Human Resource Machine 9+

Super compelling. The game is beautifully quirky, and it very disarmingly gets you comfortable with the interface before gradually increasing the difficulty. It's nice that each stage builds on the last, and gameplay becomes more and more challenging as you progress. Optional levels have even tougher puzzles which is cool. As a comp sci major, I definitely enjoyed the game. Suprisingly, my 7 year old son has also enjoyed playing through the first dozen levels with light coaching. I look forward to seeing how far he can get.

PRO TIP: It's currently half price on iOS vs. Mac. I bought it for Mac before noticing the iOS version. It's certainly beautiful on a Macbook, but in case you want it in a more portable form factor, you may want to save some cash by grabbing the iOS version.

I wish I had this when I was first being introduced to computers! This would be a great way to introduce children (or anyone, for that matter) to programming concepts, by letting them learn step-by-step and then experiment and debug their procedures. It’s also a fun diversion for experience programmers.

This is definitely not a game that just anyone can figure out. I love puzzles and thought the idea of learning coding along with it sounded awesome. However, I can't make it past level 17. I have looked up the answers and am trying to reverse engineer it but it definitely doesn't teach you, at least not in a way that is helpful for me. I feel like you have to have some basics on coding before you can just dive in.

Some of the levels were difficult but once I went through the walkthrough I was like oh ok that makes sense. I'm now so lost I don't think I can even keep playing. I love the concept, maybe if they did a beginner, intermediate, and hard level for each puzzle. There could be more teaching for the beginners so that there is actually a chance of success.

I felt like I was learning at first but now I just feel frustrated.