Does anyone have a Turing Tumble?

[yoshiblue]

Considering this for my just 8 year old son. He's loves maths and anything to do with computers. I work in tech myself so am interested in any toy in this area too.

My DM has kindly given me £100 to spend on him and I saw someone mention this in another Christmas thread last night.

Those of you who have one, how good have you found it or is it just a gimmick?

It’s pretty good. It’s a puzzle game - it teaches the concept of binary. The other stuff about it being a computer is perhaps more subtle and the analogy can be a bit stretched (colour of balls at the end AND position of binary switches are both outputs).

The balls are much smaller than I thought, and easy to get lost (get an extra set of balls if you get it). Some of the parts are a bit fiddly.

I’m glad we got it, but perhaps I wish it was a bit less fiddly. I think it has interested me more than my 7 year old, but perhaps we will come back to it next year.

I've only just heard of this, so bumping the thread for you. I have a 10yo (soon to be) who's getting into coding, so I like the idea of this.

We bought one for our daughter when she was around 12/13. She wasn't particularly into computing, etc. but quite good at logical thinking. It was a surprising hit. The "storyline" in the accompanying booklet that guides the kids through the puzzles really appealed to her, as did the fact that the puzzles not only leave the valves in different starting and finishing positions but also mean the balls exit the frame both on the left and right and in different patterns. She's now 16 and still gets it out to "play" with on occasion.

You do have to be careful not to accidentally knock or jog the frame because the balls can easily jump out of the collection channels but that aside we've had no issues with it.

We got one for DS last year ego was 8 at the time.

He raced through the first puzzles (up to about 30/35 I think) and really enjoyed them but then the difficulty increased rapidly and he found them too hard.

The problem is it isn't really suitable for open-ended play, like, say, lego technic or gravitrax (well, perhaps it could be if you are very into programming/logic, but I'd say not for the average child) so once you've done what you can do, that is kind of the end of it. So we only got a few hours entertainment out of it.

We've held on to it and can try getting it out again to do some of the harder puzzles in a year or two, but personally I think it is expensive for the amount of use we got from it.

With £100 I would personally get the Gravitrax Xxl starter set an a couple of add ons if you haven't got it already!

Thanks for everyone's thoughts - I'm a bit unsure.

@cheeseismydownfall We have Gravitrax but have been looking at the vertical expansion this afternoon. Good point about it not being open play, as he does prefer to do his own thing e.g. with Lego.

yoshiblue, we've got the big gravitrax Pro set for DS for Christmas! Last time he was playing with the regular set he was frustrated that he couldn't make taller towers, so I think it should be a hit.

Another option could be a 3-month Kiwico subscription? DS absolutely loves them. We started with the Tinker crate, but the last subscription we did we got the Eureka crate - it's aimed at older children but he managed it no problems.

If you go that route make sure you order early - they come from the US so shipping can take a few weeks. When giving as a gift we get the first one and wrap it along with a card saying there will be two more to come.

@cheeseismydownfall thanks I'll take a look at the bigger set...might keep an eye out for offers, I remember it was reduced last Black Friday

@cheeseismydownfall just having a look at Kiwico. Other than shopping/vat, what import taxes do you have pay? I always get put off by ordering things like this abroad!

@yoshiblue, we've had nine individual crates in total and have never paid import taxes. On the custom sticker on the box it says something about the tax having been paid I think. Its a shame that the post costs add quite a bit to the overall price, but I haven't been able to find the equivalent in the UK.

I noticed your son is only just 8 - depending on how dexterous he is and how important it will be to him to do it completely independently the Tinker crate might be the best bet.

What about a Kano Raspberry Pi computer to get him started with programming?

We've been getting Kiwi and Tinker crates for over two years now. DS has been doing the Kiwi ones since he was 7 and refuses to move up; DD has been doing the Tinker ones since she was 9 and still really enjoys them. Both kids still get excited when a new one arrives. We've never had to pay any taxes on them.

Your son would probably enjoy it but it doesn't feel worth the money. Have you considered raspberry pi.

Thanks @Gladioli23 @Fireflygal I've not looked at a Raspberry Pi yet as I thought he needed to be a bit older.

Over the lockdowns we got a Microbit 2 and I taught him some Scratch. Another option was to look at a robot/buggy to do more with the microbit.

Can you recommend a good Raspberry Pi kit to look at?

Hmmm my suggestion had going to be Kano as they used to do a raspberry pi kit aimed at the same age but it looks like they only sell more expensive things now...

uk.webuy.com/product-detail/?id=sdeskancomkit1a&categoryName=desktops---other-os&superCatName=computing&title=kano-computer-kit-%28raspberry-pi-3%2Fled-ring%2Fwireless-keyboard%2Fcase%2Fsd-card%29

Examples, but I can only see them second hand so not sure if it would be the right option, think you'd need to do some reading to check if they are still supported?

We definitely had good value from the turing tumble, but our 7yo hasn't yet got through anywhere near all the challenges. They do get harder!

Agreed that it's a bit annoying that the balls fall out too easily when it's knocked etc, and the claim that it's an actual computer is a bit stretched, and certainly difficult for young children to perceive.

But if you just take it as a series of puzzles (linked to a back-story) it's great! It's not cheap but I felt it was worth the money; lots of time has gone into it. It's better with a bit of parental supervision though.

There's an online simulator you can have a fiddle with here - but you don't get the puzzles or the narrative: jessecrossen.github.io/ttsim/

We got one last Christmas. I quite like it, it is a good puzzle, but it is quite fiddly. I'm not fully sure if it is worth the money.