ROKR 3D Wooden Puzzles Marble Run Set - Mechanical Model Kit for Adults DIY Roller Coaster Toys Gifts for Boys/Girls (Marble Fortress)

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.

Very intricate, and fun to assemble

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.

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.ProsBuilds memories and quality time with loved oneseasy to follow directionsgreat quality for the pricefun to play with after assembledexcellent giftConsWish 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 USAI would definitely purchase any of the other projects by ROKR. I cannot wait for the next one to build with my son.

We have 3 of the 4 of these now with the forth on order. The Marble Parkour was our first and it was the easiest to assemble and it worked fine right away. It is great how it chooses between the two paths. The lift coaster was the second one. It is much more difficult to assemble and the lift would not lift high enough to drop off the marble. I had to do three modifications to get it to work. It still is not perfect but it does work now and is fun. The third was the Marble Squad. It went together fairly easily as most of it is the same as the Parkour. One of the supports for a ramp broke when trying to attach the ramp. But I was able to glue it and it holds up fine. This works fine except they have two paths and the marbles never take the second path. It still is fun. We will see how the forth one works as it is similar to the lift coaster.

The media could not be loaded. I loved building this project. The laser cuts were spot on. The pieces pop out of the wood cuts well. It’s hard to put it together wrong. It went together well and was fun to build. If you like tinkering or building, this product was fun. I broke two pieces during the build and then glued them and it worked fine, it’s wood. Recommend for people with patience, if you got that kid that is over 12 and likes to build things it’s good. Or you are the older guy like me.