Mind Rover (Mac)

Rating:
Summary: Think More. Twitch Less.
Review: An amazing and original game with endless possibilities to explore. This is one of the few I will be coming back to in 5 years and playing again. I believe it is fuctionally the same as the Wintel version so those reviews would apply to this Mindrover as well. Check out this java based demo of Mindrover for a taste of the depth and possibilities of this game:
http://www.cognitoy.com/minimindrover/

Rating:
Summary: Think More. Twitch Less.
Review: An amazing and original game with endless possibilities to explore. This is one of the few I will be coming back to in 5 years and playing again. I believe it is fuctionally the same as the Wintel version so those reviews would apply to this Mindrover as well. Check out this java based demo of Mindrover for a taste of the depth and possibilities of this game:
http://www.cognitoy.com/minimindrover/

Rating:
Summary: Design your own robot.
Review: I love this game/simulation. I have built HeathKit robots from scratch, and have the Lego MindStorm system, but in many ways MindRover is better. I can build and test new robots while I'm on the train.

It's fun to design your own robot, adding hardware to a chassis, and then adding the visual programming logic. There are only three major types of vehicles, but there are so many sensors, logic components, etc. that you could try different control programs for years.

I just installed MindRover on a 3-year old Titanium PowerBook. The PowerBook only runs at 867 MHz, but MindRover's cool 3D graphics runs fine. If you want to teach programming to a kid, there may be no better way to do it. If you just like to have fun by creating something new, you'll enjoy this.