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For Robot Turtles, 48 customer reviews collected from 1 e-commerce sites, and the average score is 4.1.

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12.2.2016

Steve Jobs once said that everyone should learn how to program a computer because it teaches you how to think. Now, the question is. Was he right? The UK Government have introduced coding in schools and I have seen this first hand when I visited my son's computer lab.Not every kid should be a programmer. Just like everyone shouldn't be a plumber or a pilot. Some people need to be creative and others need to be logical. What I believe is that everyone should be taught on how to look at a situation and know how to solve it (Even if the answer is that they need more help).What Robot Turtles does is take this concept and put it in the form of a boardgame.The objective of Robot Turtles is for thechildren to direct their turtle from one corner of the board to the gem that has been placed on the board. It sounds easy but depending on the age of the child, obstacles can be placed on the board that the child has to navigate around. The way that they navigate the turtle is by the use of cards. In this game, the offical rules is that there is no loser, each child 'wins' by getting to the gem. Obviously, this can be changed depending on the lesson that you wish to impart to your children.All the adults do is take the instructions from the child and moves the turtle.Final ThoughtsParents want the best for their kids and don't want them to be stuck in front of the TV or the 'PlayTendio One' all day. They want to strike the balance between having fun and making them do studies. I believe that Robot Turtles achieves this. It's education but most importantly, it is fun. The child gets to be in control of the game, the adult cannot really alpha game but they can provide guidance. They can praise when the child gets it right and if they get it wrong, no harm or foul, they just use the bug card and discuss what went wrong.This is an important point - This game does focus on the logical programming side but it also bolsters communication, everyone talks to each other about the game. Everyone is focused on each other and in a day where everyone's head is buried in a phone, this can never be a bad thing.I know that this game helped my son when it came to his school work. Recently, his homework was to navigate a pirate to his treasure using the Forward, turn right, turn left mechanic. As he had played Robot Turtles, it was very simple for him to complete. What more could I ask for.He loves this game and it is what made him get in front of the camera to showcase how this game works, an activity that he's never done before.Easy to Understand – 5 turtles out of 5Setup – 4 turtles out of 5Game Footprint (Table space) – 3 turtles out of 5 (Smaller footprint gets higher points)Social Interaction – 4 turtles out of 5Theme – 5 turtles out of 5Fun Factor – 4 turtles out of 5Kid Friendly – 5 turtles out of 5
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11.6.2015

If you're looking for something a bit different to play with your children then Thinkfun Robot Turtles is certainly a good choice. It combines entertainment with some educational benefits.The game is based around Logo, the simple programming language that many children first come across in Primary School. The way the board game is designed, though, means that even pre-schoolers can get to grips with the simple rules, though they will need to know their left from their right to make things easier.The game consists of a fold out board, player pieces (a turtle, diamond and bug card all in the same colour), obstacle cards that can be placed anywhere on the board and a set of 'rule'cards.The idea is to get from the starting position to the crystal, wherever it is placed, by issuing commands. You can either set the game up for the players to use the command cards each turn (ie turn left card to turn left before the next player has a go) or, for the more advanced player, each player can lay all their commands out before they start. There doesn't need to be a winner, either, as the game encourages everyone to reach their goal, though you can make it a race if you want to.Players can go forward, turn left and right, shoot an ice wall or issue a set of commands using a special card that can repeat a sequence. This last card isn't introduced until children are familiar with the rest of the game and the manual gives you helpful instructions on how to introduce each part. Although a small booklet, I found the manual to be easy to read and very comprehensive.The pieces are all high quality thick material which look nicely designed with bright colours. They're easy to place on the board and pre-schoolers will find it easy to understand what the cards do. One person who isn't playing is required to move the pieces based on the instructions (basically acting as the computer), so you will need 3 people in order for 2 players to play the game.We had a lot of fun playing, even though my kids are 9 and 10 now. The parent/person controlling the board is encouraged to make silly sound effects while moving the turtles or shooting a wall. It's very different from anything I've played before and I can see how it would prepare younger children for simple programming concepts.
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18.6.2015

