As Christmas approaches, Tech Expert Andy Robertson digs out the best tech toys of the year that offer something more than plastic entertainment.
Toys used to be toys and video games used to be video games. These days, however, it can be hard to tell the two apart. Children enjoy playing in many ways with whatever tech they have available to them and toymakers have responded by creating experiences that blend the two.
A few years ago this was dominated by heavily branded products that added an app or an interaction to a classic toy. This was fun for a while, but they lacked the longevity that could warrant higher prices.
More recently we have seen products that not only provide play experiences to ignite children’s imaginations but do that in ways that fully integrate the digital interactions and physical playthings.
These are toys that don’t simply translate physical play into digital or virtual spaces but create new experiences that are not possible without the technology included. This means that the play can evolve over time as the app and tech are updated via the internet to create what we might call service-based-play.
A racing experience that combines the physical with the virtual
Rating: PEGI 3+
Release Date: 16/10/2020
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Genres: Action, Creative, Physically Active, Racing and Sports
Developer: Velan Ventures
This is a racing experience that combines the physical with the virtual. You race real remote control Mario Karts but use your Nintendo Switch to control them. Each kart has a camera so you can drive around the home in first-person perspective. This creates an augmented racing experience. Get hit by a shell in the game and your kart stops for a moment. Or levels with crosswinds affect your remote control car in the real world.
Lego sets that have more to offer than building and traditional play
Rating: PEGI 3+
Release Date: 18/08/2019
Platforms: Android and iOS
Genres: Creative, Narrative, Physically Active, Puzzle and Shooting
Developer: Lego
You use the associated app, but in a deeper way than you might expect. Scanning the built kids unlocks a variety of narratives and games on the phone. You use the camera to search around your creation for clues and hidden treasure. Sometimes you have to put a certain block or character somewhere. Or other times you have to turn a Lego wheel. Your reward for figuring this out is in the app, which adds new challenges over time as the game is updated.
A mixture of real craftable toys and fun accessible mobile games
Rating: PEGI 3+
Release Date: 08/11/2019
Platforms: Android and iOS
Genres: Action, Physically Active, Puzzle, Racing and Shooting
Developer: BandaiNamcoUK
Tori combines comes with toys that you place on a play surface to control the game’s spaceships and catapults. Children can also create and colour their own cardboard versions of the toys and use them to control the game.
The novelty is that as you move the toys over the gamepad they match the motion exactly in the game. Add to this making your own coloured in versions of these toys that also work over the pad, and this is a magical and unusual experience.
Beautifully sculpted play pieces that interact with your iPad to create creatures in a magical land
Rating: PEGI 3+, ESRB EVERYONE
Release Date: 01/11/2016
Platforms: Android and iOS
Genres: Physically Active and Puzzle
Developer: Sensible Object
You place a toy creature on the plinth and it appears in the game. Balance another creature on top of the first to join it. Different items can then migrate and evolve animals to score more points. Players work together to get the highest score. If the tower tumbles you have a limited time to get it balanced again. There’s also a competitive mode where players balance animals to battle each other.
A series of Lego sets designed to make different Mario-style levels
Rating: PEGI 3+
Release Date: 01/08/2020
Platforms: Android and iOS
Genres: Physically Active and Platform
Developer: Lego
The Starter Set comes with a large interactive Mario figurine that is then used to try out the levels that you make. The figure “sees” and reacts the different sorts of blocks under him so knows if it’s a coin, fire, a power-up and so on.
After building the levels that come with the sets you can combine the different elements to invent your own. You can then compete with friends and family to see who can get to the end with the most coins in the fastest time. The clever thing is that the Mario figure tracks it all for you.
Brings futuristic battle racing roaring to life
Rating: PEGI 3+
Release Date: 28/05/2010
Platforms: Android and iOS
Genres: Physically Active and Racing
This smart toy has been around for a while. Over the years it has developed to introduce new challenges, characters and cars. The basic premise is that you snap together the track to design a circuit then race the intelligent computer-controlled cars using your smartphone. This means it’s fun on your own as well as with up to three other people.
The company that created the toy has changed hands so the sets are currently really cheap. Provided you avoid the Fast N Furious sets that are not supported by the new company this is really good value and a great smart toy that now has a bright future.
A real-world hide and seek game you play by hiding your phone
Rating: Not yet rated by PEGI
Release Date: 04/05/2020
Platforms: iOS
Genres: Action, Physically Active and Puzzle
It’s from the same team behind Heads Up. It’s an interesting tech toy as the smartphone becomes the play-thing as well as the technology.
When the child calls out or gets near the phone makes cat noises to give them clues to find it. When it’s found the phone plays a tune and tells them how long it took and offers a fun-cat-fact. There are different cats and animals that you can select to hide. It’s a great way to have some fun around the house while also adding a bit of a video game feel to the game.
