Marble Run

This was my second ROKR project. I will be ordering my next one today. These machines are amazingly well designed, fun to assemble, and fun to see in action. That said, they are not for people who are easily frustrated, impatient, or who cannot closely follow instructions. Some of the negative review say that the pieces are hard to put together, fragile, etc. That's all true. However, this kit is entirely assembled without glue, screws, or other connectors. The pieces MUST fit tightly in order to be a stable structure. It is a very solid piece when properly assembled. The pieces are all laser-cut wood that you push out of a sheet of wood (i.e. many parts on one sheet of wood). So, you must be very careful when punching them out, but they come out easily. My first kit was the "Marble Night City" kit, and I would probably recommend that one as a first kit. I learn a lot about how the pieces fit on that one that made this one easier. I did break a couple of pieces on the first kit, but they were easily repaired with wood glue. I didn't break anything on this kit. If you are in a rush, this is not for you. but if you like careful assembly, you'll love this. BTW, I would not recommend this for kids. They say 14+ years, but I think 16 is a minimum.

Since lockdown began in March I've been looking for hands-on projects. I rotate building-block sets, jigsaw puzzles, paint-by-number kits, and have now done 2 of these wooden puzzle-models. They offer a lot of building time - 6-8 hours for me--and nice finished working project. Laser-cut pieces are precise and easy to punch out and I find they require minimal sanding. Pieces fit together tightly -- in fact, this marble run kit doesn't even include any glue. Some advice: the manufacturer instructions can be challenging and in this kit include some well-intentioned, but broken, QR code links to some videos. (They work if you type them in by hand and correct the space that breaks them.) There are always some YouTube videos of people building these and I highly recommend finding one you like, slowing it down if need be, and reviewing relevant bits before you begin building the next component. I find this helps a lot to understand what you're about to do. These are a LOT of fun, rewarding to finish, and make great gifts. Appropriate for teenagers and perhaps younger kids with an adult helper. Highly recommended.

I had trouble with another wooden mechanical model but I really like this company so I wanted to try again. Here are the pros and cons of this item: Pros: - The pieces are well cut and made. - The model is easy to put together if you follow the instructions carefully. - It only took me five hours to build, I did it in one sitting. - It’s very cool to have the gears work and watch what happens. - Everything that you need is included, even wax. - They send extra pieces just in case. - This comes with the marbles. Cons: - The wood is uneven and can get warped. This is not good when you have a model that requires gravity to make the marbles move because a ramp that is supposed to be going down can end up going up when the wood gets warped. Because of this there are places that I have to push the marble along with my finger. - I had to glue some pieces together because they didn’t fit together well enough. - The instructions have no words which can make things confusing (think IKEA instructions but less clear). I was hoping to give this as a gift but I can’t because even though all the gears work well, there are places I have to push the marble along with my finger which makes me feel like it’s too defective to give as a gift. However, it looks very cool and is a great conversation piece. And after a few bumps to get the marble to go the result is very cool. Also, something I didn’t know until the very end, there are two paths that the marbles can go down and it’s pretty random which path it will take. It adds variety and excitement. It’s a very nice touch. I probably won’t be getting any more wooden mechanical models like this because I felt disappointed when I finished and I don’t feel like I can trust the wood in future models to ensure that the model works properly. But I’m not sorry I gave this one a chance, it was fun to build.

This puzzle was a great success! My son(an engineer) and I were visiting family with little ones. I bought this puzzle to engage him and share the mesmerizing marble structure with my 4 1/2 yr old grandson. It took my son 6 hours to put together and my grandson loves the ways the marbles flow through the structure. My son added a gate to the top slide to hold back all the marbles so they can flow all together adding another task to the structure. They both loved the entire process and I was so excited to see them having such a great time.

Great kit! Challenging to assemble, but the instructions are well written. Plus there are lots of how-to videos for the really challenging bits. I had a couple pieces break, but they included a replacement for one, and the other was easy to fix with regular wood glue. The spiral took a bit of tweaking to get it working right. Once that was done, my kids and I ended up cranking it for about and hour and never had a marble jump the track or the mechanics bind up. Clearly the was designed by geniuses (Rokr) to be used by idiots (me). Nicely done!

These are great kits. I have constructed all three of their marble runs. The wood is laser cut and assembly is straight-forward. Instructions are clear and you shouldn't have any problems as long as you take your time and pay attention to what you are doing. The one issue that does arise is the waxing part. The kits that I received did not come with wax but apparently there are shipping constraints depending on where you live and they do mention up front that your kit may or may not have the wax due to those constraints. They recommend using candle wax if their wax is not included. Instead, I use a spray dry lubricant which seems to work very well and doesn't require me melting anything and trying to smear it on. The kits have been a big hit with our family as well as visitors. Everyone wants to play with them for a bit so I think they make good coffee table pieces.

My son and I have built many ROKR kits together and love each one. This marble run was a lot of fun to build together and created a wonderful activity for a teenage son and a mother (or any family member) to do together. This kit was easy to punch out and assemble the pieces. The directions were also easy to follow. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO SAND AND WAX ALL THE PIECES. It really helps with assembly and movement of the final product. Pros Builds memories and quality time with loved ones easy to follow directions great quality for the price fun to play with after assembled excellent gift Cons Wish there were a couple spare parts especially the little pieces incase pieces were lost or misplaced or eaten by a puppy like ours was (ha,ha,ha =) Wish it was made in the USA I would definitely purchase any of the other projects by ROKR. I cannot wait for the next one to build with my son.

This product is very fun to build.. the precision cut for the parts are on point.. However, you still need to be careful as there is a slight chance of breaking it.. not all parts has a spare.. Smoothing the breakoff section of each part is recommended.. The manual crank is ok.. hope they have an option to include motor to have a motorized version.. I did motorized my build and it was awesome! check the vid and pic i have for my build.. Overall I would recommend this product if you want a mini project.. Im looking forward to build more from ROKR..

Took 3 nights to put together and hurt my fingers cuz those wood pieces are tiny, but so much fun. And it really works well. My children are fascinated by it (but too young to have assembled it.) It provides sandpaper and wax and tells you when to use them. Follow instructions. Also, I broke a couple pieces, but nothing some wood glue couldn't mend. It's held up for several weeks of curious visitors.

Small parts easy to broken

Our 10-year-old son bought this kit, and he really enjoyed it. After he had finished it, I had to do a bit of fine-tuning with glue, cardboard, etc. because the marbles and moving parts were hanging up in a few places. Now it works flawlessly. I would definitely recommend this kit for someone who likes to tinker.

Robuste et divertissant a construire

This was a present for the Grand Children, it took a while for them to get used to it Once, with a little guidance, they got the hang for it, and it was completed. Super presents, we will buy more, thank you