We have a five-year-old boy, who is fairly technically minded, who took to this game straight away and professes to love it.The concept is fairly simple, the idea being to teach basic coding principles to small children, through a fun board game. Now, there isn't any actual coding to be done, they'll not be learning Basic or Cobol but they will be learning how code is broken down into a series of discreet instructions that are carried out by the computer in sequence.To do this the children have to guide a turtle across a gridded board to reach a the jewel that matches their turtle's colour. A basic program is written by placing cards - each of which give the turtle a command - in a line; an adult acting as the computer carries out the commands on the child's turtle.The basic commands are 'move forward', 'turn left' and 'turn right', when playing the game for the first few times, these are the only commands the child will need and they can be placed one at a time, the parent/computer following the commands as they are placed. They do encourage an adult to take on the role of the computer and to do so whilst being very silly indeed, this all adds to the fun but my repertoire of funny noises eventually ran dry.As the child progresses and gets more skilled at basic coding, then more complex coding can be introduced. First of all is the concept of writing the code in one piece and only executing when it is complete, much like a real program. Obstacles can be placed on the board which require a bit more lateral thinking and introduce new commands. Eventually the child can be introduced to routines which are a series of commands that can be 'written' separately and then represented in the code by a special card that when encountered by the computer/parent will cause the turtle to follow that routine.As well as being easy to learn, unlike many board games, there is the prospect of the game becoming more complex and challenging as the child's skill increases.I particularly liked two things: that the game reduces actual screen time, whilst teaching important real world computing skills and that the design is resolutely unisex and doesn't seek to look like a boy's toy. Other than that, it is very well designed and made and, most importantly, fun.
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23.12.2014

I bought this for a four-year-old, who has taken to it enthusiastically. The interaction between child and parent is a vital part of this entertaining and educational game, which introduces children to the logical thinking that is needed for programming. Adults need to take it light-heartedly, make funny turtle noises, and play for fun. I suspect that any attempt to "teach" or get results is going to be counter-productive. Children older than about seven or eight can learn by faster, more direct methods, but for pre-school children, this game, which needs no reading or writing, seems like a Good Thing.The game is based on the Logo programming language, which dates form the late 1960s,and which featured the turtle, an imaginary animal with a pen in its tail. Commands made the turtle move and trace graphics, and the old turtle now turns up in modern form and with a laser on his back. Children use cards to give him commands so that he moves to claim a jewel. As the child acquires skill, obstacles are introduced by the adult player. The adult is supposed to move the turtle around the board, and the child can see what it does, give the next command, or put right anything that went wrong. There are no mistakes in this game,-- they are just bugs, and you can shout "bug!" then try something else until the turtle does what you wanted.Our four-year-old also wanted to change places and move the turtle and although the game's designer does not encourage this, I think it helps the child realise what happens when a computer gets an instruction (don't mention computers!).With a bit more playing, children will notice that some command sequences are used again and again, so the adult introduces the function frog. That means sequences like "shoot the laser, move forward, move forward" become a single command, just like a function in a program (don't mention programming!).Everything is done with a bright board, pieces and cards. The tactile experience, shared with Mum or Dad and incorporating laughs and silly human sound effects, is way superior than using yet another nagging app on the old iPad. A few children can play at once as long as there is one adult, and this introduces new variations, like "what happens when turtles collide?".
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30.5.2015

I was surprised at how heavy this was when it arrived, for a board game, but there's a lot of cards involved and they and the game board are well made. They'll need to be because this game is going to be out most weekends by the look of things!I played with my 4yr old and his 5yr old friend and the 5yr old went home begging his dad to buy him one of his own.They were instantly captivated at the mere mention of a game involving Robot Turtles, and beside themselves with excitement when I mentioned that these turtles have Lasers!!!I started to worry that the game wouldn't live up to their expectations but 5 minutes in and they were totally hooked.The game requires logical thinking and planning, (which 4yr olds actually DO possess, who knew ???), in a step-by-step fashion that replicates the skills needed to understand the basics of computer programming, (which I believe is becoming part of the National Curriculum for Primary Schools)There are no winners or losers, everyone's turtle wins when it reaches the jewel, and any mistakes made along the way are just "Bugs" (as in computer bugs). Shout "BUG" to undo the error and then try another move to progress- it really is just a learning journey!The kids write the "code" using the directional code cards, whilst the adult follows the "programming instructions" by moving the turtle as directed, making appropriately silly robot noises along the way !!It's simple but brilliant fun and I was surprised by how quickly the kids were captivated by it. Once the basics have been learnt, the game expands almost indefinitely with more complicated cards, and the introduction of Function Frogs which replace a series of commonly-used instructions, with one single code, (again, just like real programming)I believe there are even more modifications to the rules, available online, to extend the game even further but we've not yet got to that level.Really good to find a game this much fun, and educational too, that you know has so much more still to give
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4.6.2015

