After hearing these stories and in response to a customer request for safety software for infants, Kiddies Games created the computer game “Call 911”.
Actually, there are a few versions the game. “Call 911” is for USA and Canada. There is “Call 999” for England and the UK, “Call 000” for Australia, “Call 111” for New Zealand and “Call 112” for Europe.
Children who are that young dial the telephone by remembering the positions of the buttons to press on the telephone rather than by actually recognizing the numbers. Thus, the game is carefully designed to emphasize button positions and sequence.
As with all KiddiesGames, the game is designed to be fun and always positive, subtly showing the child the correct answer when necessary and cheering the child when they do dial the correct numbers. Thus, while subtly teaching new skills to small children, the game is always one of open-ended exploration and positive feedback for the self-esteem, which KiddiesGames believes are the most important ingredients of good infant software.
The arrival of children can be exhausting not only for people but also for machines. Our answering machine almost packed up and quit those first few days, because everyone you know calls, and never just once. We came home from the hospital, hit the button, and heard a mechanical voice on the verge of an emotional breakdown.
quoted from "Babyhood" by Paul Reiser of television's "Mad About You", page 107
Small children should be supervised by a caregiver when at a computer,
to ensure no accidents occur that could hurt the child and that no equipment gets broken.