For this Fun Friday post, we have another fun rocket science game to share! And it’s free!

Rugged Rovers is a mobile app game that is available for Apple and Android.  Here is the link to Rugged Rovers on the Google Play store where you can see some pictures and description.

In the game, you draw the outline of a rover shape.  Then you can add up to 6 wheels anywhere around the perimeter.  And you can resize the wheels.  Then you launch your rover and see how well it performs across a variety of terrains and obstacles.

The physics, science and math here is only implicit and intuitive.  If you want a more rigorous STEM game with a rocket science theme, I highly recommend Simple Rockets which I reviewed in this post.  And once your rover starts driving there isn’t much you can do except execute a couple of emergency functions to try and get yourself unstuck.

Still, Rugged Rovers is fun for me as an adult and should be fun down to a younger range of ages.  The game gives you examples of what other people have designed which was fascinating and fun to me.

Thanks again to Terri Eichholz (@terrieichholz), an elementary school gifted & talented teacher and STEM champion, for passing this game on to me!

Learning through play is a powerful and fun (and legitimate!) way to learn and grow.  Have fun designing and driving your rugged rovers!