I am a professional programmer and I have seen with interest how programming has been introduced at school to my Year 3 son. My other son in reception has yet to do programming at school so I thought this game would be of interest.The thing about programming - the most important thing is that each step follows the next. If a single step is wrong then the program fails. This game absolutely gets this core truth and makes a game around it.Each player has a Turtle and has to guide it step by step to collect a jewel. These are laid out on a board divided up into a grid. To make the turtle reach the jewel the player must lay down the next step of the journey. These are rotate left, rotate right and move forward.As the cards are laid out they form a sequence of actions and the journey is laid down as an algorithm.Sounds boring but it isn't. You as the adult act as the games master and your job is to check the logic and make robot turtle noises. My 5 year old got the game in the first go and only needed small amount of help knowing when to rotate left or right. Then we added some obstacles with new instructions (zap!) and the map became more complex.My 8 year old joined in and for him I introduced the concept of repeating sets of instructions - sub routines.The kids like this game and when we had friends over we found all the kids playing it. The little ones with a simple board and the older ones with fiendishly hard one player mazes to navigate.If I had a single criticism it would be that the game would benefit from pack of suggested layouts for easy, medium and hard.
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22.6.2015

It's all well and good creating a game that helps small children think logically as long as the game is enjoyable; thankfully and even though the game is incredibly simple and easy to learn, kids will love it.In its simplest form of play you have to move your turtle to the centre and once this gameplay has been mastered (it should take on or two plays max!), you can then start adding the obstacles. I won't bore you with a step by step guide other than to say this a turn based game of choices based on cards to indicate move options - more of which can be read about in the description of the game.For me as a parent, once I had set the game up to play with my 4.5 year old daughter,I honestly could not see it holding her attention. How wrong was I? Very wrong! 6 plays on the trot and I had to make my excuses. The next day she wanted to play it again and again, and so it goes on. The appeal from her perspective is that she has played strategy games on an iPad and for her little mind this was all about the strategy of beating dad (I think I may have been trying the same with Draughts and my grandfather when I was her age). With each game she played her tactics and strategy shifted with her trying to find the shortest and quickest combination of moves. This is, of course, the games intention and in doing so it helps with the logic involved in programming.A well made, intuitive, fun and engaging game.
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5.7.2015

One question I had was whether this would be any good for slightly older children, and the answer is yes. The introductory games may be trivially easy for a 10 year old, but having understood the full set of rules you can take that and make it interesting for older children too. Having mainly a quarter of the board each in order to have the same layout for each is perhaps limiting, and it would be easy to get a layout wrong and give one player an unfair advantage. Instead, once the full rules were mastered, my thought was to set up a single turtle and jewel, with the obstacles used to set up a much longer route to the jewel that can use the whole board. Starting with the youngest, players plan a route,including shouting bug and starting again. Subsequent players need to improve on the previous player's score to win. You could even use the different coloured cards to allow creating multiple sets (functions) rather than one, for extra flexibility - and allow the function to call itself if you want, so long as that reaches the jewel.while repeating. This kind of variation gives the younger players a chance (if they find the best answer) while giving older players a chance to think about optimisation, pushing thinking further towards the approach needed for programming, and my kids (aged 10, 9 and 7) enjoyed this way of playing.
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6.7.2015

So I played it with slightly older children and also adults who were afraid of the idea of programming. All were entranced, especially the adults who didn't think they would actually 'get it', but did and by the time we had adjusted the rules slightly were beginning to plot ahead and even trying to sabotage the other turtles. I think this game is a great introduction to the idea of programming for almost anyone.The game is based on Logo programming and move either screen or real turtles around. Older persons may remember there was even a turtle for the BBC micro, back in the day as we say. You can (as we did) easily move from this to an on-screen implementation of Logo to demonstrate how it corresponds.In this game the 'adult' overseer executes the program and the players have to call out 'bug' if a mistake is found.If i had a niggle, and it wouldn't be huge one, it would be that I associate ThinkFun with interesting and novel playing pieces - especially in their adult puzzles of which I have quite a few. I was expecting/hoping that the Turtles would be a bit more exciting that cardboard pieces. I guess at this price point that actual small robots are out of the question, but another game, another day that would be fun.
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22.7.2015

