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Learning to Code with a Boardgame

Posted by Zonk on from the learn-fun-not-hard dept.

markmcb writes "While some of us cling tight to our memories of Apple-filled classrooms playing The Oregon Trail and driving our Turtle around in Logo, children today have many other ways to learn about the inner-working of computers and the code that drives them. Wired.com is running an interesting article about a boardgame in which players must use simple logic similar to that used in programming to get their skier down the mountain. From the article: 'Using basic math, players have to figure out which paths are open to them and then decide the fastest way to the finish line. The trick, however, is learning which paths are open to you using only programmer jargon like 'if (X==1)' then you can take the green path or 'while (X4) you can take the orange path,' where X is the roll of the die.'"

8 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Robo Rally by Speare · · Score: 4, Informative

    Also try Robo Rally. Of course, this deals with how to program a computer with a VERY limited instruction set, and with damaged hardware. :)

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    1. Re:Robo Rally by jscharla · · Score: 3, Informative

      With the Armed and Dangerous expansion there are a couple of upgrades that let you do limited run-time branching.

      My vote goes with Robo-Rally too. A great game. Total mayhem.

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  2. Why not build a robot?? by technoextreme · · Score: 4, Informative

    There are fifty differnt robot kits floating about. They are much more entertaining and probably can help people program just as much as a boring board game.

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    Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
  3. Rules. by coolGuyZak · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here are the rules, in case people want to check the game out further.

  4. I liked the concept by leighklotz · · Score: 3, Informative


    One of my favorite early computer toys was the CARDIAC, the Bell Labs "Cardboard Aid to Computation," and I was hoping that this board game might re-create some of that excitement for today's kids. I liked the concept, but was a little dismayed by the attention to syntax. I'm more of the "Syntactic sugar leads to cancer of the semicolon" school of thought.

    I worked on the Logo implementations for the Apple ][ at the MIT Logo lab, and at Terrapin did the Commodore 64 (and other ill-fated Commodore computers), Macintosh. (I also various implementations and translations for Japan, Spain, France, and Germany.)

  5. Games that teach computer logic by g_adams27 · · Score: 4, Informative
    For learning the basics of AND, OR, XOR and NOT logic, along with building basic circuits, you just can't do any better than Robot Odyssey. This is probably the greatest educational game I ever played as a young teenager. I trace my interest in studying, and then making a career out of computer science largely back to this game.

    For slightly younger people, there's Rocky's Boots made by the same people (The Learning Company). It teaches a lot of the same things, but in an easier (and cuter) style.

    All you need is an Apple II emulator like AppleWin and you're all set!

  6. Fun Game - ACTUAL PROGRAMMING by Jack9 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Changed a bit since it was being beta tested in 1996 and even more difficult getting 3 other programmer kids to play...

    http://www.sierramadregames.com/smg/robotanks.html

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  7. They're reissuing it [O frabjous day!] by Dr.+Photo · · Score: 3, Informative

    I thought of (and googled for) Robo Rally too when I saw the article, and it appears that they've reissued the game, which had been most lamentably out of print for 4 or 5 years.

    Still costs around 50 bucks, but IMO definitely worth it.

    http://www.wizards.com/roborally/