Parents' Guide to

Scribblenauts

By Jinny Gudmundsen, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 11+

Unique puzzles wow with ability to write objects into game.

Scribblenauts Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

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

Community Reviews

age 8+

Based on 10 parent reviews

age 2+

Haha, I love it!!

It's sooooo fun! I would laugh my head off as I dressed myself as a mom, and had a girl follow me, and a police officer would start raging! I love giving spoilt brats what they deserve, marrying 2 people, and much more!

This title has:

Easy to play/use
age 18+

Parents Beware, the higher levels are not so "sweet"

Well, as I found out today, in the name of "educational gaming" your child can learn how to bury a corpse and kill animals. I think there are better motivators to learn how to keyboard and spell. This is ultimately another attempt to desensitize kids to violence with cute cartoons. How is this entertainment or appropriate for 10 years olds? Maybe if the family business is grave digger.

This title has:

Too much violence

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (10):
Kids say (35):

With this think-it, write-it, play-with-it mechanic, puzzle solutions are limited only by your imagination. This kind of gameplay puts you in the driver's seat by letting you solve puzzles the way you want. If you like to solve puzzles by blowing things up, you can. However, if you would rather explore more peaceful means, that too is possible, and in most cases, will earn you more money. Because you can replay a puzzle as many times as you like, experimenting is encouraged. Since this is such a different way to approach puzzles, Scribblenauts wisely starts with a good set of tutorials.

Scribblenauts is a great game for a family to explore to together because each person can suggest different ideas about how to solve a puzzle. Even non-gamers will find this one interesting to explore. Plus, the game has a Level Editor, which allows players to try their hand at creating new puzzles that can be shared with others on the same DS or via the Nintendo DS Wi-Fi connection. Don't miss this one -- it is one of the most innovative games on the Nintendo DS.

Online interaction: You can share puzzles that you create with others via Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. No chat is available.

Game Details

  • Platforms: Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi
  • Available online?: Available online
  • Publisher: Warner Bros. Games
  • Release date: September 15, 2009
  • Genre: Puzzle
  • ESRB rating: E10+ for Cartoon Violenc, Comic Mischief
  • Last updated: August 31, 2016

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