GraviTrax Starter Set

I love marble runs, but I'm often disappointed by the quality, the buildability, and the stamina of the pieces. I am not disappointed with this marble run. It is wonderful, easy, sturdy, and very entertaining. I bought myself one to work with students ages 15 - 18. They love it too. I sent my nephew the same product to play with his four year old. I highly recommend this product. Good job Ravensburger - thank you for the effort and professional work that went into this product. The extension kits are amazing also! Keep the fun coming!

Fun learning activities with the kids! Great for kids who like building and seeing how things work! This was a fun project!

Purchased as a Christmas gift for my 8 year old son. How LOVES it. We have used it for homeschool science many times. Hes built all the tracks in the instruction manual and many more. He br ing this out when certain friends come over and they are occupied for a long while. A friend of ours even purchased a set for their kids based on the play from our house.We had this set for a year now and there have been no broken parts and we've managed to not loose any parts. This product is well made. The instructions are well written and easy to understand, even for an 8-9 year old. The price of this set is comparable for the value of this set. I think its expensive but I also feel like I've gotten my money's worth.I would recommend it as a great STEM activity. Worth having in any classroom.

Pros:Variety of components for creativity.Fun learning of STEM concepts.Infinite track design possibilities.Expandable with cool accessories.Enjoyed by kids and adults.Durable.Cons:Initial setup can be complex.Additional expansions are pricey.Needs ample space for building.Pieces don't always securely connect.Marbles are quite small (tough for kids).

I admit I have a certain fascination with marble runs, even as an adult. This one is different from anything else I've seen on the market, so naturally, I had to buy it. It arrived yesterday, and I've been experimenting with it for hours. This set is a lot of fun, and it's almost perfect, especially compared to the other marble runs I've had.The hexagonal grid is definitely unique, and takes a bit of thinking at first to get the pieces oriented properly. That's a good thing, though, right? :-) The marbles (actually steel ball bearings) stay on the track 99% of the time. The pieces don't actually lock together, and occasionally you'll accidentally bump something and knock a piece off, but it's usually easy enough to put it back. It's not really an issue for older kids and adults, but a young child whose lacks dexterity would get frustrated very quickly.I was a little surprised that the base plates are actually just cardboard ... heavy cardboard ... but cardboard nonetheless. It's only been a day, but they seem to be holding up fine so far. Other than the cardboard base plates and the steel ball bearings, everything else is plastic. From the video, I kind of thought the silver track pieces would be metal, but they're also plastic, and obviously need to be handled carefully.It comes with instructions in several languages (each language has its own pamphlet), and there are two pattern books that show different layouts, starting with simple ones all the way up to harder ones. I found them all to be super-simple, because it shows you step-by-step what to do, and where to put everything. Make sure you have your base plates turned the same way they do in the book, and use the green hexagons as guides so that you put the pieces in the proper places. Even the most complicated layout only took me about 15 or 20 minutes to do. It's worth mentioning that some of their layouts that use the cannon (included) , and I had to alter those to make them work. The cannon is surprisingly powerful, and would almost always send the ball shooting right out of the track. One ball has already rolled behind my desk and seems to have vanished from the face of the earth. They only give you 6 balls, and all 6 are needed for the more complicated cannon layouts, so that's a little frustrating. I did order all of the expansion sets and the other two "tricks" (loop and hammer), and there are supposed to be extra balls included with some of those. I wish all of the balls were colored, but it's not a huge deal. I got a red one, a blue one, a green one, and 3 silver ones.I like that the launch pad has a button that launches the balls simultaneously, making races more fun. The clear level platform pieces are sturdy and it's nice to be able to see through them. I wouldn't recommend building underneath the centers of the platforms, though, because if something needs to be repaired or changed, there's often no room to reach under and fix it. If you do build under it, stay close to the edges where you can more easily reach the tracks, otherwise you'll find yourself carefully lifting the whole platform and hoping it doesn't come apart. ;-) I wish the vortex piece was bigger so the balls would take longer to spin around it. Sometimes they just kind of drop through without any spinning action.Unlike some other marble runs, this set tends to be more horizontal than it is vertical. In other words, you're gonna need a big table. The four base plates measure a little over 24" square when assembled in a 2x2 layout.The starter set alone gives you a decent amount of pieces to play with, but you'll probably find yourself wanting the expansion kits and the add-on "tricks". The video that's in the listing is a little misleading, because you don't get the loop or the hammer with the starter set. Those are extra. They also show more than one set in the video, so go by the written list of contents rather than what you see in the video. I wish they sold individual pieces separately, because some items are only available in the starter set. I would've liked to have a spare launch pad, a spare catcher, etc, but best as I can tell, you'd have to buy a second starter set to get more of some of the items. You might consider buying two starter sets and the "tricks" add-ons, rather than a starter set, the two expansion kits, and the "tricks". The cost difference isn't much. It just depends on which pieces are most important to you. EDIT: Yes, in hindsight, I wish I'd simply ordered two starter kits rather than the expansion kits. It's about $7-8 more, but you get a lot more stuff.Value-wise, yeah, it's a bit overpriced for plastic, cardboard, and steel, but it's nicely designed, and you do get hours and hours worth of fun for the money.The set is very nicely packaged in a sturdy box (great for storage) and arrived in perfect condition.Edited to add this tip: If you have several level platforms and run out of the gray/black height tiles, use paper towel or toilet paper rolls cut to the right size instead. That'll free up a good number of height tiles, without having to buy more. :-) Usually 3 stacks of the height tiles are needed to support a level platform. I still use one stack of height tiles to make sure the platform stays in place, but I've been able to replace the remaining two stacks of height tiles with paper towel rolls. (Hope that makes sense.)

The media could not be loaded. Amazing game. Keeps my 12 year old son busy for hours. We got some more. 3 boxes

I ordered this for my son's 11th birthday. He loves them. He is able to be very creative in his creations and tracks. We plan on ordering a second set to create more complex tracks.

The media could not be loaded. This marble run set is awesome. I've had other marble run sets for adults (SpaceWarp) where it was so finicky to get the tracks to bank at the proper angles, thus are totally not child friendly. Then there are other wooden sets where the number of different layouts were not as varied as Gravitrax. Overall, Gravitrax provides an extremely satisfying play for kids and adults alike.A note though, that some patience and finesse is certainly needed when playing with this. Some of the reviewers mention that the components 'don't work'. The components (i.e. trampoline, cannon, loop) don't work in every situation. Depending on your track, you'll need to ensure the incoming ball has the right amount of speed to get the desired results. Too fast, and it may shoot off the track. Too slow, and it may not bounce far enough. That's half of the fun and challenge though, to change your track to make each of the special components work!