Micro Robots

Today we’re going to be looking at Micro Robots, a small, fairly quick reaction-time game by Z-Man Games. Now, Micro Robots is quite an unusual game in the way that it plays, but Jack and I actually quite enjoyed it – although I don’t know how often we’d necessarily come back to it.

Long story short, this is the sort of game that I will recommend, but more as a board game café game. Let me explain…

As you open the box, you get a modular board made up of four double-sided tiles that you lay down to create an array of coloured squares, each with a number. The box itself is a decent size, and it’s really quick to set up, so this would also work quite well as a travel game.

Now, the movement is the clever part. The robot can only move in straight lines – north, south, east, or west – and it keeps going until it hits something (either a wall or a space with a different colour or number). On your turn, you draw a new target showing a specific colour and number. Both players then race to figure out the shortest number of moves it will take for the robot to reach a space that matches both the number and colour.

When someone thinks they’ve found the shortest path, they shout out the number of moves. If the other player thinks they can do better, they can challenge and try to prove it. If the original player can successfully demonstrate their path, they earn a point. The first player to reach a set number of points wins.

The concept of this game isn’t really about long-term strategy – it’s about logic, speed, and spatial reasoning. And spatial reasoning isn’t actually something that comes up in board games very often, so this definitely sets it apart and gives it a unique selling point that will appeal to some.

It’s actually a fun little reaction game that introduces some simple concepts which kids could later apply in things like coding. Jack really, really enjoyed it, and I thought it was quite good fun too. For a quick game with a relatively small footprint, I’d say it’s worth giving some time to.

I don’t think it’s necessarily something we’d keep coming back to over and over again, but this is 100% the sort of game I’d recommend playing at a board game café to see whether it clicks for you.