Customer Reviews

New 6 Color Ball of Whack

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

We bought our son this product for Christmas after he became enthralled with it at the local toy store. He loves that you can drop it, the pieces scatter and then he has a blast finding all the pieces and putting it back together. As he gets older, I am sure he will enjoy making all kinds of fun creations with this great learning toy.

Shortly after he got it we did lose a piece. I e-mailed the company and told them what had happened, hoping I could buy a replacement piece and not have to replace the entire ball. They sent me a replacement piece (free of charge) along with a nice letter and a thank you for my business.

Kudos to Ball of Whacks for providing such excellent customer service and for marketing such a great toy for young and old.

This is a great toy to use to familiarize yourself with the rhombic triacontahedron, especially if you buy the six-color edition. Actually, I recommend buying two, because that way you'll have 10 pieces of each color. This allows for symmetrically 3-coloring the "ball" as well as 5-coloring and 6-coloring it, which are all interesting problems. There are also some nice but less symmetrical 4-coloring patterns you can make.

My whole family has been enjoying playing with this toy.

In a rush, I bought this toy for my 5 year old grandson's birthday. He is intrigued with mechanical things and I love magnets. However, when I got the toy, the warning was 'not for children under 14' because it contained rare earth magnets. And, if it was thrown, it might be damaged and should be disposed of. That immediately excluded my grandson. I still think it is a facinating toy, but I haven't opened it. Therefore, my ratings are not terribly relevant. But, my review couldn't be summited without them.

I got this ball of magnets for my husband but my 9 and 13yo sons love it too and invent all kinds of shapes and games. Very sturder and this would make a great present for someone who has everything. The price is also lowest at amazon at about 18-19 dollars.

This has been a wonderful tool and great way for me to interact with my children. Though this is not suggested for children under 14, it is a fantastic toy for sharing with my younger ones. My 3 year old daughter loves to make red stars with a blue border... and my 1 year old son loved to hold the ball, regardless of the color pattern. He would emphatically say "BALL!" once I put all the pieces together. I can't wait to buy a second ball so we can do more color combinations.

One of the black pieces was unfortunately lost, and I didn't use the ball for a couple months. I ended up contacting customer service, and the Vice President followed up with me. He had a new piece sent to me, free of charge. I really feel so much happier about my purchase because of that. I will definitely be buying more products from them.

I received this as a Christmas gift after reading other reviews touting its ability to facilitate creative thinking (something with which I often struggle). I still hope to experience this, but at Christmas it was constantly in use by my 14 and 17 year old relatives. They spent literally hours with this toy studying it, designing shapes, and organizing the pieces in different ways. In the limited time I've had with it, I find it to be challenging and forcing my brain to be stimulated in new ways. I should mention I'm currently 35!

I chose the six-color version to increase the variety of options and to hopefully make me think in colors as well as shapes. I think that was a good choice.

Both I and my seven year old granddaughter get a lot of enjoyment out of manipulating these shapes into many different forms. I like this better than the one color ball of Whacks as it allows us to form patterns and do some sorting.

I like this new magnetic Ball even more than the original red Ball of Whacks. It has visual as well as tactile appeal.
I found it a challenge to put it together with no same sides touching- not even at the points.
Then, I challenged myself and my kids do put it together again even faster.
But ultimately, the best part of playing with the X-Ball is being creative; inventing new shapes and designs.

I also noticed that people can't keep their hands off this thing. When they walk by my desk they pick it and begin to manipulate it without thinking.

I think that's what the creator, Roger von Oech probably had in mind.

Awesome! Both my 8yr old and 13 yr old love it!! Great price point for birthdays and the holidays. Will be a stocking stuffer for my neices!

The Product Description says "Recommended ages 8+". However, the package says "WARNING: NOT FOR CHILDREN UNDER 14 YEARS OF AGE. Keep away from younger children, pets, and pacemakers..." It looks neat, but I would not have bought it for my younger grandkids had I known this, so I've returned it. Amazon should amend the Product Description.