Perplexus Maze Game by PlaSmart, Inc.

by PlaSmart

• A maze game where players must maneuver a small marble around challenging barriers inside a transparent sphere
• Provides a three dimensional experience
• Shift, flip, and twist the sphere to guide the marble
• Entertaining, educational, and great for fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination
• No set-up, clean-up or batteries

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 7.8 x 7.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• Origin: China
• ASIN: B002NPBT50
• Item model number: BL100
• Our recommended age: 6 - 12 years
• Manufacturer recommended age: 6 - 14 years
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
  • #1 in Toys & Games > Puzzles > Brain Teasers > Maze & Sequential Puzzles
  • #2 in Toys & Games > Games > Board Games
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (714 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com

Flip, twist, and spin your way through the Perplexus Maze Game from PlaSmart. This Perplexus Original is a bendy, trendy, can't-put-it-down challenge! With plenty of twists, turns, and barriers between start and finish, it will leave you perplexed. Once you try it, you won't be able to put it down!

Perplexus Maze Game

• Ages: Six years and up
• Requires: Ready to play

At a Glance:

• Flip, twist, and spin your way through the Perplexus Original Maze
• The maze and its obstacles are easy to play, but hard to master
• Race against yourself, your friends, and the clock
• Includes a super spiral, a tightrope, and a swing arm
• Features 3 different puzzles and 100 challenging barriers

Easy to play, but hard to master. View larger.

Clear sphere holds metal balls that wind through a maze. View larger.

Race against the clock or challenge your friends. View larger.

Easy to Play, Hard to Master

The Perplexus Original Maze Game is a clear sphere filled with multicolored pathways covering different areas of the sphere's interior. A small metal ball rolls around on the inside, and it's your job to guide that ball through the maze to its end. Once the ball is balanced in its starting position, it's easy to start rolling it around the tracks. By the time you've learned the different passageways, you'll realize that even though it's easy to play, all the different ways of moving around are hard to master!

Flip, Twist, and Spin Your Way through the Maze

Moving through the different pathways is a wacky exercise in spatial reasoning and stimulates your cognitive reasoning. As you move the ball along one track, you find that it's never long before you reach a different colored track that requires you to flip, twist, and spin the sphere 90 degrees one way or another to keep the ball rolling. Twist around corners, flip from the yellow to the orange ramp, spin around the various curves--if you fall off the track, just get back on and try again!

Race Yourself, Your Friends, and the Clock

If you work hard enough and make it to the end of the maze, congratulate yourself, and then turn it into a racetrack! Keep track of your personal best times and race against the clock. You can also race against your friends' times, or stage races with multiple Perplexus Mazes!

3 Races and 100 Challenging Barriers to Master

The Perplexus Maze Game includes a super spiral, a tightrope, and a swing arm to form 3 different puzzles and 100 challenging barriers to discover and overcome. Share it with your friends and family as you try to uncover all the patterns and obstacles, but be careful--Perplexus Original is so addicting that once you let it go, you might not get it back!

What's in the Box

Perplexus maze and stand.

Product Description

PERPLEXUS is a maze game where players maneuver a small marble around challenging barriers inside a transparent sphere. Unlike traditional flat-surface mazes that are composed of one path, PERPLEXUS houses various challenging tracks with 100 barriers providing a frustrating three-dimensional experience. Players select the track they would like to attempt and must work with gravity to carefully shift, flip, and twist the sphere to guide the marble. Players can race each other or the clock.

See all Product Description

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

355 of 364 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Updates about Perplexus construction - Dec 2009 December 13, 2009

By Dr. M.

Durability: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

First off, my whole family loves Perplexus!

I won't drag on with a description of the product, as other reviews have done this. But I will offer some updates regarding some of the previous reviewers' concerns about the construction of the toy.

1: The "watermark" stamp seems to have been changed. There still is one, which now reads "Perplexus," but it is not frosted; it is clear like the rest of the ball. Granted, there is some distortion looking through this from some angles, but it does not seem to impeed play.

2: The swing arm on ours works fine.

3: The hemispheres are screwed together tightly and look as though they will hold up to abuse. (But I will admit here that we have only had this toy for 2 days. If it breaks, I'll post a revised review).

