Can you remember what you were doing when you were 8 years old? I’m pretty sure my nose was stuck in a book most of the time. I probably went outside when I was told to, but mostly I was reading.
For 8 year old Samaira Mehta, she was busy inventing a game. She’s a girl with a vision-“To get everyone age 4-104 excited about coding in a really fun way!” That’s a pretty big goal-and I’m pretty sure she’s met it. (If she hasn’t, she has to be close!)
The game she invented is called Coder Bunnyz. The goal is to program your bunny to reach the destination in the center. Your bunny has to get his carrot first and he might encounter some obstacles that need to be passed, but ultimately, you want to be the first to reach the destination.
Don’t worry-you don’t need to have coding experience to play, nor do you need fancy equipment. Everything you need comes in the box. To program your bunny, there are direction cards-left, right, jump. To move your bunny, you roll the die to see how many cards, and then you select the directions accordingly.
Truck and I played this game a couple of times, trying the easiest way (without getting carrots first) and then the intended way (getting the carrot then going to the destination.) I was a little worried he wouldn’t get the concept, be he caught on instantly and had a fantastic time playing. There are other, more complex variations to play, but we are going to build up to those. You can even play the game solo if you want!
Coder Bunnyz is a lot of fun, and if I didn’t know it, I would have never guessed that a young girl designed it. It plays smoothly and definitely can be played by all ages, kids together, adults together, kids with parents/kids with grandparents, etc. I really enjoy games that allow playability across the ages, and this one is teaching a skill that will be needed as technology continues to move on. Grandma might not be coding computers when she’s done, but she’ll know the basic concepts! I love that this game can fit into our gameschooling day and it not seem like we’re working at all!
A copy of the game was provided for review.
