Bogga Jewel by Boggatap – Review from The iMums

Bogga Jewel from Boggatap is a universal app for iOS which features two different characters, a fun fishing game where you “catch” the prize as well as learn about recycling your catch.  Boggatap is a game studio based in Oslo, Norway who creates digital toys for devices. Skills practiced within the app include patterning, fine motor, attention/reaction, counting, concentration and prediction of what might come up next.  This app is best aimed at preschool although my eight year old did enjoy it for a short period of time.

Game play is straightforward – you are on a boat with either a boy or girl character.  Once you pick the character you click either the left arrow or right arrow to fish for boots and “treasures”.  As your skills increase so does the speed of the game and you must move faster to complete the levels.  As my son’s skills improved he went from using one hand to tap both arrows to positioning his hands to be able to touch both arrows while holding the iPad.

One of my favorite things about the app was the bright colorful ocean scene as well as the ability to pick your own character.  My older son quickly got the moves down to position his character in place to catch the treasure.  He quickly positioned both hands on the arrows so he could catch treasures more quickly and earn rewards.  The colors were bright and there is a lot of great interaction and items you can earn including a crown, trophy and more!  He also enjoyed catching the rocks so he could weight down the net to earn more treasures.  He also liked recycling at the end of the level – especially making pails.  This wasn’t something that was immediately apparent to him when he first played, but he looked forward to it at the end of each level.

In terms of improvements, I wish there was a multi-player mode so you didn’t have to reset each time if a different child played.  My son did also get frustrated at times with the three miss rule which meant you had to restart a level if you missed more than three items, perhaps there could be a toggle which lets you turn off this for those just learning.  My son also wished he could create his own avatar which looked like him which might be a fun enhancement in the future.

There are no in-app purchases or advertising.  There is a parental gated area (tap the key) where you can access social media, subscribe via email, rate and review as well as reset the app.   The app is COPPA compliant.

Overall, this is a fun app aimed at preschool aged children through early elementary school. I liked that it helped my son work on his “prediction” skills as well as figuring out which way to move to capture the bucket.

You can purchase the app by clicking here.

NOTE: This review was originally published at The iMums, and is being republished with permission.