Connetix 106 Piece Pastel Ball Run Pack Review
DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.
Reviewed by David Connor
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This toy is designed in Australia, and is described as including a variety of unique, exclusively designed components, such as 48 pastel connector tiles, 8 pastel wooden balls, clear fluted tubes, special effect stair soundscape tubes, S-bend tubes, and split tubes for racing fun. This toy is aimed at children who are over 3 years old.
When it arrived our two youngest grandsons (aged 4 and 7) were very excited by the picture on the front of the box and were keen to get into it and start building. However, closer inspection of the box label revealed a note in small print stating that the ‘image includes additional tiles not included’, so the item shown on the front of the box cannot actually be made with the contents in the box.
Once the box was opened it revealed a total of 106 parts (48 ball run squares, 8 balls, 2 Y Shape Split Tubes, 2 Long Stairs, 2 S Bend Tubes, 8 U Shaped Tubes, 8 Slide Tubes, 12 Right Angle Tubes, 6 Long Straight Tubes, 8 Short Straight Tubes and 2x Bowls. The ball run squares were packed in a cardboard box, whilst the plastic parts were found to be neatly packed into 4 resealable bags. The parts are well built and non-toxic; the squares are very colourful and have very strong magnets plus slots into which the ball run parts are supposed to fit. Also included is an ‘Inspiration Book’ which has pages of ideas for building all sorts of shapes and models. However, this proved to be very disappointing as, out of the 124 examples shown, only 7 could be made with the parts supplied so this was rather more discouraging than inspiring.
The book is just full of rather indistinct pictures with no instructions, so it is very difficult to work out how to build the models shown. Having selected a picture to copy, the children started to try to build it. However, the ball run parts (especially the straight ones) did not grip into the slots in the squares very well and, as a result, every time they tried to fit another part, the one they had just done fell out. Even with adult help it proved almost impossible to build anything. The 4-year-old quickly became bored and went off to do something else whilst the 7-year-old subsequently became very frustrated and lost interest. I tried to carry on but also gave up as nothing would stay fixed together.
In my opinion this should actually be seen as an ‘add-on’ kit to the basic sets rather than a toy in its own right. Most of the pictures in the book show base plates, triangular pieces and solid squares and I would guess that the base plates in particular might be of help here. If I had purchased this as a present for my children or grandchildren, I would be very disappointed with my purchase and would need to consider spending further money on buying some of the other more basic kits to go with it.
I did, in fact, try it with the Pastel Square Expansion Pack which included some larger squares that could be used as base plates and this made construction easier although still limited to basic designs.
My rating acknowledges the quality of the toy, but it is badly let down by performance when trying to build something and the lack of an instruction book.
The recommended price for this kit is £89
The product can be purchased from Connetix here.
The Connetix Pastel Square Pack 40 Pieces can be purchased from Connetix here.
Rating: 2/5