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Bot Shell Type real commands into Pip's pretend computer. Find six hidden passwords.
Every robot and every AI runs on an operating system. Pip the robot keeps hiding passwords on its computer, and you get them back by typing real commands: ls, cd, cat, grep, chmod, and pipes. Six levels, one new idea each. It's a pretend computer that lives in the page, so nothing can break and nothing you type leaves your device.
1–2 players · ~12–16 + parents · ~25 min · one screen
Play in your browser
Free, no login. Nothing you do in the game leaves your device. Works on a laptop, tablet, or phone.
Good to know
Plays in any browser with a keyboard. No account, no real computer is touched, and nothing you type leaves your device. The one-page guide prints on plain paper, with an answer key and a no-screens version.
How to play
Pip the robot keeps forgetting passwords and hiding them in files. Type real command-line commands into Pip's pretend computer to find each one, then unlock it. Six levels, one new idea each: looking around, folders, hidden files, searching logs, permissions, and pipes.
How to play
- Read Pip's mission and the new command on the left. Then type commands at the prompt and press Enter.
- Found the password? Type unlock and the word, like unlock BOLT. The next level opens.
- Stuck? Tap Hint, or type help. Nothing can break: every level starts fresh when you come back.
- Commands are real. ls, cd, cat, grep, chmod and | work the same way on Mac and Linux computers.
What Pip's computer teaches
- Every robot and every AI runs on an operating system: files, folders, and permissions underneath everything.
- Logs are how engineers find out what a machine did. grep finds the one line that matters.
- Permissions decide who can read what. They protect your files, and they're part of keeping AI systems safe.
- Pipes chain small tools into big ones, the same way AI agents chain tools together.
No screens? Play it unplugged
- No screens? Make Pip's computer out of envelopes: folders are envelopes, files are index cards inside.
- One player is the computer and answers only exact commands: ls means read out the card names, cat means read one card.
- Write a password on one card, hide it two envelopes deep, and mark one envelope 'no r' that only opens after 'chmod +r'.
Downloads
Grown-up guide
Plain paper · 1 page · 8.5 × 11
How to play, what it teaches, a grown-ups-only answer key, and a no-screens envelope version.
Guide preview
One page for grown-ups and classrooms: what it teaches, plus a version with no screens.
On a phone, open the PDF in a new tab — in-page previews are unreliable in mobile Safari.
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