Hot Wheels Electric SpongeBob SquarePants Boat Race Set

by Mattel

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00006IJJQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #271,144 in Toys & Games (See Top 100 in Toys & Games)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

Product Description

Editorial Review

Okay, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that SpongeBob SquarePants and his starfish friend Patrick are racing around in cars. They live under the sea, after all. Wouldn’t the cars, you know, float away? But "sense" is something best dispensed of when exploring SpongeBob’s world. We are, after all, talking about a necktie-wearing kitchen sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea. This cool little racetrack is sure to please the SpongeBob faithful with thoughtfully detailed set pieces such as the Krusty Krab restaurant, and the homes of both SpongeBob and Patrick. The set features many pieces and takes a while to set up. As for the actual racing part of the set, it works fairly well, even if the cars are on the pokey side. --Charlie Williams

Product Description

Take your marks under the sea in the world of SpongeBob Squarepants. This Hot Wheels Bikini Bottom Boat Race Set has over 10-1/2 feet of racing action. Also includes two vehicles with characters, 23 track pieces, two controllers, battery box, cardboard backdrop, label sheet and owner's manual. Imported.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Is playtesting before marketing a lost art?, December 29, 2003

By 

LANCE R LINDLEY "hagakure" (Yokosuka, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hot Wheels Electric SpongeBob SquarePants Boat Race Set (Toy)

Doesn't anybody playtest toys anymore before they toss them onto the market? Or is it enough that they look great and have a sure-fire cartoon character tie-in?

I ask, because as great and seemingly durable as this little SpongeBob race set is, had anybody in the Mattel boardroom actually tried to play it they would have quickly realized what a Festival of Frustration it is.

When you open the box, you're bound to be delighted by the brightly colored cardboard punch-out set decorations and the really super SpongeBob and Patrick "boats" (slot cars), which feel nice and hefty and solid. Once you've figured out how to put the track together (was it too difficult to actually label the tracks with the same letters by which the instructions refer to them?), and hooked up the power pack and the controllers (kudos for being battery powered, rather than requiring a wall socket, though the option for both would have been nice -- four "D" batteries ain't cheap), the next thing you're going to do, logically, is place the cars on the track and give a controller a squeeze.

And then the NEXT thing you're going to do is get up off your knees and go get the car and put it back on the track. Another squeeze, another track departure, another retrieval. Repeat ad nauseum. Or at least until your kid decides it's more fun to throw the controller at the little cardboard set decorations -- something which you may find yourself in agreement with.

Put simply, these sturdy plastic boat cars are ponderously heavy and too fast for their own good, which means they are highly susceptible to inertia: squeeze lightly and they do not move, just buzz plaintively. Squeeze just ever-so-slightly too hard and they go from standstill to Mario Andretti to Evel Kneivel in under a second, forcing you to spend 80 to 90 percent of your time crawling over to them and putting them back on the track.

And if YOU think that sounds annoying, wait until you see your preteen's reaction.

I did not personally experience any problem with the track coming apart, as some reviewers have mentioned. But that may be because Patrick and Bob spent the lion's share of their time extratrackular.

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It can be FUN TO PLAY with this HORRIBLY DEFECTIVE toy, October 28, 2004

By 

Brian's Dad (Los Gatos, CA United States) - See all my reviews

= Durability:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:1.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Hot Wheels Electric SpongeBob SquarePants Boat Race Set (Toy)

This is a terribly unplayable racing toy. Yet, there are circumstances in which it will "work."

Everything the other reviewers say is true: The cars constantly fly off the track, and you're spending a lot of time retrieving them. Oftentimes, the controllers come unplugged from the power supply. The metal contacts beneath the boats (cars) occasionally need manual adjustment. This thing was just poorly executed.

HOWEVER, the most heinous flaw was Mattel's designating this as a toy for 8 years and older. WRONG! I bought this set on a whim; it was cheap (at Kmart), and my kids love SpongeBob. They thoroughly LOVE THIS TOY! The key is that my kids were 3 1/2 and barely 6 at the time they began playing with it.

Today, they're 4 and 7, and they still love it. The cars' propensity to fly off the track, although infuriating for me, does not seem to bother them. We play on the carpeted floor, so they don't go too far, and the kids don't appear too inconvenienced by having to go get them.

The cars do stay on the track if you can master the touch of depressing the controller button only 3/4 of the way, and my 4-year old is able to do that. There are are only two speeds: fast and nearly fast. Go from stop to flying; there is no middle ground.

It's a poorly made toy, but provides entertainment for the right age group. (i.e., younger than 7).

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun For All Ages, September 10, 2003

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:3.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Hot Wheels Electric SpongeBob SquarePants Boat Race Set (Toy)

I have been having some exceptional fun playing with this race set. I am 42 years old and feel like I'm a kid again racing with my 4 year old. The controls are just right for a toddler's hands, yet not too small for big hands. A very nice break from TV, videos and computer games!