Parents' Guide to

Ridemakerz

By Jeff Paramchuk, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 6+

Highly commercial, poorly put together online car racing.

Game Mac, Windows 2009
Ridemakerz Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this game.

Community Reviews

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age 3+

Based on 1 parent review

Chetaneya Garg
Chetaneya Garg Parent of 6 and 9-year-old
June 16, 2009
age 3+
See all 1 parent review

What’s It About?

The Ridemakerz brand is a take-off on the Build A Bear workshop model of business -- just instead of building bears, you build cars and trucks. New to the Ridemakerz family is a virtual world called RIDEMAKERZ, where kids from around the world can create a custom ride to enter in races and just cruise around an open world with other like-minded youth. While the online world does feature interaction, parents can rest assured that zero personal information is visible about your child's profile to others in the game. Similar to other family friendly online worlds, there is no chat option for kids to get in trouble with here – but a simple to use interface of pre-determined phrases and 'Zmotes' keeps things clean and out of trouble.

The game world has three main zones, each features an open driving zone just to cruise around and chat with other players online. Two of the zones feature a couple of different race options which are used to help advance your level to unlock better accessories and parts for your ride. In addition to the racing segments, one game puts you in control of the pit team which you manage when a car pulls into the pit for service. In another game you can collect experience and Z-cash for buying new parts as well as new clothing options for the in game avatar.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (2):

Ridemakerz is still in a Beta phase, which means there could still likely be some bugs to be found; and depending on which browser you use some are worse than others. Using Firefox, the game locked up the entire browser whereas Internet Explorer seemed a lot less prone to issues. The games themselves don't have much to them, other than using the four arrow keys and optionally the zero key or the spacebar for the racing phases. But what is here is likely going to appeal to kids who are passionate about cars, as working towards the higher levels unlocks cooler and better equipment – so long term play is rewarded. The best game by far is the pit crew challenge, as it takes a careful balance of managing the pit stops and repairs to take first prize.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about motor vehicles and what makes them so important in daily life? They can also discuss maintenance and how keeping a car in top working order is not only good for the vehicle, but safer for the family as well as better on the environment. They can also talk about the commercialism in this game and how, while this game is offered for free on the internet, it nonetheless encourages you to spend money.

Game Details

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