National Geographic Marble Run with Motorized Elevator - 95-Piece Marble Maze Kit with Motorized Spiral Lift, 20 Marbles, Perpetual Motion Machine, STEM Gifts for Boys and Girls, Kids Physics Toys

I ordered this for my 4, 6, and 8 year old grandchildren for Christmas. Each age child has different skill sets for building marble runs but they all spent the better part of Christmas Day playing with this great toy. They especially love building a constant motion marble run using the battery powered screw lift which is so clever. There's one little quirk about the screw lift; you have to press all the clear tubing pieces together really well to make sure the screw will pop the marble out of the top of the tube. Once you figure that out there are hours of fun for children and adults helping children play with this great toy. Very highly recommend getting one with the screw lift. Very easy to assemble and play with right out of the box.

Why did you pick this product vs others?:National Geographic is a great company so I figured the product should be well thought out. Ease of assembly:My three year old has very little trouble building her marble runs. It's super easy to build and enjoy. Variety of pieces:Lots of pieces although I wish there were more additional sets to add on. Design:It's the best marble run we've had so far.

Such a great gift for kids that are hands on and creative. Can’t go wrong with a toy like this!

We'll start with that -most- pieces are quite strong, made of a bit of a thicker plastic. They're larger than some other marble runs (we have two other sets), and they aren't compatible.Bonus points: DOES fit 'normal' size marbles (we bought the tiny of varying sizes, and it fits the regular).Negative points: Hard for littler kids to do themselves, as the pieces just won't stay together and the more you mess with it (even with proper stabilization and pushing them hard together) it pops apart very easily and can get EXTREMELY frustrating when you've got a good build going and the pieces further back are just popping apart and falling to pieces. As multiple kids try to play it just crumbles, even when solidly built.The parts to the elevator are EXTREMELY sensitive. Kids were putting them together and the little tabs snapped right off, so now the entire elevator is gone (as without the little gray spinners, it's useless).Overall, it seems worth the purchase as it is fun to play with, the design of them overall is nice, and there is a nice variety of pieces with different curves, spinners, etc, but this set is INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING! If possible, I'd recommend other more sturdy sets, as this one seems more set for small builds and not extended, but it will give you a little bit of fun before you get too frustrated and walk away, because it crumbles too easily lol.

Kids love the marble “ladder” that continues the marbles moving through the course. Great STEM activity for all ages!

My granddaughter aged11 and I aged 73 played with the marble for a couple of hours. There are no real directions except for the elevator which lifts the marbles up to the top. You decide how to get them down. This is not a game for most children under the age of 10. Younger children could play with a parent or older child. I thought it was sturdy and easy to connect the pieces. I'm looking forward to playing with it again.

kids loved playing with this

The spiral tower motor rotates the wrong direction. So the marbles will not move up.Wish there was a number to call to replace the tower motor.My grandson received two of these for his birthday. Thank goodness the other motor rotated the proper direction.