If you listen to the gnashing of teeth, as everything becomes computerized and roboticized, the only jobs available in the future are going to be writing code for those computers, or making lattes for people who do. So it’s understandable that parents want to at least give their children the option of not being a barista.But even if that’s the case, does that explain the fervor that propelled Robot Turtles, the board game that claims to teach programming basics, past its Kickstarter goal in just 5 hours? Does it explain how Robot Turtles lapped its goal five times with 22 days still to go?The man behind the game is named Dan Shapiro. He’s the CEO of Google Comparison Inc., which “operates comparison shopping products,” finding himself in that position after Google bought the company he started, Sparkbuy Inc.Being a Silicon Valley guy (albeit one in Seattle), the origin of Robot Turtles lies in something that was bugging Shapiro—he was trying to find a game that adults could enjoy playing with their kids, and also trying to figure out how to “share his love of programming” with his twins. Hence the very adult/adjudicator-heavy game that teaches programming basics.Basically, parents set up a maze of walls and jewels on the board and put their kids in charge of a (presumably robotic) little turtle. The kids then play a sequence of order cards, and the parents move the turtle to take the robot jewels and win. And once the basics are mastered, kids can “unlock” lasers and melt “ice walls.” As it gets too easy for them, kids can put down the cards three at a time, or (once they're really good) all at once to see the “program work,” with an option to say “Undo” to debug.So you can imagine the target age is pretty young for this, down in the 3-to-8-year-old demo. And Shapiro’s kids, and others that he’s tested it on, seem to love it. Shapiro’s twins might just be extremely supportive of their dad, but damned if their adorable endorsement won’t melt a cynical heart or two.It’s fair to think—and people do—that coding is useful for things other than just moving robotic turtles or becoming a billionaire in your early twenties. Scott Hanselman likened it to learning woodworking, drama or music, as means of empowering people, and also notes that teaching kids to code is another way get kids excited about thinking. And at the very least if your child ends up homeless and someone ever offers them a choice between learning to code and money to eat, they can enjoy that meal guilt-free.Whatever the motivation—to get kids to think, to get them to someday have enough of a job to afford you some grandkids, whatever—Robot Turtles is heading to over 2,500 homes later this year. Shapiro says that board game makers and stores wouldn’t try stocking such a thing, but given the reigning popularity of Monopoly—a game where kids get to buy and sell property—I wonder what makes them so sure.
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