The other day, I found myself embarking on an adventure unlike any other—one filled with robots, lasers, and turtles. Now, you might be thinking, Meadow, those things don’t go together!, but oh, how wrong you’d be. Because in Robot Turtles, an absolutely delightful game of coding, creativity, and giggles, they most certainly do.

My trusty co-adventurer for this journey was my young nephew, an eager explorer with a love for games and a boundless imagination. And so, we laid out the board, shuffled the cards, and set forth into the world of Robot Turtles—a place where tiny, colorful turtles follow commands, navigate obstacles, and learn the foundations of coding without ever needing a screen.

The game is bursting with bright, playful colors, and every component has a delightful sense of whimsy. Inside, you’ll find: a large game board, four adorable robot turtle pieces, each a different color, looking ready for adventure., a deck of command cards, obstacle tiles, including walls, ice blocks, and more, to make the turtles’ paths even more interesting and finally, the jewel tiles. Those are the shining goal tiles that each turtle is racing to reach!

Every single piece has charm and personality, from the determined little turtles to the colorful command cards. Even the obstacles—though designed to slow you down—are so cute that you almost don’t mind when your turtle gets stuck.

The beauty of Robot Turtles is in its simplicity and flexibility. The goal is to guide your turtle to its jewel using a sequence of commands. But here’s the twist—the players don’t move the turtles themselves. Instead, they play cards that tell the turtle what to do, creating a step-by-step program that the grown-up (or Turtle Mover) follows. Here are a few of the tiles we will use in subsequent games.

Here’s how a turn works:

1. The player chooses a command card—such as Move Forward or Turn Left.
2. The Turtle Mover executes the command, moving the turtle exactly as instructed.
3. Players keep adding commands, creating a chain of instructions to navigate the board.
4. If an obstacle is in the way, they must adjust their commands or use their laser to clear a path.
5. The first turtle to reach its jewel wins!

These photos are from my first game. What will I do to get to my gem? There’s something magical about watching a child light up when they realize, Wait! I can make my turtle do whatever I want! I only have a limited number of commands to select from, but I think it will be enough. Below you can see I picked Move Forward, Move Forward, Move Forward and Turn Left.

Every turn is a little puzzle to solve, and as my nephew planned his turtle’s moves, I could see his gears turning—figuring out how to avoid obstacles, correcting a wrong turn, and celebrating every success with pure delight. I finished it off with a Move Forward, Move Forward, and Move Forward to collect my gem!

And let’s be honest—I had just as much fun as my nephew did. There’s something deeply satisfying about laying out a perfect sequence of commands and watching it unfold. The game’s gentle structure means there’s no pressure, no losing, only learning and playing together.

This was our first game we played that night. In the next couple of weeks, expect to see us play the game with lasers and leaping!

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