Review: Loopz

Written on Jul 20, 2010 by RuthJS and filed under Mattel, Reviews

Loopz™ is Mattel’s new take on electronic memory games. Remember Simon?  Now, imagine Simon from the future, flipped on his side, and capable of playing seven different games. I found it to be a fun reinvention of a classic game, and my testers agreed wholeheartedly.

Overview

Loopz™ challenges players to remember a pattern of lights and sounds or to follow the leader by putting their hands through four semi-circular rings, or “loopz,” and activating sensors.  Players can compete against each other or play alone.  And, as play continues, the games become more challenging.  An internal counter tracks time, accuracy, and completed levels.  Geared for ages 7+, Loopz™ retails for $29.99.

Out of the Box

Loopz™ comes with the light unit, two circular stands and a set of instructions.

Getting the game out of the box required scissors and minor detective skills to find all the tape, but it only took a minute or two. After that, the setup was minor. Basically, you snap the stabilizing disks onto the base of the tower (yes, they cover the battery door, but they pop right back off when you need to change the batteries), remove the pull tab from the slot on the back of the unit, and then you’re ready to play.

I should mention that the box states the need for four AA batteries since the included batteries are “for demonstration purposes only.”  That said, the included batteries lasted through several testing sessions with no problems. I did, however, replace the batteries, slipping in some fresh alkaline AA’s, to see whether it would change the performance.  It did seem that Loopz™ was a bit more responsive when it had fresh batteries in it, but the sound quality didn’t change regardless of whether the “demo” batteries or my own were in the player.  Take home message: use the demo batteries up and then switch.  Don’t feel like you need to change them out as soon as you get the machine.

A word about the sound quality: it’s not great. It’s easy to hear instructions and tones, but when a whole song is playing the speaker gets grainy. Basically, if you treat this like a game and not a home mixing studio, the sound quality is adequate does not affect play.

So . . .

Let’s Play!

There are (at least) seven different ways to play with Loopz™.

To exercise your memory skills:

• Repeat the Beat where you repeat the sequence that Loopz™ gives you, building speed and complexity as you go, a la Simon of old.
• Versus allows two players to take turns building and then repeating a sequence to see who can go the longest without making mistakes. The first player to make three errors loses.
• Musicology where you build songs by repeating sequences that Loopz™ gives you. If you can successfully repeat five sequences, you win, and Loopz™ will play all of the sequences layered on top of each other, creating a song. (This is where I noticed the sound quality most, but my testers still danced.)

If you’d rather challenge your reflexes:

• Reflex Master wants to see how many lights you can “tag” before time runs out. This game can accommodate up to four players, so bring on the competition!
• Rhythm and Flow requires you to keep a song going by keeping up with the lights as the speed increases.

Say you’re feeling creative and don’t want to play by too many rules:

• Music Studio allows you to play Loopz™ like an instrument composing your own electronic tune.  Once you pick the sound, you pick the pitch and the beat by waving your hands through the loops.
• Freestyle DJ provides 10 tracks and you provide the mix, complete with screeches and the all important “yeah!” Don’t worry, your friends will let you know when you’re ready to go pro.

Each game was fun and, dare I say, addictive if you tend to be a perfectionist. (I’ve been known to fall into that category.) Here’s a little taste of a couple games for your viewing pleasure:

One thing to note, you need to completely cover the sensor in each loop in order for Loopz™ to respond. You can see a couple of places in the video where the sensor didn’t register my hand because I was reaching and didn’t have my angle correct or I had my fingers spread out too far.  Just so you know, it’s a lot easier to cover the sensor when you are not trying to film and play at the same time.

Tester Response

What can I say, my testers loved this.  It was fun, engaging and challenging. I had people from 8 to 47 years play with Loopz, and everyone had a great time.

In a Nutshell

Fun for one to four players, Loopz™ is a hit.  The price and age range are right on, and our testers gave it a thumbs up.  We give it:

5 out of 5 stars

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