What age is Turing Tumble for?

Upper Story sells it for ages 8 to adult. Younger kids do the early puzzles with help, and the later puzzles challenge adults.

How many puzzles come with Turing Tumble?

Sixty, in an illustrated comic book that tells a story about an engineer stranded on a planet.

Does Turing Tumble need batteries or a screen?

No. Gravity and marbles do all the work.

What does Turing Tumble teach?

How computers work: logic gates, memory, binary counting and arithmetic, built from mechanical parts a kid can see and touch.

How much does Turing Tumble cost?

About $77 from Upper Story, the company that makes it. Spare parts packs are sold separately.

Is Turing Tumble a real computer?

It is a mechanical computer. With an unlimited board and unlimited parts it would be Turing complete, which a computer scientist proved in 2021; the boxed board is limited, but it can still count, add, subtract and more.

Turing Tumble – WISE Score & Parent Review

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

Where to Play

Amazon

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Screenwise Verdict

Turing Tumble is a puzzle game about how computers think, made with marbles instead of chips. A tilted board holds pegs; a comic book gives a challenge, like releasing blue and red marbles in a set pattern or counting in binary; and the player places ramps, bits, crossovers, interceptors and gears until the falling marbles do exactly that.

The early puzzles take minutes and teach one part at a time. By the end of the 60 puzzles, kids are building machines that add and subtract, and adults get stuck too. It won a 2018 Parents' Choice Gold Award and is sold for ages 8 to adult.

It is a one-player game that asks for patience, and it costs about $77 from its maker. For a kid who likes figuring out how things work, or who builds redstone machines in Minecraft, it is one of the best screen-free STEM puzzles around.

Age Fit

Sold for ages 8 to adult, and that range is honest. Eight-year-olds can work through the early puzzles, usually with some help; 10 and up can push into the later ones alone; and the last third challenges adults.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

92

A patient, satisfying puzzle with a light comic-book story. The reward is watching a marble machine you built work.

Imaginative

84

Each puzzle has a goal, but kids design their own machines to reach it, and the parts invite free building once the book is done.

Safe

96

No screens, no batteries, no accounts. Marbles and small parts are a choking hazard around children under 3.

Enriching

96

Teaches how computers work from the ground up: logic, binary counting and arithmetic, built by hand and seen in motion.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Shows logic, binary and arithmetic happening in plastic and marbles, so abstract ideas become visible.
Sixty puzzles that ramp up slowly, from one ramp to machines that do math.
No screens, batteries or setup beyond the board and a stand.
Many puzzles have more than one solution, which rewards experimenting.
A free community simulator online lets kids keep building past the book.

⚠

What to Watch For

The later puzzles are hard. Expect some frustration around the middle of the book; a grown-up puzzling alongside helps.
It is built for one player at a time, so siblings will need to take turns.
Small parts and marbles: keep it away from children under 3.
It costs about $77 at Upper Story's store, and Amazon listings for the main game are often unavailable.

Conversation Starters

"What does the bit do when a marble hits it? What does it remember?"
"Can you solve that puzzle with fewer parts?"
"How is this like the switches inside a computer or a Minecraft redstone circuit?"

Deep Dive

A computer you can watch think

The board stands at an angle with rows of pegs. Blue and red marbles wait at the top, and a lever releases one at a time. Players snap parts onto the pegs: ramps send a marble one way, crossovers let paths cross, and bits flip left or right each time a marble passes, which is how the machine remembers. Gears link bits together, and interceptors stop the run. Each puzzle in the comic book shows a goal, and the player builds until the marbles produce it.

From one ramp to a machine that adds

The 60 puzzles start with a single ramp and grow into machines that count in binary, add and subtract. The comic tells the story of an engineer stranded on a planet who needs each machine to get home, which gives younger players a reason to keep going. Many puzzles have more than one answer, so kids can go back and solve them with fewer parts.

Made by a chemistry professor and a teacher

Paul Boswell, then a chemistry professor at the University of Minnesota, and Alyssa Boswell, a former teacher, designed it and launched it on Kickstarter in 2017, where it raised $404,071 from 4,198 backers. It won a 2018 Parents' Choice Gold Award. Upper Story sells it for $76.95 along with spare parts, and fans have built a free online simulator for designing machines beyond the book.

For younger builders, Snap Circuits teaches electronics with the same snap-together approach, and GraviTrax uses marbles for open-ended track building.

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