Mattel Bloxels Build Your Own Video Game - Discontinued from Manufacturer

I first saw Bloxels at a Mini Maker Event with my 8 year old and got very excited to get it for him for Christmas. I love the concept of being able to make your own video game, all on your own, complete with your own characters and villains. I also like the fact that it simulates the old school video games. We went through the challenges after Christmas and he was able to complete it with no issues. What I thought would probably be one of his favorite gifts was not so. It actually became one of my favorite gifts. He hasn't taken to it yet and isn't interested in even starting his own game. However, he will happily play the games I create. I got a bit confused when I started to build my game. But after that, I understood the steps and my games have been improving.I have to admit, I'm a bit addicted to this app. Many things such as characters, animations and props can be made/built directly on the app. However, if you want to add "brains" to the enemies, such as the size, power, coins collected when defeated, etc. that needs to be built on the board. And YES, you need a tablet to play and build. I believe you can also use a phone but the screens would be too small in my opinion.I do agree that the photo capture functionality needs some work. Most of the time it doesn't capture the correct block color. There's an adjust functionality after you capture the photo to adjust the color of blocks and sometimes that works but a lot of times I have to retake the photo over and over again. So now I only use the board to add brains to the enemies I create.I read in the reviews that other buyers found there aren't enough blocks in this set. This is a starter set and you can buy additional blocks to add. However, I find there is enough to build characters and props for my games. If not and you need more blocks you can capture your photo then go in and edit and add the additional blocks in the app.If your child is really into programming, coding and building their own games I would definitely recommend this. If they are only interested in playing video games, like my son, then maybe not so much. I think perhaps when he's a little older he may be interested in creating his own game. I would say the age group would be 8+

Excellent Technology based activity for kids. It is even fun for me the adult who bought it. There is a learning curve to using the blocks with a tablet and setting up a game world. The worlds themselves are extremely versital and can be created however you can imagine it.The downside is that the lighting has to be just right for camera recognition to get the colors of the blocks right. That is important as the colors map out what the surfaces in the game are: solid ground, water, fire/lava, exploding blocks and so on. Also, making use of the vast array of user created content is a challenge as there are so many options and choosing what is needed is tough. Finally kids will need parental help initially working out which template to use: gameboard, character, background.It is fun and worth the initial effort

My boyfriend and I got this for his nieces (7 & 10).Pros: Once you get the hang of the app this is a really fun game. It allows for a ton of customization and lets kids take on different roles in designing and building a video game. Planning out levels, designing characters, adding stories, etc. Honestly, I think this would even be a fun project for adults. Extra perk - the board makes it so that two kids can easily work together on a game simultaneously (i.e. one kid designs a character on the board while the other can design a room directly through the app). Once I explained the basics of how it worked the 10-year-old was designing her game with minimal issues.Cons:The app is overwhelming a little overwhelming at first. It's probably too much for most kids to figure out on their own, and might be a challenge for non-tech savvy adults. It's also unclear who the instructions and app are geared to. The visuals make it seem like it's explaining directly to children but the word choice is distinctly more mature (most 8-year-olds aren't going to intuitively know that to set options for a given block they should click on the "configure" button).Other commenters have noted this, but you need a decent camera for the app to work smoothly. I tried it on both a Galaxy 6 phone and an iPad 1, and while it worked perfectly on the phone, the capture ability on the iPad was shockingly bad. This isn't a total dealbreaker though because you can manually correct the image through the app if your photo isn't exactly right.The sheer amount of options makes the game really cool, but also more complicated than is necessary and I think it might benefit from having two settings that vary in complexity. For example when you design a character, you're asked to create an idle, walking, and jumping character with a few frames for each. If you only design the idle character then it will disappear while walking and jumping. This is a great learning opportunity for older kids, but might be a bit too much to keep the attention of younger ones.Overall I think this is an awesome game and totally worth getting if you're a tech savy parent or have an older child.