Marble Circuit Puzzle - Exciting Maze Game Toy for Kids, Fun Brain Teasers for Kids 6 Years and Above

The concept of this puzzle/challenge board is great for mental engagement, problem solving, thinking steps ahead; for both kids and elderly. However, the instructions contradict the board (example: release one ball at a time, board has release for all balls at once). For the sake of argument, let’s say that is just so you have two options; release them all or if you have issues, release one at a time - that’s okay but not clear that is the intent. Then there is the problem with getting pieces out when misplaced. This led to great frustration for both kids and elderly. Trying to get one piece out without having to turn the board over or otherwise dislodge other pieces causes loss of focus, frustration, and in some a sense of being defeated.We tried a variety of ways to get pieces out, sticky dots on the end of wooden dowels were the preferred method for the easiest success of piece removal.We have one elder friend with dementia who wanted to “fix the puzzle”. With some supervision, i think we are going to see what ideas he comes up with for fixing the puzzle board.

This ball bearing puzzle toy is extremely satisfying.There's something very soothing about these cool little rolling spheres. The toy is honestly a bit addictive. You keep wanting to try JUST ONE MORE TURN.It's not particularly complex to play but requires a little thinking to get the hang of it.Nice toy that can be fiddled with on the coffee table or in the kids' room.Fidget toys aren't just for kids!

This marble circuit game is made of lightweight plastic with metal balls (that are most definitely choking hazards, as the box clearly states). It is recommended for ages 6 and up, and I do think young elementary age kids would enjoy setting up the tracks and releasing the marbles, even if the challenges were too difficult. There are 20 leveled challenge cards that show a partial set up and how many marbles are supposed to land in each final compartment. One of the features that I thought is the neatest is the marble release button where you can push it and let all the marbles drop, but the instructions clearly state to release them one by one, so I’m not sure why the center button is there. My biggest complaint is that removing a misplaced piece is extremely difficult, even with fingernails. I’m using tweezers to pop up the wrong piece, and that works ok, but I feel like the game manufacturer should have taken that into consideration. The only other option is to dump the entire board and start over each time you mess up, but that doesn’t hold much appeal. Everything slides back into the box for storage, but plan on replacing the teeny tiny baggie for the marbles with something else since it isn’t going to hold up to repeated use. Overall, I am still glad to have the game, but I do think there is room for improvement.

As a puzzle, this is actually pretty clever. You place the pieces to redirect the marbles when they are released. The puzzle cards show you a starting position for some of the pieces, and you need to figure out where the rest go to get the right number of marbles into the reservoirs at the bottom.Unfortunately, there are too many problems with the design for me to give it a glowing review.-Once all of the pieces are in place, it is very difficult to get them back out again - there is nowhere to get your fingers in between them until at least one has been removed. This is especially annoying if you placed one incorrectly and need to fix a single piece.-Unless you are playing on a perfectly flat surface, the marbles won't always fall. Maybe the angle needed to be higher, or the grooves deeper, or something.-In some configurations (including some of the ones needed for the puzzle cards), the marbles bang into each other on the way down, and get knocked off course. The instructions suggested to drop them one at a time to avoid this, but that kinda defeats the purpose of the drop bar that releases them all at once. (Plus, it's a lot more gratifying to watch them all fall together.)-Once you unwrap it the first time, the only way to put it away is just to stick it all loose in the box, and everything gets jumbled up. It would have been nice to have a storage bag, at least for the marbles.