Ravensburger GraviTrax Starter Set - Marble Run, STEM and Construction & GraviTrax Magnetic Cannon - Add On Extension Accessory Marble Run and Construction Toy For Kids Age 8 Years Up

Product Information

The base tiles have some hexes marked in green, making it easier to correctly place pieces according to the included plans. The base tiles being cardboard, though, means that they could easily wear out with a lot of play, with the constant insertion/removal of pillars and tiles. They’re sturdy cardboard, but they are still cardboard. If you’re using GraviTrax on the floor, stepping on it wrong might bend or dent the base tiles, too, making them less useful.

As I got older, I still loved my marble game—I still have it—but longed for something more involved, interesting, and customizable. I got my kids one of those plastic marble run sets that you can put together yourself, but it wasn’t terribly satisfying for me, as it was difficult to build anything complicated. Recently, though, I had a chance to try out the GraviTrax PRO set, an improvement on the basic GraviTrax set that GeekMom Sophie reviewed for us previously. GraviTrax PRO The one expansion I would advise avoiding is the Trampoline. Scoring just 18/40 in our challenge, it was inconsistent, hard to use, and included the least amount of bonus pieces which made it poor value for money. While it looks cool and is probably the most fun to watch when it actually works, it’s just not worth your money in my opinion unless you’re looking for a complete set of all the expansions. The Lifter worked perfectly every time we used it, although you need to remember to operate it manually, unlike most of the other expansions featured here. As it simply carries a marble along in the same direction it came from with no level shifts, this is one of the easiest GraviTrax expansions to incorporate.

Ravensburger sent my ten-year-old son and me six of the latest GraviTrax expansions to try out. We rated them over four different features as follows:

Lasting durability for girls and boys ages 8 and up, it’s the learning toy children (and savvy adults) return to over and over again! The GraviTrax sets are designed for anyone aged 8 and up (though I might recommend 10 and up for the GraviTrax PRO) and are perfect for solo, group, or family play. They are sophisticated enough to be fun for adults on their own, as well. GraviTrax CORE, PRO or POWER? Preferably all three, of course. But one thing at a time. First of all, we would like to introduce the three different GraviTrax lines here and answer the most frequently asked questions: Which GraviTrax products are suitable for beginners? What is the difference between GraviTrax PRO and POWER? From what age can you start having fun with GraviTrax?My son really loves using the Lifter, which surprised me somewhat as I thought he would be annoyed at having to manually operate it each time. He enjoys seeing how the lifting mechanism works. We learned that you need to be careful when attaching, using, and detaching the balconies. They don’t hold onto the walls too securely, so you have to be careful not to push down too hard on the hex portions of them when attaching or building upon them. The walls have so many locations to place balconies that people who love to design and experiment with different configurations will have so much fun. Those who prefer to follow building instructions will need to be creative to make use of their options, but at least they can use the included designs to use as a starting point. The instructions for the included projects are pretty clear, but for some of the more involved setups, it can be difficult to tell where to attach the balconies, since they are transparent and harder to see on the busy diagrams.

Despite its enthusiasm, the Scoop is remarkably consistent and worked perfectly every time we tried it. The GraviTrax PRO, along with its expansions and accessories, is a marvelous set that can build both simple setups and elaborate configurations, depending on the ages and desires of the people playing. It can be relatively affordable, just by purchasing a base set, or it can be something you literally build on over time, with expansion sets and accessories. Other than needing to be careful with your cardboard base tiles, the set is pretty sturdy and should last for a very long time, bringing joy to multiple generations. It’s already had plenty of play in my house, and I look forward to bringing it out for any design-minded visitor. Consistency: How consistently did each expansion do what it was supposed to do? For this, we used each piece 10 times in an identical setup and recorded how often it worked correctly.I was surprised with the consistency here, simply because of how energetic this expansion is. I expected the marbles to go flying off all over the place, but they went where they were supposed to the vast majority of the time. If you’re new to GraviTrax or GraviTrax PRO, I recommend working your way through the configurations in the included booklet before going out on your own. There is one easy setup, one medium setup, and three hard setups. Working your way through these acts as a tutorial, teaching you how all the pieces work and what their capabilities and limits are. My almost-20-year-old daughter, ever the inventor, of course, improved upon some of the base projects. Don’t be afraid to experiment, even with the included projects! They are a perfect departure point for designing your own setups. Watching the marbles lift out of the Volcano like an unfurling flower when the button is hit is weirdly satisfying. This one is great when it works well but getting to that point is highly frustrating, even for adults, and younger kids will almost certainly give up on it before the fun can start. Tl;dr: All in all, GraviTrax and GraviTrax PRO are incredibly fun marble run sets for STEM-minded kids and adults.