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+

I first saw the Star Wars edition at a local discount store. When I saw it, I was so excited at the concept. Being a former programmer, I bought it right away even though the kids weren't excited about it. After we opened it, both of my 8 years old twins understood the concept right away. No guidance from me necessary. After two full days of playing the game non stop, I bought them the Original edition which is a lot more customizable. We had to watch youtube videos for guidance. The boards from the two editions are not interchangable, ie, the original Bloxels app will not capture images built on the Star Wars board and vise versa. I don't mind having to buy both, that gives us twice as many blocks so we are not limited to 40 of any color. True that you do not need to use the board to design characters but I prefer the physical board over designing on screen. The boys seem to have more trouble capturing the game board in both editions than I do. I don't know if their hands aren't as steady as mine or I have a better sense of the distance, angle and lighting that work best. If they have trouble capturing the game board, they will hand the tablets over to me. I can always capture the game board eventually. Sometimes it takes a good 15 seconds of trying different angles and distace to work. I found that it works best during the day time if the room gets good sun light but not under direct sun light. At night, it is a lot harder. We only try to capture the board during the daytime. We tried both apps on two iPad Air 2 and an iPad Pro 10.5. I do not see any performance difference.I have been looking for an easy entrance to get the children interested in programming, at least abstract thinking in general. Both Bloxels apps fit the bill. Even though the app has a few glitches it is not to the point of unusable, the concept is very good that I am willing to ignore the flaws.