Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a really cool idea for a toy. It's sturdy plastic. It's a marble run, it gives you a new use for that (excessive) box of Duplos, it inadvertantly teaches some basic physics concepts, it's entertainment that requires thought and interaction - and that's become scarcer and scarcer... but no matter how very, very, careful you are, it's like playing with a doggone set of knives: It WILL cut you. Mind you, I say this as someone who was totally skeptical of these people who were sliced to shreds by the thing in previous reviews.
Perhaps if I explain *how* and *why* they will inevitably leave you with bandaged fingers, someone else considering this alluringly cool toy won't be so similarly skeptical.
I bought this, I might as well add, as a fun little activity to do with my four year old. She wants one of those wooden Haba marble runs she's seen in a catalogue, and I've seen how long most new toys hold her interest, so I bypassed that regrettable $200 plus purchase, and went for these instead.
I decided to conduct a trial run before giving them to her and I'm glad I did. Problem number one is that the pieces in theory would slide together in two different places on each side of each 'block.' However, in reality, they do sometimes slide easily together and other times you really have to work to get them together. It's like they aren't quite uniform in the way they've been manufactured. Fortunately, on putting them together, if you're quite careful, you won't be cut. That said, what immediately becomes clear is that there is no way a child in the projected age range would be able to put some of these pieces together at all, and you also know intuitively, as a parent that the frustration of not being able to build this independently will elicits howls, screams, pleas for help and then anger that you've interfered, and perhaps a big stormy flight back to one's room *door slam* and an announcement that said child will never ever build marble runs ever again. Or maybe my kid's just dramatic.
Anyway, having a bit more patience, I did manage to with our 300+ basic Legos and the pieces of the marble run, construct a pretty cool design without a great deal thought and planning. There were some problems here and there, knocking over a haphazard tower built upon a Lego truck (which did look sorta cool), and there's a slight learning curve to the physics of the thing. If you build too steep a ramp, and then insert a curve, the marble jumps off the track. Other times you may not have the momentum to make it around a series of curves. However, adjustments can be made and after a few tries it'll work itself out. This doesn't feel as tedious as it probably sounds.
So, once constructed, I think, "Hey, this is pretty cool." I tinker with it for a bit and then set to the task of disassembling and repackaging.
I've put together probably 150 pieces of the set (the other 50 pieces seemed to be nearly identical to basic Lego Duplos, and since I have basic Lego Duplos, these were useless). Here's where the injuries begin. You know those pieces that were a little tough to get together? Well, now they are IMPOSSIBLE to get apart. And sometimes when you apply enough force to pry them apart, you discover just how sharp those parts that attach the pieces are as they give you a good slice on release. At this point I call in the significant other for reinforcement. Perhaps some good old-fashioned man-power will speed operation clean-up along.
The two of us sat for a good 45 minutes. It went something like this: Ouch! Crap! Oh, this one is really stuck, can you get it? Ouch! Crap! Wait, I think the little attachment parts warped when I took it apart. Ouch! This toy sucks!
I have about 5 cuts on my hands. I tried to be careful, really I did. One of them is nasty and deep enough to have given me a bit of annoyance throughout the day.
So, I ask, if two adults exercising (increasing) caution when disassembling this toy can do this much damage to themselves, what might a child in the same situation do to their hands?
It's a flawed design, and I think I'll be contacting the manufacturers of it to let them know that. Perhaps it will inspire them to return to the drawing board and create something that is every bit as cool toy this one would be without the guarantee of inflicting pain and injury.
As this toy is made in the USA, I would love to see the company improve it and create a truly fantastic toy that is both safe and supports our home economy in a positive way. As it stands now, I'd recommend anyone considering this toy pass it up until improvements have been made.
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