Customer Reviews

Q-BA-MAZE Stacking Cubes with Marble Run: 50-pack Cool Colors

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

 

 

My kids (ages 5, 8 and 11) love Q-Ba-Maze, and my five-year-old has played with it almost every day since we received it as a gift four weeks ago. He started making tall, straight-down "shoots" for marble drops, and then quickly got the hang of how the cascading pieces slide into each other. Now he makes constructions for simultaneous marble drops to see which route "wins." As an architect, I like that Q-Ba-Maze has inherent structure and yet has open-ended design possibilities.

The kids didn't know what this was about at first. I convinced them to open it then started playing with it myself (you'll find that adults take to it, too). Soon after, they became absorbed and I had to give up my pieces so that they could work on their mazes. No, this isn't the next GameBoy but it does insist they think beyond pressing a few buttons. Be warned, the marbles that come with the toy are essentially the size of ball bearings. You'll want to grab and hide most of the marbles before they all disappear. You'll also want to be careful not to give this toy to kids who may still be putting things in their mouth or whose sitting grandparents may slip on a stray marble.

I truly thought that my two girls (ages 7 & 9) would play with this for hours. However, once Christmas passed, the toy hasn't been out of it's box since. They love to build, so I'm not sure why this one didn't grab them. Oh well. I think it's a great toy myself.

Got sets of these as an office toy as a diversion while people are waiting to see me. But since the THREE COLORS- blue, green and clear- DO NOT CORRESPOND to the THREE FUNCTIONS, side-drop, double drop and down-drop, the toy did not serve as a fast, simple amusement, people kept "getting it wrong" and marbles continually and unexpectedly kept bouncing off of the table.

The one example that came with the set is in 2D, not 3D and therefore not easily helpful. Went online to their site and the instructions (for a 12 pack OneTower) were color-corodinated and had arrows, but the example was still in 2D and did not funtion the way I would expect a marble-run device to function: you put it the marble in at the top and it works it way down and out.

Bottom line is that I'm used to the simplicity and directness of LEGO toy builing with 3D drawn directions for a 3D product. It seems that the appeal to these sets is that you put the marble in anywhere and it comes out anywhere. Which I find counter-intuitive and counter-productive.

So now I will be taking the six sets I bought, running out color pages from the website (and with luck, probably something from YouTube) and forwarding it all on children (and parents) who see this as fun. I buy toys all the time for adults and children. This was the most "not fun" toy I've ever encountered.

You would think you were getting 50 blocks, but actually, you're getting 36 blocks and 14 balls. The price is rather high for just 36 plastic cubes and 14 pachinko balls. But Q-Ba-Maze is very fun indeed. Their website provides awesome plans that keep me and my son (8 y.o.) absorbed for hours. We bought two sets (for almost 100 dollars after shipping and tax). But there are some plans online that call for more pieces than that!

If amazon allowed me to give stars for "value", I would give this 3 stars.

Q-Ba-Maze would be the perfect toy, and would be in every household IF they cut the price in half (or gave you more pieces per box). I'd feel I was getting more of my money's worth, and I would get suckered in to buying more and more extra sets for our creations. That sounds like a good business plan for them; let's see if they take me up on it!

A note on durability: The pieces are clear and are easily scratched. In fact, they came out of the box already with scratches on them since the metal balls rattle around inside the packaging, coursing up and down through the maze as the box gets tipped. I suppose this is to tempt shoppers who see it on a shelf and can see with their own eyes how the balls go through the maze.

My kids 4 and 7 and their friends love working with me building geometric mable runs. When they pour the marbles into the beautifully designed and colorful cubes they squeel with excitement. I love how it challenges their intellect and dexterity while having so much joy. When the kids are gone I steal away with the cubes to build marble runs not possible with other toys.

Fun to do together as a family.
Seems to be very durable.
My son loves to watch which direction the marble with travel next.