Q-BA-MAZE 2.0: Big Box
- WELL DESIGNED CONTRAPTIONS: Unlike other Rube-Goldberg or marble run type toys, our Q-Ba-Maze Big Box employs snugly fitting, non-warped pieces that don't have breaks or skips, meaning the ball will never move unpredictably or careen off. Guaranteed to entertain rather than frustrate!
- TOYS THAT TEACH: Our Q-Ba-Maze Big Box is a fantastic playset for teaching children to embrace their creativity and design engineering marvels. With 72 cubes consisting of 3 different designs to be used as scaffolding, ramps, paths, and much more, this playset is perfect for any young builder looking to improve hand-eye coordination, problem solving with basic physics, and planning skills. In no time at all you’ll have a skilled architect on your hands!
- NO HASSLE: With no glue or connectors needed, our Q-Ba-Maze Big Box set is ready to play right out of the box. Forget the hassle of having to round up a laundry list of non-included tools and components. Simply unpack and build!
- FOR ADULTS: The Q-Ba-Maze Big Box isn’t designed purely for children. Educational and entertaining for older individuals as well, our Q-Ba-Maze Big Box challenges even the most honed mind to make complex engineering marvels. Great for keeping your mind sharp, limber, and most importantly, interested!
- INCLUDES: Package includes (72) cubes, including (36) single exit cubes, (18) double exit cubes, and (18) bottom exit cubes, (20) steel marbles, and (1) design ideas booklet.
Dana Newberry
Great toy if you are looking to learn; not if you are looking for simple.
Santa brought this for my 5.5 year old daughter. She and her 3.5 year old brother have been playing with Magnatiles for 3 years almost daily, so Santa thought this would be a good next toy for building. When we first started playing with it, it wasn't clear how to put it together. Simple instructions about types of exits and attaching front vs. side come in the box with a description of making a small base to start. My daughter seemed a bit disappointed. I went online to see how to help her. While there weren't "lessons" that were spelled out (which would be nice), there were building plans for lots of different shapes on the Q-Ba-Maze website. Here's the link: http://www.q-ba-maze.com/plans.php I printed the shortest, simplest plans and it didn't take my daughter long to figure out how to read the plans and tell me how to assemble. It basically identifies what color and what exit type to put in which column and row. To me, it helped when we figured out that each side connection made a half row and each top-to-bottom connection made a full row. Additionally, when you are modifying an existing structure and want to add something in the middle, it's best to take off the cubes above that so that other parts don't fall apart while you are lifting (since it's really all attached). After we built a few structures, my 3.5 year old son started taking segments of structures we had already built and then pieced them together. Both kids need a bit of help making a base and general structure but then they keep adding in fun and unique ways. They have spent hours and hours playing with this toy the last few days. They do experiments by putting a different number of marbles in at once or by putting the marbles different places. My 3 year old got a duplicate toy and wants more of the Q-Ba-Maze to replace it. This is a great STEM toy. While it's not intuitively obvious how to put the cubes together, my kids are having fun with it and learning a lot of lessons about construction (in a different way than they do with something like Magnatiles). They are still learning how to support, how to put together when everything isn't squared off like Magnatiles. I can see them learning in steps and I have actively been pointing out what I learn while playing with them. If you want something simple and are just looking for a toy, this probably isn't the best choice for you. Magnatiles (can you tell I love magnatiles) or another type of marble run would be easier and simpler. If you are looking to help your child with STEM lessons and you are willing to sit down and figure it out with them, this is a great option! While I do think this toy would be better for some if some of the things we have learned (and will learn) were available in "lessons," I like that it's a toy that you have to actively work to figure out. We learn so much more when we have to figure things out through trial and error.
Karl Wilbanks
bigger then i thought
the cubes are actually bigger then I thought they are high quality not no cheap flimsy plastic.came on time packaged nicely. i even bought the stunt set for 62 $after seeing these because of the quality. will buy more .son loves this. if your child loves building and races and legos and just being creative this is worth the price. which I hated in the beginning but I see why they have to be so pricey. I mean even me and my husband were going at it having fun . my son is 11 and ino scienc and building and my daughter is 7 and not into legos but still was playing with this.
Sarah McMurrough
Addicting fun for kids AND adults!
