Edushape 123 Pieces Marble Run Set
This is the first marble run that I’ve owned and it is one of the most fun toys that I could think about. It combines the construction ingenuity of a Lego set with all the required ingenuity of properly aligning and setting up a proper downward path for your marbles. This large 123 piece set has enough pieces that you will never run out of ideas for the kinds of intricate downward pathways that you might want to construct.
The set comes with a small instruction booklet on several different designs, starting with some simple ones and concluding with the full 123 piece set that’s depicted on the box’s cover. Unfortunately, none of the pictures are accompanied with the step-by-step instructions, and you have to rely on figuring out how to assemble the sets by just looking at the pictures. This becomes progressively harder to do as the number of pieces in the set increases.
The plastic pieces are well made and they fit very securely together. The quality of plastic is not quite as good as that of the Lego sets, but it’s definitely very durable. The individual pieces are colorful and fairly versatile. My package had a couple of smaller pieces missing, but they turned out not to be crucial for any of the sets that I constructed. I do wish there were pieces that introduced a bit of randomness into the marbles runs, giving each run a bit of uncertainty and possible alternative paths. As it is you can only construct very “linear” paths.
Aside from the 123 plastic pieces this set also includes a dozen or so small marbles. These are pretty standard marbles, and they seem well made. They are pretty small though and they are probably the number one reason why you shouldn’t use this set with small toddlers.
The set comes in a nice large cardboard box. The box can be used as a storage container when the pieces are not in use, but I would recommend getting an inexpensive plastic lid container for such purposes.
Overall, this is a pretty well designed and durable toy that can bring hours of fun to you and your kids. Highly recommended.
**** Product provided for review purposes. ****
About the Author
Bojan Tunguz
Bojan Tunguz was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which he and his family fled during the civil war for the neighboring Croatia. Over the past two decades he has studied, lived and worked in the United States. He is a theoretical physicist with degrees from Stanford and University of Illinois. Tunguz has taught physics at several prominent liberal arts colleges and has been writing about physics, science and technology for more than a decade. He also has a wide spectrum of interests, and reads and writes about current events, society, culture, religion and politics. Over the years he has reviewed many of the books that he has read, and posted his reviews on various online outlets. In 2011 he had become a top 10 reviewer on Amazon.com, where he continues to be very active. Aside from reading and writing, Tunguz enjoys traveling, digital photography, hiking, and fitness. He resides with his wife in Indiana. You can follow my review updates on the following pages as well: Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tunguzreview Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tunguzreviews Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104312842297641697463/posts
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