How to Play with a Sphero 2.0

Driving Your Sphero

1. Open the Sphero app. The app will automatically detect the Sphero.

2. Aim your Sphero. On the bottom left corner of the controlling screen, you will see a circle with two arrows pointing opposite directions. Face the Sphero, then press and hold on this button, and rotate your finger around the circle until the blue tail light is pointed at you.

3. Move the Sphero. In the center of the screen, there is a control pad with a four-pronged arrow in the middle. To move the robot, move the arrow in the direction you wish it to go in.

   1. You can change the controlling method to tilt by clicking the icon of a phone and two arrows facing different directions on top of it.

4. Go on missions. Directly to the right of the control pad is a curved rectangle with 3 dots, and a number representing the number of challenges you have, followed by the word "Missions." Click on this for a list of challenges to complete, such as driving your robot a certain distance in a certain amount of time, making sure it doesn't crash after it has been "hacked," even shaking it.

   1. Doing these challenges will result in level-ups, which grant you cores (Sphero's arm of "currency") and tricks. You can also buy tricks with the cores.

5. Level up. Above the control pad, a curved bar with a number represents your progress in levels. Doing missions will help you level up, as will driving the Sphero around.

   1. A line of black bars spreading along the level-up bar represents how close you are to leveling up. When you have leveled up, the bar will glow white. Click to it to receive gifts, but remember that 20 is the max level.

6. Perform tricks. In the bottom right corner, there will be an icon of a Sphero, though its activity and position varies, with six square dots in two rows at the bottom. Click on the dots to scroll through your list of tricks. Click on a trick to read its description, then press "Select". To do it, tap on the icon of the Sphero performing the trick.

   1. Some tricks require the Sphero to move or require the icon to be held down.

7. Change your Sphero's color. Beneath the level-up bar directly on the left side, there is a pallet button. Press that, then tap the color on the color wheel that you would like. When you have chosen a color, click the green arrow in the top left corner.

8. Change the speed of your Sphero. Situated directly beneath the control pad there is a curved bar, a turtle button on one side, a rabbit button on the other, and a percentage just to the left of the rabbit button. Click the turtle button to make the Sphero go slower, and the rabbit button to make it speed up.

9. Boost the Sphero. Above the trick button, there is a rectangle featuring the Sphero going at high speeds. Click on this to make the Sphero temporarily speed up.

   1. The boost bar will automatically fill up by driving around.

10. Go on core drops. Just to the right of the speed bar, there is a circle with three plus signs surrounding it. Pressing this will enter a mode where you can collect cores by driving around. Where the challenges button typically is, there is a new button Sphero icon with a bar a the bottom. When you are far away from a core collection, the button will be blue. Drive in any direction until the bar begins to become yellow. When the bar is green, press the button to 'warp' and gain cores. Your goal is to get as many cores as possible within a time limit.

    1. The Sphero will rotate and make noises when warped.

11. Play other games. There are a wide variety of other apps that you can play with the Sphero, available on the App Store and Google Play, such as Color Grab and Chromo Drive. There is also an educational app that teaches coding, like Sphero Edu.