Ravensburger GraviTrax Pro Vertical STEM Marble Game Starter Set

This is made for 8 year olds? Doubtful. This thing is so frustrating. The “directions” are horrible! So much stress from this Christmas present that should have been fun.

My six year old has been working on the projects before she gets me up in the morning. Great challenge for a kid to follow the instructions and then start coming up with their own ideas. And a fun thing for an adult if they get roped in as well.

Kids as young as 3 enjoying this set. A bit expensive, but worth it, because it is durable and actually quite interesting for adults to involve

This game is so much fun, there are endless ways to build a track. The directions are easy to follow, too! I can’t wait to add more pieces and make it even bigger!!! My whole family enjoys playing

Our kids really love this marble tracks kit! I got it in addition to a set they got for Christmas and they have come up with all sorts of combinations on their own! I like that they can use their imagination and not have their heads stuck in screens all day! They are so excited that mommy and daddy can play with them too! Even the baby is happy to watch the marbles running on the tracks! I highly recommend this for some nice family time!

My son loves this thing. The first box he got for Christmas was missing some pieces, but I contacted target and they sent out a new box right away! Hours of building for a old kid.

Bought this for my 14 year old son, for Christmas and he really enjoys it. It has been fun for him and has a lot of options. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because the storage box is horrible, especially for the price... and you need it for storage.

My son is under the recommended age for this Gravitrax set, but our family loves construction activities and this was a perfect fit. There are a lot of pieces and required some organization. It took about 20 minutes to put together advanced designs. There is a good variety of different designs that have different moving parts for learning and entertainment. There is also plenty of different pieces for your child to use their imagination to build their own tracks. This is great for kids who are interested in STEM activities. As a parent, you may need to provide some assistance and guidance for understanding how to build it.

My girls, 6 and 8, are avid Lego fans (and so are we) so Gravitrax seemed like the perfect toy for them. The instructions could be a little clearer/simpler, however, once figured out (that only took a few minutes), building the tracks is very simple and great fun. Not that it matters though since my girls much prefer building their own. There are plenty of pieces in the box for both of them to create simple marble runs and compete as to which is best/tallest/longest but they've already asked to get more for Christmas. All in, this is a great game and I am sure they'll be playing with in for years. I received this game in exchange for my honest review.

Let me start by saying that one of our children is under the age recommended but he's quite mechanical and loved it!! There's no way our 4 year old and 2 year old could have set it up by themselves, but as an adult who loves these things I thoroughly enjoyed doing it with them. In reading other folks's reviews they made it seem like this was difficult to set up. I found it quite easy and very enjoyable. I haven't had time to make my own yet but look forward to it. I think the skills my sons will get from the visuospatial part of this is something we will keep growing on for the next 10 years! I did receive this in exchange for a honest and fair review.

I received this game in exchange for my honest review. Let me start by saying we have the basic GraviTrax set and are big fans. We also have a few GraviTrax expansions, are avid lego builders, jigsaw puzzlers and can solve just about any rubicks cube out there. However, these instructions for the vertical starter set are CONFUSING. It took my rubicks cube solving 11 year old and 2 college educated adults to figure out what we were supposed to do. That being said, once we deciphered the instruction code it was fun. It is very easily knocked over and hard to fix if you mess it up but does create some pretty fun and advanced marble tracks. Most of the pieces are well made but the box is not up to ravensburger expectations. It is basically two top lids that do not fit together with a cheap flimsy piece of cardboard in the inside (see picture). I can’t understand why they made the box this way. Overall, if you are GraviTrax fans this could be a fun addition to your collection, but it is extremely complex so i wouldn’t get this as a beginner. And it’s definitely for older kids. My son has been building 16+ yr Legos since he was about 5 and couldn’t figure this out.

