fans like me and young computer users (ages 2 and up) will enjoy this disk. There are basically 4 different plot lines for kids to explore. Kids can help Spot get ready for a costume party. Spot also loves to wander around the local farm looking for the baby animals, discovering where they live, and designing a farmyard picture. A trip to the country wouldn't be complete without a stop at the local carnival, so Spot helps his grandfather clean up an old fire engine for the carnival parade, drive it around town to pick up Spot's friends, and top it off by making an animated carnival picture. Kids will also respond to a day at the beach with Spot and his dad. First Spot has to find where his dad is hiding. A helpful seagull then helps Spot learn how to fly a kite (this is a bit tricky), and Spot finishes his day by building a sandcastle for a contest. (Spot and his human friend always win by the way). While there's nothing wildly new about any of these activities, they're very solid and seem to please youngest users, who figure out how the program works very quickly. You can help them out by reading through some of the material, especially if they want to return to one particular activity. Sandcastle and carnival pictures can be printed out. The replay factor of this program will depend on the user. It shares some of the qualities of those videos that little ones like to play over and over again, but it's not really set up to be different every time a child uses it. All in all, it's a great debut on CD-ROM for my friend Spot. And congratulations for the folks at Hasbro -- it's so nice to see one of their products available for the Mac.