Marble Runs - looking for the latest advice

[EugenesAxe]

I was at a friend's house yesterday where she had ELC Marble Madness. I thought it was great, but it wouldn't have been the latest model (maybe 10-15 years old?).

I have a sneaking suspicion the quality has dropped based on the latest reviews I've seen of the product. It took normal tiger eye marbles this one I played with (although did notice it came supplied with small, plastic ones), but some silvery ones that looked the same size got stuck.

It didn't seem that flimsy in any case. I've read reviews of loads of runs and it seems Quadrilla are highly regarded, but they are pricey. They also look like they might fall down with just a slight knock, which in my mind would undo any fun derived from the sequences you can create. Then there's these Quercetti ones (two Qs with double letters... what are the chances?) that seem to be up there with the best of the plastics, but are again criticised for flimsiness.

Please help me with your real life experiences! Thanks.

[EugenesAxe]

DC is nearly 5 BTW.

[Iggi999]

You are overthinking this
Get one from Amazon (Galt I think?) for about a tenner. Play with it.
Your dc is a little young perhaps to assemble it alone, mine needs a hand at 7.

[Llareggub]

Dunno. That's a lot of thought put into marble runs. You probably know more than anyone.

Mine discarded the plastic runs and just played marbles.

[CrispyFern]

Yeah I think we got the Galt too, the kids love it and have never complained that it wasn't posh enough.

[Bolshybookworm]

We have the galt one and it's great- good thick plastic. It does fall over easily but that more to do with my dodgy construction attempts

[itstheyearzero]

We have a Galt one. I think it was between 10 and 15 pounds. It comes with proper marbles and its pretty sturdy as long as it is built on a solid surface, i.e. not carpet. HTH

[Got99problems]

I think its the wooden ones that people don't recommend, as they do collapse. We have a mix of galt and even cheaper (asda I think?) and its fine. Hours of fun!

[smable]

I have a quadrilla, it is great quality and can be setup into some really good runs, my children love it especially the 2 year old, however it does fall over with even the slightest knock.

[EugenesAxe]

Haha! I always overthink purchases. CrispyFern - bit harsh?! I'm looking to get a toy the children don't lose interest in and that works well, not a sodding status symbol....

Well if the wooden ones fall over easily I think I'll leave them as that would totally annoy me - I saw the Galt and thought it looked OK so I'll see if I can actually look at it and the ELC and make a decision from there.

Thanks :)

[schmeegle]

My 5yo got the galt super set in october, about 64 pieces I think. He absolutely adores it and very quickly decided he wanted FC to bring him a huge set!

After lots of research I chanced buying the Marbulous 220 piece set. It was the same price as the Galt mega set but with twice the pieces.

It is EXACTLY the same as Galt so imagine made in the same factory.

It is very sturdy, easy to assemble and I would totally 100% recommend it.

[schmeegle]

I think the galt one is coming today on the Amazon Black Friday lightning deals

[CrispyFern]

Sorry!

[EugenesAxe]

It's OK. I shouldn't have risen to it :)

Thanks schmeegle - the mega one was on deal at the moment (33% off) so I got it. It's only £10 less than the Marbulous set but actually, I don't know if I want loads more pieces as my children are scatterers... it's 100 pieces so hopefully will keep them happy!

[schmeegle]

Excellent eugene he'll love it, 100 pieces is plenty!