This is our first hands-on experience with the Gravitrax system. We've seen it before in a local independent toy store and thought it was really cool from the display but actually getting to use it turned out to be such a fun activity. Some background to consider: Little one is 6. This is relevant later. [We are below the suggested age] Overview: Gravitrax is a marble maze X 1000. It has brick building vibes. A great display of physics in action and a wonderful afternoon STEM activity. Packaging: Nice sturdy box. TONS of parts. Good part identification. 1st Time Setup: There is a lot to get up and running. Make sure if you are planning on this as an activity with your child block off a good amount of dedicated time, it is no quick task. You have to assemble support structure pieces to use later, do some minor part sorting. Arrange the foundation board. Make sure you have enough space and a hard surface! I can imagine trying to work with this on a plush carpet could possibly damage the foundation board when applying pressure. If I were to have handed this over to my child without any guidance she would have been overwhelmed to say the least. Again, we are under the target age so this is expected. Just keep in mind if you have a younger child you will need to be involved. Building: Once you are setup with all the pre-requisites you are ready to start your 1st build. The instruction manual provides 3 levels of difficulty starting with easy... which is exactly what it is. This is the best place to start to understand how instructions translate to the positioning of the foundation board. Once we worked out the kinks and understood how placement and height are represented we were on our way. Once finished with our first build, little one wanted to jump to "expert" [we didn't, but I appreciated the ambition] The medium skill level build was in some ways easier a task than the 1st because we were familiar how the instructions were represented and correlated to the actual pieces. At this time we still have not built the expert level. Parent perspective: Gravitrax is awesome but I do think you need to really know who you are getting it for. It requires patience, problem solving, long attention span, general interest in STEM related activities. I don't think this is a gift you just randomly give to any child. As long as you know your audience you'll be sure to have some quality engaging fun :) We continue to tinker with the pieces try custom builds and my wife and I have even independently broke out the set just because we enjoy it as adults. The 8-99 age range is very accurate to the product. If I had to consider anything lacking I would say, I wish that the manual added some applicable simple physics facts to convey to children what components were doing what in a build. I think that would be an excellent educational value add to the product TLDR: Awesome STEM toy, make sure the kid has patience, general interest in STEM toys and a long attention span, lots of fun for kids and even adults. If they are at the bottom of the target age or below you WILL need to be involved. Full disclosure, as an early reviewer, I received this product in exchange for my opinion. I've been lucky enough to participate in this opportunity but I keep my word of accurate and unbiased opinions, I don't think it really benefits anyone to be anything but genuine. I hope I was able to provide some meaningful insight!

Wow! There is a lot packed into this set - endless possibilities. There are many suggested builds, but my kids quickly decided they wanted to try their own thing. I love that they can be creative and explore STEM - figuring out cause/effect with their new builds and solving problems. I can see this working for them for many years to come. Great when we are stuck indoors right now and the box is super sturdy to last too. As an early reviewer, I received this game in exchange for my honest opinion.

As an early reviewer, I received this set in exchange for my honest opinion. Our family is a huge fan of ravensburger products and this set did not disappoint. This is our first gravitrax set and to be honest, we were a bit overwhelmed when we opened the set and saw all the pieces. However, in no time at all, we were able to get in the groove and set up the tracks with ease. The directions are not suitable for younger children, but our kids (4 and 7) enjoyed helping us put the pieces where we told them to go. The track is very delicate—our 4 year old knocked it over a lot (just keep in mind the 8+ age guide). Overall this is a great STEM activity. Our whole family enjoyed setting up the track and watching it in action. We wish the instruction booklet came with more courses than what was included but we are excited to attempt our own courses in the future.

As an early reviewer, I received a set in exchange for my opinion. The initial assembly looked a little overwhelming after dumping everything out, but it didn't end up being too bad. I thought I was putting the green pieces together wrong because they only sit in place. It helps to know that only the outside gray part of the towers snaps into place, holding everything together. Younger kids may need some help setting up the first run, but my 8 year old got the hang of it pretty quick. Very sturdy, stable set and works great on carpet. There's a book with steps for 4 different setups of increasing difficulty, each increasing the build height and number of pieces used. We've only done the first two, but working through them all should set you up well for moving on to designing your own builds without having to do too much trial and error.

My kids (ages 7 and 9) enjoyed putting this together and exploring the different ways it can be built. At first, we had to tweak the way they put it together because the marbles did not run smoothly. We figured out that it was crucial to make sure the pieces that go on the wall "click" into place with quite a bit of pressure. If they do not click/lock the entire structure will most likely fall down, which happened to us at first. Once we got them all locked into place, the structure was solid and the marbles ran smoothly around the track. Overall the kids had a lot of fun building this, and we are excited to build it different ways. We also like how this set is compatible with the other Gravitrax sets so you can make all types of different layouts (we bought the Obstacle Course set for Christmas and we look forward to combining the two sets). As an early reviewer, I received this product in exchange for my honest opinion.

I underestimated how much fun and involvement I would experience. The box and price was intimidating at first but when I began to open and unpack the set, the more intrigued I became. Putting the different variations of sets together is a lot like following the steps to Lego instructions. It takes you step by step and the pieces go together flawlessly. Each piece is constructed to stand the test of time and usage. Once I put together three different obstacles, I felt I could freestyle and create my own courses. I could only imagine what the future expansions would provide. And packing the pieces back into the box is simple as well. I don't see anyone entering boredom after an afternoon of playing with this.

I received a copy of this set as an early reviewer. The Gravitrax Pro Starter Set was my first experience with this awesome line! My whole family was amazed at the tracks we created. Gravitrax is simple in its understanding, but complex in the possibilities you can design. After spending several hours building tracks we were online looking for other parts we could order to go along with the set!

The vertical set is as advertised a much A better vertical builder than the original starter. That said it’s also an improved design allowing the builder to do more under and through the structure. I would have liked to have seen them throw in a couple of more tricks to the kit like lifter or zip line as a value add, but Gravitrax isn’t the best on value anyways they make up for that in design and quality.