Back in June of this year I spotted this odd looking kids games console, which for once was designed for active games both inside and outside. I was interested … very interested however back in June it was only available in a Netherlands shopping mall, no matter how much I looked for it online there was nothing doing. Then one day a month or so ago on a normal enough vist to the ELC (I was dragged in kicking and screaming) I spotted it ….. a Swinxs and I made an immediate purchace.
5 stars straight away, the kids love it, even my smallest (1 1/2 years old) as the console explains the games, recognises the players (RFID tags), and even referees the games too. Each player have their own coloured wristband, and Swinxs keeps track of their scores.
It comes with ten games and you can download more free from the Swinxs website, along with music and quizzes.
But that’s not all, no the biggest item for me is that you can design your own games. Now I’ve looked at the SDK, and the game design in the language SwinxsCoreTalk.
And for the obligatory “Hello World” first program here’s a link to the Swinx SDK tutorial on YouTube.
The language is purely state machine based, which brings me back to the good olde days of coding call processing modules for the EMX 2500 [pdf], and I’m in the planning stages of a Simon Says game.
I digress back to the kids ….. going by the ELC site reviews it looks like our kids are not the only ones enjoying Swinxs.