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We have had other marble runs that my kids really love so we figure to invest in a good quality marble run.It is sooooooo frustrating though this thing collapse so easily. I wish there was a locking or stablizing design between pieces. It should be feasible with wooden pieces.The silver lining is taking the opportunity to tell my kids that things could happen, and teach my them that it is okay and that they can rebuild it from scratch. But I honestly feel annoyed and that it wastes my time.Buen producto y de calidad, a mi hijo le encantóThis set has very nice wooden pieces. The blocks are color-coded according to what kind of paths it allows the marbles to follow. This creates an interesting puzzle aspect to the toy, figuring out which blocks are appropriate for what desired construction.The box includes a bag to store the small plastic pieces and the marbles, which was a plus.So, the caveats:The first thing I noticed when building a model is that each track has two holes on each end, which I thought strange: Why would you have one hole in front of another, since the marble will immediately fall down the first hole? The answer is: there are plastic inserts that you insert into the first hole. My guess is that this was an engineering choice to 1. allow more flexibility in designs (i.e. you can set up vertical paths for the marbles to fall through the tracks) and 2. allows more structural rigidity (e.g. one kind of plastic insert is a little ramp that guides the marble down from the opening in a block onto the track).For an adult or older child, this is fine (and probably well-motivated, in terms of the fine motor-skills and patience required). However, I grew up using a simpler Blocks and Marbles set (probably TEDCO brand?) with far fewer kinds of pieces (just a few lengths of track, each with one hole, and only one kind of block with a hole in it), and so I was expecting a similar simplicity here for my child.But the second thing my child and I discovered was quite a bit more worrisome: The horizontal tracks, as far as I can tell, are entirely unsloped. They rely on the inertia of each marble falling through the block to push it along the track to the next hole. I am pretty sure that the TEDCO Blocks and Marble set I grew up with had a slight slope on each horizontal track, so that the marble would always tend to roll from the end without a hole to the end with a hole. (The slope there is significant enough that I was able to make constructions that would send a marble off in the wrong direction on the track, and the slope would cause the marble to slow gradually and eventually reverse course and roll back towards the hole.)These factors have made it difficult for my child to just playfully put the pieces together and see what happens with the marbles: You need to plan ahead a bit in order to figure out what pieces need to go in which places.I do plan to keep this Hape set because it is well constructed and has interesting pieces. But I also have put an order in for the TEDCO set, just to see if it lives up to my expectation of how much simpler this could be.7yr old and 2yr old. &r old capable of building this up, creating something or following the instructions (which are easy to follow). 7yr old less interested in actually playing with it once built. 2.5year old loves everything about it, but it is all basically balancing - any sized structure is very easily toppled.That's not a product flaw, more something to be aware of with younger kids. Frustration factor is high with the topple factor and it takes a while to build up.All that aside it is beautifully made, very high quality, and a beautiful gift. Overall our kids are enjoying it, but it's not the quiet time activity we had hoped!!This was a birthday present for our 5-year old grandson. His 7-year old brother also took great interest in this. After years of putting together Lego models, you would think this might not delight younger boys....wrong! The older one joined in helping to make the models and was intrigued that the blocks would direct the the marbles in different ways. The red 'toggle' block was very interesting as it would change the direction of the path of the marble, alternating with each drop. The younger boy watched us build the models. He would help place the ramps and run test marbles to make sure it was working correctly. When the model was finished, the younger boy would feed the marbles into the structure and run to pick them up as they spit out the end. (I would strongly recommend buying the optional marble trays, or make your own. The marbles will roll all over, especially on hardwood floors). The kit comes in a nice heavy cardboard box with a built in handle. This is a great way to store the parts in between uses.The kit is very well-made. Although it is manufactured in China, the Swiss design is evident. The pieces are smooth and have no rough edges. The spiral mazes are solid and well-designed. You need to have the model on a level surface, since the tracks depend on the red ramps to accelerate the marbles through the maze. The tracks must remain level, and not inclined to work properly. The manual points this out on the first page.The manual is a necessity as you start building the models, and seeing how the parts impact the marble direction. Each model takes about 20 minutes to build, once you are familiar with it. One critique about the manual is that you need to view it in good daylight. The colors of the blue, green, and cyan blocks in the printed manual are very close in color. The same can be said for the yellow and tan blocks. A 'C', 'B'. 'G' printed on or near the block in the manual would help out.I am looking forward to seeing how my grandsons do later down the line with this kit. I think they will try their own designs, which enhances the fun factor of this toy.Yes, it is expensive, but I believe it will be a well-used toy and enjoyed for years. Even the parents were eager to help make the different models.
