Quadrilla Marble Railway, Twist and Rail

Bought for a 4 year old's birthday
I bought this for my son for his 4th birthday. Although I will agree with some comments about the blocks falling over and some difficulty setting up the railway, I believe this is a product which works better as a 'guided fun' due to the learning curve of the system. I am a former grade school teacher and feel that the quality of the blocks and expansion units make this my FAVORITE toy for my 4 and 7 year old!

Hours of building fun
This toy has been a favorite for our 2 1/2 year old for months now. We started with the twist and rail and when we had exhausted ourselves with the booklet contained in the set we opted for the rail extension set which has added another dimension to the complexity of our construction. We play with this toy for at least an hour each day.

Great quality & fun for all ages!
My 2.5 year old son loves playing with the old marble tower game that my mother has at her house from when I was a child. So I set out to get one for our house. After getting one of the plastic ones that looked similar to my old one for my nephew and being disappointed with the quality (thinner plastic than the old one and shorter connections that just make it cheap), I decided to give this one a try. Even though my son certainly can't build it on his own yet, he LOVES putting the marbles in and watching them go down. He can't build the plastic one either. The plastic version is MUCH easier to put together, but this one is worth the effort. He will have this toy forever, and my nephew's has already cracked. I definitely recommend following one of the examples the first time you put it together until you understand how all the pieces work. Once you've done this a few times, though, you will be able to put it together pretty easily, but I would think it would take an older whild to do it (maybe 5 or 6?). My niece who is 6 and cousins who are 11 and 13 were very interested in it.

One of my biggest concerns was the fact that it could be knocked over. It is easier to knock over than the plastic version, but my 2-yr-old seems to play fine and only knocks it over occasionally. It's usually time to build a new one anyway. I wouldn't let this deter you unless your kids are really, really clutsy or wild. My kid's pretty wild, but he seems to be calm while playing this.

My only complaint (and the reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5) at this point is that a toy this nice should certainly come with a marble "catcher". The marbles come shooting out the bottom. On carpet or rugs, this is ok, but we have hardwood floors, so it's a huge pain. Marbles go flying all over the room and get lost or stepped on "ouch". Why in the world wouldn't they include a tray or two? Even the plastic version has pieces designed to catch the marbles. I have tried to solve the problem by putting a plastic Elmo plate under the hole where the marbles come out, but it's loud, and sometimes they still fly off. There appears to be a piece made by Quadrilla, but best I can tell, you have to purchase the melody set to get it? Ridiculous.

Bottom line: if you want a marble tower game, this is great quality, and I would definitely recommend it! You will enjoy it for years to come! Appropriate for kids of all ages who won't eat marbles!

My 9 year olds new favorite toy!
Its VERY well constructed, entertaining to everyone around when its pulled out(kids and adults suddenly ALL become know-it-all architechs :-) ) I cant say enough good things about it.
We purchased this set for christmas with the melody composer and the switch set, both VERY good add ons to whatever set you start with. The noise of the melody set is a very interesting twist to it.

Worth the money and great for all ages.
This is a very well made wooden toy that should last forever. We looked at some of the cheaper marble runs on the market, but they seemed like disposable items that would break easily compared to this one. This one is expensive, but completely worth the money. We recently purchased it for our 4 year old son. He is still pretty young so he does need some help with the construction, but he likes to help pick out the right color blocks and loves to load the marbles when it is ready. The instructions included several construction models which gives a lot of variety...and they have a website for more building options. Plus they can be creative and build their own structures as they get older. Great educational toy!

We brought out the marble run at our christmas party, and everyone was having a great time with it. Grandpa was down on the floor helping to "race" the marbles right beside all the kids. It really is a toy that they can play with for years to come. The box accurately states that it is for ages 4 - 99!