Touch & Discover Alphabet Town

Touch & Discover Alphabet Town was a toy released in 2005. It has 26 light-up letter buttons with color-coded vowels and consonants and a light-up music button with a musical note, as well as a car-shaped activity slider to select one of eight activities and a clock with the multiples of 3 highlighted, as well as an hour hand that can be moved at any time to hear the corresponding time and a fun phrase.

Activities

• Phonics Fun - Press any letter to hear its sound and the related word. A sound effect will play along with a fun phrase.
• Town Visit - A light will flash at the starting point and go to another button. Press the button it goes to in order to carry on with the journey.
• Find It - Play a guessing game where you have to find a specific object/place.
• Spelling - Press the letter buttons to spell a word that it gives you. The letter that comes next will flash.
• Counting - A number of letter buttons will light up (range is 1 to 10); press them all one by one to count.
• Clock Quiz - Turn the clock hand to the given time.
• Light-Up The Town - A random letter button will light up at any time. Press it as fast as you can. This will happen 10 times.
• Music - Press any letter button to hear a fun musical tune.

Phrases (US/UK)

• Ambulance: "Dial 911/999 for emergencies!"
• Bus: "Hop aboard!"
• Clock: "What's the time?"
• Dentist: "What a beautiful smile!"
• Exit: "See you soon!"
• Fountain: "Make a wish!"
• Garden: "Smell the flowers!"/Garage: "Oh, no; I've broken down."
• Hospital: "Hope you're feeling better!"
• Insect: "It's very small!"
• Jewelry: "See it sparkle!"/Junction: "Don't forget to stop!"
• Kite: "Up, up and away!"
• Library: "Shhh! Quiet! People are reading."
• Museum: "Let's find some paintings!"/Market: "What should we buy?"
• Newspaper: "Read all about it!"
• Onion: "Chop it up!"
• Park: "Let's play on the swing(s)!"
• Quail: "Look, it's a bird!"/Queen: "A very special visitor!"
• Railway: "Keep off the track(s)!"
• School: "Let's learn!"
• Train: "The train goes fast!"
• Umbrella: "It's raining!"
• Van: "It's a delivery!"
• Window: "Let's look outside!"
• X-ray: "Look at all the bones!"
• Yo-yo: "Up and down, watch it roll!"
• Zoo: "Look at all the animals!"
• 1:00: "Let’s go to the museum!"
• 2:00: "Time to take your books back to the library!"
• 3:00: "Let’s play in the park!"
• 4:00: "Let’s go to the fountain and make a wish!"
• 5:00: "Let’s buy an umbrella in case it rains!"
• 6:00: "Time to catch the bus!"
• 7:00: "Time to read the newspaper!"
• 8:00: "Let’s play with a yo-yo!"
• 9:00: "Time to go to school!"
• 10:00: "Let’s fly a kite!"
• 11:00: "It’s feeding time at the zoo!"
• 12:00: "Let’s have lunch in the park!"

Melody List

This is the list of songs that this device has, accessed through the Music activity.

US/UK

• A: Animal Fair
• B: Chopsticks
• C: Clementine or Found a Peanut
• D: Where Has My Little Dog Gone? or Where Has My Underdog Gone?
• E: Medley: Goodnight Ladies / Mary Had a Little Lamb or Merrily We Roll Along
• F: Hey Diddle Diddle
• G: I've Been Working On The Railroad or In Construction from Putt-Putt Enters the Race
• H: Hickory Dickory Dock
• I: Three Blind Mice or I Am So Smart
• J: In The Hall Of The Mountain King
• K: London Bridge or All the Leaves
• L: Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush or Silly Old Gordon from Thomas & Friends
• M: The Entertainer
• N: Ring-A-Ring-O' Roses
• O: Old MacDonald with the first part of BINGO and the second part of Bonnie Wee House of Iveagh
• P: Polly Put The Kettle On
• Q: Take Me Out To The Ball Game
• R: Alouette, Little Bunny Foo Foo, Itsy Bitsy Spider, or Down by the Station
• S: The Farmer In The Dell or A-Hunting We Will Go
• T: This Old Man, I Love You from Barney & Friends, Apple Round, Apple Red, High and Low from Little People, or I Love Me Too from Barney's World
• U: The Can Can or Mario's Invincible Theme
• V: Fast Tune
• W: When The Saints Go Marching In
• X: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, The Alphabet Song, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Cluck Cluck Red Hen, or Ah vous dirai je maman
• Y: On Top Of Old Smokey or Spaghetti
• Z: Oh Susanna or I Am Not Your Broom by They Might Be Giants

