Unplugged coding game: the Robot Maze on paper
A screen-free warm-up for ages 6–12. Kids write a program with arrow cards, then act it out on a printed board, and learn sequencing, debugging and loops before they touch a device.
Prints on 4 A4 pages: rules, two boards, and a sheet of cards.
How to play
- Play in pairs or threes. One player is the programmer, one is the robot (use a coin or an eraser as the robot on the board).
- The programmer lays arrow cards in a line, left to right. That line is the program. No moving the robot yet!
- When the program is ready, the robot player follows the cards exactly, one card at a time, one square per arrow.
- Bumped into a table or a pillar? That is a bug. Find the card that went wrong, swap it, and run the program again.
- Loops: put a repeat card in front of a group of cards and draw a bracket round them with a finger. The robot does that group that many times.
- Swap roles for the next board. The challenge: who can solve it with the fewest cards?
Then play the same boards online at dotcodecampus.com/maze.
Hawker Centre
Board 1 (sequencing): pick up a tray at the stall, then serve the hungry diner.
HDB Void Deck
Board 2 (loops): water every plant. Can you use a repeat card?
Program cards
Cut along the dashed lines.
- ⬆ up
- ⬆ up
- ⬆ up
- ⬆ up
- ⬆ up
- ⬆ up
- ⬆ up
- ⬆ up
- ⬇ down
- ⬇ down
- ⬇ down
- ⬇ down
- ⬇ down
- ⬇ down
- ⬇ down
- ⬇ down
- ⬅ left
- ⬅ left
- ⬅ left
- ⬅ left
- ⬅ left
- ⬅ left
- ⬅ left
- ⬅ left
- ➡ right
- ➡ right
- ➡ right
- ➡ right
- ➡ right
- ➡ right
- ➡ right
- ➡ right
- 🍗 pick up
- 🍗 pick up
- 🍛 serve
- 🍛 serve
- 💧 water
- 💧 water
- 💧 water
- 💧 water
- 🔁 repeat 2
- 🔁 repeat 3
- 🔁 repeat 4
- 🔁 repeat 5
Free from DotCode Campus, live coding classes for kids and teens in Singapore. dotcodecampus.com/maze