In Pursuit of Carmen : A hot video character has taken on a life of her own.

Who cares where in the world Carmen Sandiego is?

Plenty of people.

Whether Carmen and her gang of hard-boiled, globe-trotting thieves are lurking at the Vatican or trekking through the Himalayas, you can be sure a pack of kids, and more than a few adults, are in hot pursuit.

On their PCs.

Although not in the same league as Mickey Mouse, Carmen--the star of four personal computer programs that seamlessly blend education and entertainment to teach geography and history--arguably has the highest name recognition of any computer software character among members of the sneaker set. She has already spawned a video game in her image and is on the verge of getting her own television show. Can a breakfast cereal be far behind?

Clearly, Carmen, whose total sales exceed 1 million units, has succeeded where other so-called edu-tainment software has failed. Since her introduction in 1985 in “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” the capers of this shadowy international spy-gone-foul have captured the imagination of school kids otherwise turned off by traditional geography and history lessons.

The object of all the games is to catch a thief. But before an arrest can be made, players must track their prey across continents, time zones and, in the latest sequel, historical eras, while solving increasingly complex clues that usually require the help of the atlas or encyclopedia that comes packed with the game. How else would you know which country’s flag is emblazoned with a lion (Sri Lanka), which country trades in kronurs (Iceland) or in which South American mountain range coffee is grown (Andes)?

For all the obvious reasons, educators and parents love the game. But the truly remarkable thing is that the kids do too.

“It’s like Trivial Pursuit for kids,” explains David Grady, a former publisher of a computer newsletter aimed at the educational market. “It puts together all the elements of good game play, and may actually teach kids something in the process.”

Once hailed as a way to make learning fun and transparent to students, educational game software has largely been a spectacular failure. The sleight of hand hasn’t worked.

“Kids know the difference,” says one former educator. “They know that Football Spelling has nothing to do with football and everything to do with spelling. And by and large they don’t want that much to do with it.”

Further, most of the computerized learning “games” are little more than repackaged drills and problems that students have done for years with paper and pencil. Few programs take full advantage of the unique opportunities offered by computer technology and virtually all of them pale in comparison to the fast-paced action offered by the arcade-style video games written for the Nintendo and Sega systems.

Slower Growth Rate

Not surprisingly, sales of these educational game programs have not lived up to early expectations. In 1988, sales of educational PC software, which includes so-called learning games, totaled $132.5 million, according to the Software Publishers Assn. But the 12% growth rate over the previous year was less than one-third that of the entire PC software industry.

Pure entertainment PC software has fared better, generating sales of $262 million last year, nearly 29% higher than the year before. But these sales are a mere fraction of the $2 billion spent last year on at-home video game systems.

Amid all this, Carmen has become a superstar. And, in the process, she has created a lucrative franchise for her creators at Broderbund Software, an offbeat software publishing house tucked away in woodsy Marin County.

The Carmen series, which accounted for a sizable portion of Broderbund’s $45 million in annual sales last year, is the most successful program developed by the programming and design staff at the 9-year-old publishing house. The programs sell at retail for $35 to $50 each.

Previously, the company had made its mark publishing programs written by others, most notably The Print Shop, a printing program, and Bank Street Writer, a word-processing program. Like many of its other products, the two top-sellers were aimed primarily at small businesses and home computer users.

But, with Carmen, Broderbund has broken into software’s big time. And founders Doug and Gary Carlston, two Harvard-educated brothers, are taking steps to ensure that Carmen’s success endures.

According to Gary Carlston, 38, the company’s chairman, Broderbund is talking to WGBH, the Boston public broadcasting station, about creating a children’s quiz show based on the exploits of Carmen and her gang that would test kids’ knowledge of geography. Carmen has already been licensed for a home video game, and Carlston says he has been approached by creators at the Disney television channel about the possibility of yet another show based on Carmen.

Game Has Changed

Other potential deals include a version of the game for adult audiences, and books and tapes for children. “We think she’s a franchiseable character,” says Doug Carlston, 42, Broderbund’s president. “And if she takes on a life of her own, we’d be very excited. But we’re still pretty new at all this.”

Meanwhile, Carmen’s on-screen development has been entrusted to Gene Portwood and Lauren Elliott, a wacky two-man design team that has handled the character and her exploits since her inception. Even before.

The original game--and yes, it was to have been just a game--was tentatively named the Six Crowns of Henry VIII and its object was to find the ruler’s crowns, which had been stolen and hidden throughout the English countryside. Somewhere along the way it became Sandiego’s show.

“A lot of what we did just happened,” Elliott says. “We didn’t think much about it.”

Design teammates for the last seven years, Portwood and Elliott are a Mutt-and-Jeff-type couple. Portwood, a 55-year-old former animator at the Disney Studios, is short and stocky; Elliott, 43 and a residential architect by training, is tall and lean.

But the two, one of the longest-lasting design teams in the software business, share a passion for wristwatches, all manner of toys, Monty Python movies, Captain America comic books and, of course, Carmen. At work they share a generous toy- and gadget-filled office. Off hours, they and their wives are close friends.

“We don’t see ourselves as joined at the hip, but the company does,” Elliott says.

Indeed. Company employees say they can set their watches by the activities of the pair: a bran muffin and coffee at 8:30 a.m., lunch at noon and a diet Coke at 3 p.m. “We live on the razor’s edge!” Portwood cracks.

How Game Is Developed

They plan their projects first by seeing if their ideas can hold their own interest for longer than a week. If they can discuss a particular concept longer than a week, then they know they have a germ of an idea.

Once the general theme of the program is settled, Elliott handles the geographical, historical and other factual details that make up the clues. Portwood works on the graphics. A team of programmers actually writes the computer code.

Portwood and Elliott won’t say what’s next for Carmen, but the possibilities are many since the format offers almost limitless opportunities.