Why You Can Trust CNET Let a Sphero Mini robot ball roll into your life for just $31
The ping-pong-ball-size robot is inexpensive enough to toss in a stocking, but is fun to play with and even teaches the rudiments of programming.
The Sphero Mini is a smaller version of the classic robot ball and is on sale right now.
There's something weirdly compelling about a remote-controlled ball -- whether you're racing it around the house, harassing the cat or playing a real-life arcade game with it. Maybe that's why I've always had such a fondness for Sphero, the now-iconic app-controlled robot ball. Sphero has been around since 2011, and I've played with and written about it extensively since that time. But as cool as it is, it's a tad expensive, which is why the Sphero Mini -- a smaller version that costs just $50 -- is so attractive. If even the $50 price tag has held you back, now you have no excuse. Amazon is selling the blue Sphero Mini for $30.69, which is $19.30 off the usual price.
The Sphero Mini is about the size of a ping pong ball and comes in an assortment of colors, but only the blue is priced at $30.69. For a few dollars more, you can also get the Sphero Mini in black, green, orange or red for $32.49 - $34.99. The good news is regardless of color, they're all at least $15 off.
The Sphero Mini comes with a variety of driving modes, games and even a coding tool that teaches kids the rudiments of programming with drag-and-drop scripts to automate the ball's actions. But perhaps CNET's Scott Stein put it best when he said that the Sphero Mini could be the greatest $50 cat toy of all time. Whether for your kid, your cat or yourself, the Sphero Mini is waiting for you.
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