France

• A: The Itsy Bitsy Spider
• B: Three Blind Mice
• C: Ah Les Crocodiles
• D: Dansons La Capucine
• E: This Old Man
• F: Alouette
• G: Dans Sa Maison Un Grand Cerf
• H: Un Éléphant Qui Se Balançait
• I: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
• J: Sur Le Pont D’Avignon
• K: Old McDonald
• L: Pomme De Reinette Et Pomme D’Api
• M: Ainsi Font Font Font
• N: The Entertainer
• O: The Old Gray Mare or Ngalman Djangu Godku Yumarrku
• P: Les Petits Poissons Dans L’Eau
• Q: Passe Passe Passera
• R: Rock And Roll Des Gallinacés
• S: London Bridge
• T: Can Can
• U: Une Souris Verte
• V: Bon Voyage Monsieur Dumollet
• W: Polly Put The Kettle On
• X: When The Saints Go Marching In
• Y: Oh Susanna
• Z: Skip To My Lou

German

• A: The Entertainer
• B: Auf der schwäbsche Eisenbahne
• C: La Cucaracha
• D: Ein Hase saß im tiefen Tal
• E: Alle meine Entchen
• F: Clementine
• G: Ri Ra Rutsch
• H: Ein Mann der sich Kolumbus nannt
• I: Suse, liebe Suse
• J: Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass
• K: Schlafe, mein Prinzchen, schlaf ein
• L: Jolly good Fellow
• M: Goodnight Ladies / Merrily We Roll Along
• N: Grün, grün, grün, sind alle meine Kleider
• O: Hänschen klein
• P: La Cucaracha (Reprise)
• Qu: Schmetterling, du kleines Ding
• R: Es tanzt ein Bi, Ba, Butzemann
• S: Heut ist ein Fest bei den Fröschen am See
• T: The farmer in the dell
• U: Auf der schwäbsche Eisenbahne (Reprise)
• V: The Entertainer (Reprise)
• W: Suse, liebe Suse (Reprise)
• X: Mozart Sonata
• Y: Animal Fair
• Z: Summ, summ, summ, Bienchen, summ herum

Quotes

• “(school bell rings) Hi, kids! Welcome to Alphabet Town! (music)” (when you turn the toy on) (can be skipped by pressing any letter button)
• “Come and visit the town again! Goodbye!” (when you turn the toy off)
• “Press the buttons to learn about my town.” (the instructions for the Phonics Fun activity)
• “Are you ready for a tour? Come on! (bus honk)” (when you switch to Tour Visit)
• “Come on! Let’s learn to spell some words!” (when you switch to Spelling)
• “Can you count the lights with me?” (when you switch to Counting)
• “Let’s learn about time.” (when you switch to Clock Quiz)
• “Can you light up the town? Press the light as fast as you can!” (before pressing the lights in Light-Up The Town)
• “Come on! Let’s have music fun! Press the buttons to play.” (the instructions for the Phonics Fun activity)
• “(letter) says (sound). (sound) is for (word). (sound effect) (phrase)” (when pressing a letter button in Phonics Fun)
• “We are at the (starting place/object). Let’s go to the (first stop)!” (announcing the first stop in Tour Visit)
• “Now, let’s go to the (second stop)!” (announcing the second stop in Tour Visit)
• “Our last stop is the (last stop)!” (announcing the last stop in Tour Visit)
• “Press the (place/object).” (the instructions for the Tour Visit activity)
• “I’m lost! Can you help me find the place? It’s near the (place/object)!” (when looking for a place in the Find It activity, with a spoken clue)
• “Can you help me find it? It’s near the (place/object)!” (when looking for an object in the Find It activity, with a spoken clue)
• “Listen! What makes this sound? (sound effect)” (when looking for an object in the Find It activity, with a sound effect clue)
• “It’s near the (place/object)!” (when receiving a hint after your first incorrect answer in the Find It activity)
• “It begins with the letter (letter)!” (when receiving a hint after your second incorrect answer in the Find It activity)
• “(word) is spelled (spelling of word).” (giving spelling of a word in Spelling)
• “Press the letters to spell (word).” (the instructions for the Spelling activity)
• “Press the buttons to count.” (the instructions for the Counting activity)
• “Can you set the clock to (time)?” (the instructions for the Clock Quiz activity)

