When my son’s Sphero golf ball(opens in a new tab) arrived in the mail, we had no idea what to expect. Yes, we knew it was a robot, but the word robot itself leaves a lot to the imagination. Are we talking WALL-E or Roomba? Is it going to talk? Is it voice-controlled? Device-controlled? We had no clue, but my son was very excited to find out.
What is a robot golf ball anyway?
Turns out, the Sphero mini golf ball(opens in a new tab), retailing for $50, is an app-controlled robot that moves with a “joystick on the screen,” as my son says. You touch your phone or tablet screen and move the joystick forward or backward to control the ball. This took some getting used to. At first, it was pretty hard for both my son and daughter to figure out how to move the ball exactly where they wanted. (Which in some ways really lines up with actual golf, doesn’t it?)
The only other problem we had was connecting the device to the ball itself. We held the device directly up to the ball and it was not able to detect the ball. This went on for quite some time before it actually connected, but once it did, we were ready to roll. (Pun completely intended.)
It was fun to see how the kids used their imaginations to create courses from objects in the house. And they weren’t the only ones in the family who were into our new robot friend — the cats were pretty enamored with the brightly-lit colored ball rolling all around the floor, too.
If you have pets, this can double as a toy for them.
Credit: Jennifer Thompson / Mashable
In my son’s words
According to our 10-year-old son, the Sphero mini golf ball is “very fun and it’s cool how you can set up your own course at your house and you can control it from your phone. I like how you can do a bunch of different modes.” His favorite mode was the one that looked like a golf club he was able to swing.
He used books, decks of cards, and other random things to create his own miniature golf courses that he would then steer the ball through. The ball also came with miniature cones that could be used to create the courses, but my son preferred to use things around the house as opposed to the little cones.
Building a mini golf course allowed my son to get creative and use his imagination.
Credit: Jennifer Thompson / Mashable
Another fun feature is that you can use the golf ball as a controller for games within the app. You hold the ball and move it around to complete the challenges on the screen. My son liked this feature a lot and said it didn’t take him very long at all to figure out how to manipulate the ball and get it to do what he wanted it to for the games.
Is the Sphero Mini Golf robot worth it?
I think people who enjoy miniature golf and the game of golf itself are more likely to get longer playtime from this toy. For kids who aren’t very into golf, it may lose its luster after a while and may not get a ton of longterm playtime. With that said, our kids have really enjoyed it and I have already thought of people I want to purchase the Sphero golf ball(opens in a new tab) for as a gift.