I've pulled this game out a few times to play with my son but he is still a little bit too young for it however when played with my nieces who are a few years older, they immediately got the hang of the game and really enjoyed playing it.I love the concept of it teaching your children programming and the Turtle theme is a real winner as despite my son being slightly too young to play it on his own he really enjoys helping me or my nieces play the game.This game is really easy to learn and involves each player having a robot turtle which they steer towards gems and you can later build into the game by adding obstacles cards. The turtles have all been given little names too; Pi, Beep,Dot and Pangle which obviously represent functions to do with coding.I like the game and it is certainly a 'keeper' and has been packed away in the games cupboard for another year until which time I think my son will grasp the game easily if his nieces are anything to go by. A really good idea and surprisingly easy and fun to play.
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11.6.2015

This was new type of game for me- although a 'traditional' board game in structure, the subject matter and skills it sublimally teaches are different. What it is very successful at is teaching young children [and some adults!] about the rudiments of computer coding, The way the developers of this game have incorporated it into a fun game that adults can play along quite happily with smaller children is quite a feat.Like a lot of board games it's really just one step on from a card game based on movement across a board and the aim is for the player to complete a successful set of commands to reach the goal [a crystal]. There's different levels you can unlock too,so the range of skill and variation can be continually extended.The game itself is fun, amazingly quick to set up and get going, and very educational without appearing so in any dry, over-complicated way. Well worth a look for young skills development on a number of levels.
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25.6.2015

Thinkfun Robot Turtles Board Game is just perfect for inquisitive little minds, being bright, colourful, and interesting, without being too challenging!! There are no losers, so no tears and tantrums, and the children can adapt the game to suit themselves. Basically, the game is to steer the turtle towards the jewel, incorporating the use of instruction cards. I gave it to my grandchildren (aged between 4 + 9) and they all enjoyed playing it, and it kept them occupied without boring them, so I would call it a success. It encourages children to think - teaching them strategy without actually seeming to do so - and no matter the ages/skills of the children playing, they can participate and of course,win!! The game is a very good concept, and is something a little different from the usual board game. The children really enjoyed playing it, it encourages discussion, and therefore, has to be a good thing! Recommended.
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24.6.2015

A very interesting concept and I really didn't know what to expect. I am not a computer programmer so a lot of the blurb about the history and background of the game went over my head, what I did want was a good educational tool that could also be fun for children. Well the board is big and solid in fact a lot better than some traditional board games that seem to get updated with lower quality items. The cards are a little thin but the other items for the board like the jewels and bugs are made of decent card. The instructions are reasonably straight forward and their is a nice colourful booklet which does give very step by step instructions to the game.It is quite playable for kids and they do seem to enjoy it.Its also nice because its quite family orientated in that you also have to contribute its not a set down game and let the kids play type of thing you also have to involve yourself.
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18.6.2015

This game is really very simple to learn, and equally simple to play. Each player has a 'Robot Turtle' that they steer towards a jewel by using directional cards, turn by turn. Obstacles and 'Function Frogs' (cards that contain a group of instructions) can be introduced to make it more complicated.I was a bit bored by the simplicity of the game to be honest, but the children loved it. I'm not even sure why; I think it was just the idea of Robot Turtles that kept them coming back for more. I like the idea that it teaches them about programming, because without that educative factor this game would be rather tedious from an adult point of view.The game is organised so that there are no losers -obviously this can be changed to suit the competitive nature of the players at the board if necessary. The game is well made and strong, and cheap for what you get.
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8.6.2015

The “secret” hidden object of this game is to subliminally teach the player ( normally a child between around 4-8) programming, this supports the latest government initiative on teaching children programming that is being taught in primaryschools. The reality of the game is that it is good fun and children in this age group will love playing it.My experience has been that it is easy to set up and get going, the “rules” are mastered quickly and it is loved by my little ones.It doesn't take all day to play so keeps the attention of the players and importantly it isn't too childish as to put off the adults who are playing.It is one of those rare games where the “teaching” aspect is so deeplyhidden under the fun that children don’t notice that they are actually learning something useful and mine want to play over and over again- we all think it is great!
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