Carmen Sandiego Word Detective is a game in the Carmen Sandiego franchise which was released in 1997. This game is intended to teach language arts for kids age 8-14. LearningVillage describes Word Detective as a "spy adventure". The title is very similar in format to Carmen Sandiego Math Detective, which was released a year later. In the game Carmen Sandiego has invented a machine called the Babble-On Machine, and the user, playing the role of Agent 13, has to thwart her plans and free all the other agents which have been captured by Carmen.