Robot Turtles Board Game Review

We love playing kid-friendly boardgames as a family because it gives us the opportunity to have fun, bond and relax at home.

I received the Robot Turtles: The game for Little Programmers Boardgame from ThinkFun and as soon as my daughters saw the picture of the turtle the jewel on the box, they couldn't wait to play with it.

The Robot Turtles Board Game is for children ages 4 and up (and adults as well!) and is the most backed game in Kickstarter history. It was invented by Dan Shapiro, a Seattle software entrepeneur, for his 4 year old twins. It teaches preschoolers the fundamentals of programming from coding to functions, while making silly turtle noises. It's very easy to learn and provides endless learning opportunities.

While I was reading the instructions (I suggest a grown-up do this to help the younger children), my 3 year old daughter popped the tokens, game pieces, crates and ice blocks from the cardboard. The game pieces, including the crates, ice blocks and tokens, are made from a hard cardboard which will not easily bend. They are easy to pop out and my 3 year old daughter had a blast with popping them out.

After reading the instructions, I set-up the board game and arranged the cards. I've been designated as the Turtle Mover while my daughters and brother are the Turtle Masters.

So the game began...

The rule of the game is to capture the same colored jewel as your turtle using the code cards with arrows. For a more advanced level, you can put the ice blocks and crates on the game board and use a designated code card for the crates and ice blocks. I chose to stick to the beginner level since my daughters are only 3 and 5 so they can grasp the concept of the game first. The youngest player goes first and that is my 3 year old daughter.

My 3 year old daughter easily grasped the concept of what the arrows meant on the code card. I was happy because she was able to recognize which card to use in order for her turtle to move towards the jewel. I made silly turtle sounds as she moved her game piece (she insisted on moving the game piece herself and I let her this time since in her own words "ONLY ME!"). Oh yes the role of the Turtle Mover is to make silly computer/turtle sounds while moving the turtle! :)

My 5 year old daughter easily caught on what to do and she immediately understood the instructions when I told her that the goal is to capture the jewel by using the cards.

The game lasted less than 10 minutes and everyone captured their jewel! Yay!

I love the Robot Turtles board game because it teaches simple programming via a board game. It's very easy to understand and very easy and fast to play. My 3 year old daughter even learned about arrows and directions so that's a big plus for me. :)

You can visit the Thinkfun WEBSITE to see instructional videos about the Robot Turtles and learn more about their other products.

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I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.