I gave two sets to my niece and nephew for Christmas last year. They were both six years old. Age-wise, it would probably have been a better gift at age seven or eight, as they needed help constructing the bigger mazes. To be honest, they didn't really understand how to create a path with the blocks for probably the first two or three days. But they thoroughly enjoyed this gift anyways. At first the twins would just tell us what they wanted to build, and my husband and I would build it for them, and then they would play with that maze for an hour or more. After watching us build for a while, the kids got in on the creative process. They did have trouble making some of the blocks connect to each other, but that's what makes this a good hand-eye coordination trainer. To scaffold their introduction, my husband and I would sort through all the different types of blocks and divide them into building sets: one for each twin and one set for the adults. The twins would then each build their own little mini mazes, and then my husband and I would use the remaining blocks to figure out how to attach their mini mazes together to create one giant maze. The kids loved this. If you build and design multiple paths into the maze, the kids can predict which marbles will get down first or which way they will go. You can create mazes with lots of entry and exit points, and then have the kids predict which exit each marble will take; later you can have them explain why they think the marble went that way. I will warn you that this toy is loud! Your kids will drop in several marbles at once (and over and over) and the little metal balls click and clack as they fall through the plastic, making a tremendous racket. But it's tons of fun. I absolutely love this toy and personally I could play with it for hours; thankfully it also held the kids' attention for extended periods of time, allowing me to enjoy spending time with them and enjoy play time myself. I think my middle school students would love it, I just wish it was a little quieter so that I could put it on my science exploration table.
Kim Bidemi Agbor
Steel balls problem solved.
Great way to collect the steel balls at the bottom of the maze. Don't run all over the place now. Kids love them
Evol Kingforce Fowler
Fantastic add-on to the set!
Forget the lego's with a set that your kid will never rebuild. My son is 6 years old and love's playing with his maze...and this add on is superb! I know initially you'll think...you're not getting much for $16. but, its good quality plastic and really takes the maze to the next level. Put it this way...do you want your kid on the iPad or watching tv? Or create something cool and think with his mind? Just get it and don't look back.
Delores Brunson
Great for adults to play with kids
My family has had a lot of fun playing this with this together. My four year old and seven year old both like it a lot. It can be a little hard for them to assemble the pieces into a cool shape or maze, but once we put something together, it is a blast. That's why we've typically played it together. My two year old enjoys it as well, but I have to keep a close eye on him. It comes with lots of pieces, and you can build a lot of great mazes. Overall, it's a great toy, and I'll probably buy another one as a gift at some point. I want to point out a couple of things for folks thinking about purchasing this: - It is not great for kids under 3, as they say on the package. It's a little too hard to use, and probably a choking hazard. - The pieces require some coordination to put together. It's not a problem for adults or older kids (maybe 6 and up), but for young kids it can be challenging or frustrating without adult help. - The marbles can get lost easily, as they roll out of the bottom of the maze and onto the floor.
Sweetness Jones
Awesome building toy.
I can see why this toy won awards. It's awesome! I'm 35 years old and had a lot of fun playing with this when my 5 year old son got it for Christmas! It's easy to figure out how to put the pieces together and how it works. It didn't take him that long to figure out how to build with it, but he does need a bit of help. The marbles are a good weight and size and it comes with enough to make some good noise when it's going down. The noise it makes is kind of cool. Unfortunately this box doesn't contain enough blocks to be able to build any of the images on the box or in the paper it comes with and you can't build most of the plans from the website, either. It's okay, though. You can come up with lots of things to build on your own even if they don't actually look like anything. We built some cool towers and a castle and they were both big enough. The plans on the website aren't that hard to figure out, but sometimes it's hard to know where some of the pieces go. If you don't know if the kids will like it then this is a good set to start with before adding on.
Kim Losky
Worth the price!
These were recommended to us for a Christmas present. I was really excited when we watched the video- I thought my kids would go crazy for them Christmas morning. Then that night, it took my husband and I over an hour to put the butterfly together, and I was very disappointed, thinking we had just spent a lot of money for a big bust. However, morning came, and the kids loved them. They played with them all morning and then the next several days. Then my 9 year old started making his own designs and using pre-written designs from the website. These are a favorite with our kids ages 3-9.
Traci Moore
Great toy for the 5 and up crowd
I bought this as a gift for a 5 year old. She and her friends immediately took it out of the box and started constructing towers, eagerly to send the marbles down their creations. I wanted to get her something that would be fun and maybe a bit educational but not obviously so- this seemed to fit the bill! The quality of the plastic is good and it allows for a ton of possibilities for constructing different styles of tracks. While a group of 5-6 year olds could definitely appreciate it, I think it is a toy that would be entertaining for older kids as well, maybe with the addition of some more pieces for building bigger and more elaborate marble tracks.
Doods Jet Cunanan
Great accessory for set
I got these for our Q-ba-maze set and we have more fun with these bases. We try to see the percentage of balls that will end up in each cup and make changes to even them out or skew our results. It gives me more of an intellectual challenge so I want to play with this with my 3 and 6 year olds. I also recommend adding the rails. The kids like to see ball roll across them and we can make multiple towers that connect to each other. My three year old can't create much but loves adding marbles and watching them go down. My 6 year old can create, but needs assistance for connections sometimes.