What is Paper Jamz?
Posted by the author on August 2nd, 2010Produced by WowWee, the makers of fantastic robotic toys (like the FlyTech Tinker Bell I reviewed long, long ago), Paper Jamz instruments are thin, battery-operated guitars and drum sets that feature Active Graphics Technology. This means that music is played based on embedded touch sensors. There are six unique guitars and six corresponding drum sets (sold separately), each featuring three hit licensed songs. The guitar and drums can be played in four modes, including:
Perfect Play - Play along with the three included hit songs while jamming on the guitar “perfectly” as though part of the band.
Rhythm Play - The rhythm of the music for each song can be controlled – speeding up or slowing down based on personal choice.
Freestyle Play – The guitar can be played similar to a real guitar, as you can play real chords and create your own songs.
My thoughts on Paper Jamz Guitar
I turned this baby on and became an instant rock star! While it’s not exactly made out of paper, the guitar does have a cardboard front. It has a plastic part in the back where all the wiring and batteries (3 “AAA”) go, but other than that, it’s super thin and lightweight. Figuring out all the settings took some time (and trial and error) but I think I got it down. The touch sensors are incredibly sensitive!
Paper Jamz Guitar is geared towards kids ages 8+, so I was afraid that the guitar would be too complicated for Maya, my 5-year-old, to master. I was wrong. While she’s not a fan of the songs that are included, she loves jammin’ freestyle, making up her own songs along the way. She especially loves zipping her fingers up and down, raising and lowering the volume. There’s also a headset jack that you can plug an amplifier into. Very cool. I could totally see a group of tweens forming a band (and a big racket) with these instruments!