4: The numbers along the track are still very difficult to see without very bright light, and even then you may have to tip the toy in a direction you don't want to in order to see the numbers. However, most of the pathways are easy to follow without the numbers, and once you've followed a path, it's unlikely you'll forget the way, so you really only need the numbers once.

Overall: my whole family (including the 5 year old) is in LOVE with this toy. We've had to set up rules about how long anybody gets to play with it, just to make sure the rest of us get our turn. I'm buying several as Christmas presents.

194 of 203 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Pefect!!! December 14, 2009

By L. Larson

Durability: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

This toy is great for all ages! My 3 year old is surprisingly VERY interested in it and it's so fun to watch him concentrate! He can easily get all the way past #25 and is getting better every time he plays with it. My husband will sit down with it for easily an hour (unusual for him) to try and conquer the maze. My favorite things about it: 1-when the kids are playing it they are concentrating SO hard that they are quiet and engaged for a LONG time. 2-no batteries required. 3-no annoying noises. 4-anybody can play. It's PERFECT for Doctor visits (who likes to wait at the dr's office with nothing to do?), trips in the car, and just hanging out at home! We keep one in the car (for trips AND when we are somewhere like an event that not everyone is interested in watching) and one at home.

Anytime ANYONE is over at our house and this toy is out, they are completely drawn to it. Adults and kids will pick it up and before too long are so engaged with it that they can't hold a conversation because they are concentrating so much. It is WONDERFUL to see children so focused on something other than a video game!!! Almost everyone who has played with it at my house has purchased one shortly after.

I would DEFINITELY recommend this toy to ANYONE! I'm buying 20 of them--family Christmas gifts and friend's birthday gifts for the upcoming year. I have NO problem with any part of this toy and am 110% satisfied with the durability and quality of this product!!! Whoever came up with such a toy is genius! The price is very low for the enjoyment and fun everyone will get out of this product!!!

220 of 240 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Perplexus compared to Superplexus and Magic Intellect Ball October 31, 2009

By K. Howard

Durability: 3.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 2.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

Perplexus is sphere in which you guide a small silver ball around an obstacle course. This is an almost identical copy of the Superplexus. The Perplexus and Superplexus are both 23 inches around. The only differences between they two are that the Superplexus has a completely clear globe, digital timer, more solid construction and is a bit heaver. The magic Intellect Ball or Magic Intennect Ball are also similar toys which are 95% the same as the Perplexus. The differences being that the Magic Balls have a completely clear globes, two different turns in the course and are only 20 inches around.

Perplexus positives:
The part of the course that is constructed correctly is fun. (All but one part of the course works in mine.)
Nice Colors.

Perplexus negatives:
The swing arm part in the middle of the second section is poorly constructed. In order to make it swing, the screw is too loose which means that the ball can NOT drop into the right place. So, there is no way to complete section Two.

Instead of having a clear sphere, like Superplexus, Magic Intellect Ball and Magic Intennect Ball, Perplexus has a 3 inch across watermark/stamp that says "Buksi" in the plastic on the top and bottom of the ball. When looking through this watermark/stamp the track the ball follows is fuzzy. Worse than that having to look back and forth over and over between the clear and cloudy plastic stamp as I do the maze give me a bad headache!!!!!

What a shame they put that annoying "Buksi" stamp there. If only the globe was completely clear and the swing arm worked it would be a 5 star toy.... Best I can give it is 3 stars and I recommend you buy the Superplexus or Magic Intellect ball instead because that have all the best parts of Perplexus with a completely Clear Globe. Read more ›

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Really Great! May 1, 2010

By Jorge F. Reynolds

Amazon Verified Purchase

Durability: 4.0 out of 5 stars    Educational: 5.0 out of 5 stars    Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

The 5Star reviews cover it well.
It seems a new version came out around Dec09, correcting some earlier problems. The only thing they couldn't fix [cost?] was the anoying reflections off the surface of the sphere.
It was brilliant of the designers to include a set of 3 "Starting Points" on this single but long path; this means that if, say, a youngster gets to the half-way point when the ball slips off the path, he doesn't have to go all the way back to the beginning but can pick up his path a 3rd of the way in.
It's the perfect childrens' toy because they themselves are training themselves in patience, persiverance and are increasing their own attention span while practicing manual dexterity and developing spatial awareness.
Maria Montessori would have turned green with envy!