Trivia

• You will have three chances to answer activities that ask questions correctly. If you answer correctly (or press at least one light in Light-Up The Town), you will hear a crowd cheering and applauding and the lights will dance and display a checkmark (if you are in Light-Up The Town, all the lights you did not miss will flash and the toy will say “Wow! You’re doing great! Let’s play again!”). The toy will either say “Excellent!”, “Well done!”, or “Wow! You’re so smart!” This can be skipped by pressing any letter button. If you answer incorrectly, you will lose one chance and the toy will say “Uh-oh! Try again!”. If you lose all your chances, you will hear a crowd “aww”, the lights will display an X, the toy will say “Oh no!” and show you the correct answer. This can also be skipped by pressing any letter button. If you don’t press the light in time or press the wrong light in Light-Up The Town, the toy will say “Uh-oh!” and give you a new light to press.
• The letters that have different words in the UK version are G, J, M, and Q. Their words are garage, junction, market, and queen. Their phrases are "Oh no; I've broken down.", "Don't forget to stop!", "What should we buy?", and "A very special visitor!".
• The phrases for Clock and Market are the only phrases to end in a question mark.
• The bus in the US version is a yellow school bus and the one in the UK version is a red double-decker one.
• When the letter L button is pressed in the US version, the toy says, "Shhh! Quiet! People are reading." in a normal voice, but in the UK version, when it is pressed, he whispers it.
• In the UK version, "Dial 911 for emergencies!" is referred to as "Dial 999 for emergencies!".
• The German version uses "Qu" instead of "Q." It is possibly the only toy to do so.
• Not counting the Arabic version, all versions of the Alphabet Town have non-tactile uppercase letters except for the UK and Dutch versions, which have tactile lowercase letters.
• The only versions of the Alphabet Town that don’t have the music button are the Spanish and Arabic versions.
• When you press the light-up music button at any time, it will play a bus honk and the sung song “The Wheels on the Bus” is played. After the song, it will return back to what you were doing.
• The t’s in “Town Visit” and “Find It” have tails, but the t’s in “Counting” and “Light-Up The Town” don’t have tails.
• When you are idle, a tune will play in the background. When you press a button, the tune will start over after all the narrations and sound effects play. After the tune, it will repeat the instruction and start the tune again.
• The van honk is the same as the bus honk.
• The school bell sound effect is played when you press the letter S button, as well as when you turn the toy on.
• The toy adds an “uh” to the end of all the consonants’ phonetic sounds, except for X and Z.
• In the US, UK, German, Spanish, and Dutch versions, the vowels and music button are red and the consonants are green. In most French versions, the vowels and music button are green and the consonants are blue. In one French version, the vowels and music button are red and the consonants are blue.
• This toy shares the same US voice with the 2008 release of the Alphabet Apple.
• The US version uses the word “Railway” for the letter R, although the word “Railroad” is usually used.
• The French version is the only version to have the activity slider and speaker colored green instead of blue.
• The manual says there is a time limit in the “Light-Up The Town” activity, but there is actually no time limit and you have to press 10 lights as fast as you can.

External Links

Manuals

• US