Marbulous Marble Run 200 Piece + 20 Marbles

This toy is great fun and great value for money. I don't think you will be disappointed...What you get in the box is exactly what you see in the pictures, and it's made of a nice durable plastic. The pieces all fix together easily, and require just about the right amount of effort to separate without falling apart when accidentally knocked. Altogether I am very impressed with the quality of the construction.The box includes a wide variety of straight and curvy slopes. There is plenty of variety to keep kids interested, including some pieces with paddle wheels on them and some with bells on them. There are special pieces to catch the marbles (which are included) at the bottom, and plenty of spacer pieces to allow you to produce stable free-standing structures (with some well thought out spacers, including double males for instance, to ensure that any combination of pieces can be connected together and supported securely). It even comes with some printed plans for various sized runs that you can build, just to get you started.My son's favourite pieces are the two basins which the marbles go whizzing round in ever smaller circles until they fall down the hole in the middle - he spends ages sending the marbles down and watching them go round.The marble run does require some dexterity and planning to build (my son is nearly 4 and can choose which pieces he wants to put on and help attach them, but is not able to manage building a large run all on his own yet). Nonetheless, parents of younger children will probably enjoy this toy almost as much as their kids - it is quite transfixing.Overall I am extremely happy with this purchase. I would definitely recommend this set over some of the smaller sets, as I feel that the massive number of pieces in this set will provide entertainment for much longer (and older children will really enjoy building big complicated runs).If you really pushed me to say something negative about this product then:1) The box that it comes in is not particularly sturdy and does not stay closed very well under the weight of its contents. I do not foresee the box lasting a significant fraction of the toy's lifetime.2) There are 2 thin plastic support pieces which can rest on certain pieces and be connected up to improve rigidity. I felt that these pieces would have done this far better if they actually clipped on to pieces rather than just resting on them. However, I did not find that this caused any problems during construction or use, and it did not in any spoil our fun.3) A few of the smaller, more specialised support pieces can be difficult to separate because of their size (there is very little to grip on to), so you may occasionally have two pieces which you can not separate without great effort. However, you will likely want some of these pieces connected together most of the time anyway, so this should not spoil anyone's fun.

My daughter loves this marble run! She asked Santa for it & he delivered! She's 4 and is a really enquizitive child, she loves figuring out how to build things and its teaching her cause and effect of her skills as shes using the marbles. They are various colours so good to keep track of where they are (comes with 20 marbles). The pieces all fit and are very colourful and although its sturdy it doesn't like being moved once built up to a level, it can come loose but not whilst you are playing and letting the marbles go - it stays put if you keep aneye on it and put the tubes back together.. it's got cool spinners and little extras that make the run more fun, lots of tunnles and plenty of ways to expand and build. The instructions on how to build certain runs are brilliant and very clear- A good toy for her to play with someone or alone.

Bought this for my 6yr old grandaughter after she asked for one for her birthday. There are so many different ones on the market i struggled with which one to buy and went eith this one because it had the highest star rating. In all honesty building the run was a bit beyond her but luckily she has 2 sisters age 8 and11 who eagerly volunteered to help, they all had a great time inventing runs which the 6yr old then dropped the marbles in.The pieces are sturdy and of good quality the colours are bright and there is a good selection of twirly bits, steps, bells and roundabouts.Very happy with this marble run and would definitely recommend this one.

I wasn't sure whether to give it 3 or 4 stars, because on the good side, it is fantastic fun for kids, the plastic is strong and sturdy plastic, the design of the different bits is good (for one example the wheels that should spin when a marble passes do actually spin a bit), and the marbles do run properly throughout. The whole thing works well, giving hours of fun. I do suggest that if the kids are little, between 3 and 7 years old, then rather build 4 or 5 smaller marble runs, rather than 1 or 2 big tall ones, as the taller towers fall over easily, and when they do they fall to bits, so you have to start building all over again.On the bad side, most parts that have a wheel or bell or whatever are in 2 or 3 separate bits unnecessarily, so that counts 3 pieces instead of 1 piece with each one of them. There are 2 long tall feet, but they have been made so they are in 3 pieces unnecessarily, which you have to permanently join, so again, what should count as 2 pieces is counted as 6 pieces. There are at least 60 superfluous caps and decorative bits and bobs, way more than is needed. There are only 5 feet and only 3 'end of run' pieces where the marbles end up. There should have been at least 8 feet and at least 5 'end of marble run' pieces, in my opinion. Without feet the towers fall over easier, and without 'end of run' receivers, you have to carefully pick up the tower to retrieve the marbles, risking the tower falling over.OK, about 40 of the superfluous bits and bobs can be fitted together to make more towers, but being very small, you need a lot of them. They can also be used in between the normal tower building pieces to make towers look more interesting, and of course many of them can be fitted all over the place as caps/lids, just for fun, but not necessary and have nothing to do with the actual functioning of marble run, just decorative really.So in fact you get 31 important pieces (where the marbles go in one side and come out the other), of those 31 pieces,12 are interesting fun ones, you have 54 tower building pieces, 2 tall feet, 3 short feet, 3 'end of run marble receivers' , 20 marbles and 89 bits and bobs. So that is about 100 essential pieces. I still think it is well worth the money anyway.