'Hakitzu' Teaches Kids to Code With Robot Warriors

Complete with battling robots, challenging arenas and a little bit of friendly competition, Kuato Studio's new game seeks to both entertain and educate as it teaches children how to code

Hakitzu: Code of the Warrior, a strategy game, prompts players to type basic JavaScript to control characters. The free iPad app pits two robots against each other in a battle arena, where each user takes turns coding increasingly complex instructions to move and use weapons.

No previous knowledge of programming is necessary and the in-game keyboard is customized with commonly used keys. Kuato Studios takes an immersive gamification approach to pique players' interest in coding. Other organizations, like CoderDojo and Codecademy, aim to engage younger crowds with free courses and open-source software