As it simply carries a marble along in the same direction it came from with no level shifts, this is one of the easiest GraviTrax expansions to incorporate. It’s fun but too inconsistent. You’ll be better off with something else unless you’re looking to complete the set. This GraviTrax expansion also has by far the least amount of stuff in the box with no bonus parts beyond the trampoline itself. The fact that 1/3 of the pillars don’t have a tunnel through them seems like a missed opportunity. There is no disadvantage to having a tunnel through a pillar, and having some without a tunnel limits your options. To start, a little bit of assembly is required. Hexes need to be punched out of the four base plates (tip: save these to be used as game pieces for other games you play!), and the pillars and balconies need to be assembled—this is pretty easy as everything is marked with letters and there are instructions in the booklet. Once those are set up, though, you won’t need to do it again.

The Flip is a lot of fun to watch. I think it was probably my favorite of all the GraviTrax expansions so far.Lasting durability for girls and boys ages 8 and up, it’s the learning toy children (and savvy adults) return to over and over again! The Lifter expansion, as might be obvious from the name, lifts marbles vertically to three different levels depending on how many pieces you use to build it. It needs to be manually operated each time by a button and can send marbles in different directions at the top. What’s in the Box? This one is great when it works well but getting to that point is highly frustrating, even for adults, and younger kids will almost certainly give up on it before the fun can start. The base tiles have some hexes marked in green, making it easier to correctly place pieces according to the included plans. The base tiles being cardboard, though, means that they could easily wear out with a lot of play, with the constant insertion/removal of pillars and tiles. They’re sturdy cardboard, but they are still cardboard. If you’re using GraviTrax on the floor, stepping on it wrong might bend or dent the base tiles, too, making them less useful.

Tl;dr: All in all, GraviTrax and GraviTrax PRO are incredibly fun marble run sets for STEM-minded kids and adults. One Scoop Piece (in seven pieces – this is the only expansion that requires significant construction before first use) The Lifter worked perfectly every time we used it, although you need to remember to operate it manually, unlike most of the other expansions featured here. The Mixer accessory provides a random element. Marbles that reach the Mixer, from multiple directions, swirl down the vortex center and are redirected to one of three directions below.The marbles are made of metal and are decently heavy for their size, so they roll really well and keep their momentum. You can design your setup to make marbles go up, down, whip around corners, or whoosh down vortices. Planning is half the fun with this set, as is swapping out pieces and trying new combinations to create thrilling and sometimes-unpredictable runs. My son really loves using the Lifter, which surprised me somewhat as I thought he would be annoyed at having to manually operate it each time. He enjoys seeing how the lifting mechanism works. The GraviTrax PRO, along with its expansions and accessories, is a marvelous set that can build both simple setups and elaborate configurations, depending on the ages and desires of the people playing. It can be relatively affordable, just by purchasing a base set, or it can be something you literally build on over time, with expansion sets and accessories. Other than needing to be careful with your cardboard base tiles, the set is pretty sturdy and should last for a very long time, bringing joy to multiple generations. It’s already had plenty of play in my house, and I look forward to bringing it out for any design-minded visitor. The instructions for the included projects are pretty clear, but for some of the more involved setups, it can be difficult to tell where to attach the balconies, since they are transparent and harder to see on the busy diagrams. Watching the marbles lift out of the Volcano like an unfurling flower when the button is hit is weirdly satisfying.

GraviTrax is a toy I love and will recommend again and again, and these expansions will serve to make it even better. Consistency: How consistently did each expansion do what it was supposed to do? For this, we used each piece 10 times in an identical setup and recorded how often it worked correctly. Despite its enthusiasm, the Scoop is remarkably consistent and worked perfectly every time we tried it. The GraviTrax sets are designed for anyone aged 8 and up (though I might recommend 10 and up for the GraviTrax PRO) and are perfect for solo, group, or family play. They are sophisticated enough to be fun for adults on their own, as well. The walls have so many locations to place balconies that people who love to design and experiment with different configurations will have so much fun. Those who prefer to follow building instructions will need to be creative to make use of their options, but at least they can use the included designs to use as a starting point.Ravensburger sent my ten-year-old son and me six of the latest GraviTrax expansions to try out. We rated them over four different features as follows: The one expansion I would advise avoiding is the Trampoline. Scoring just 18/40 in our challenge, it was inconsistent, hard to use, and included the least amount of bonus pieces which made it poor value for money. While it looks cool and is probably the most fun to watch when it actually works, it’s just not worth your money in my opinion unless you’re looking for a complete set of all the expansions.

We learned that you need to be careful when attaching, using, and detaching the balconies. They don’t hold onto the walls too securely, so you have to be careful not to push down too hard on the hex portions of them when attaching or building upon them. My first thought about the set was that it is amazing. Building the included designs was fairly straightforward and didn’t require a lot of thinking, but building your own sets, both simple and sophisticated, really got our mental juices flowing. It was so much fun to watch the marbles go and make changes to our runs over time.

Volcano

CORE: Simply be creative is the plan here: with uncomplicated building elements that can be used intuitively and in a variety of ways and where kids from the age of 8 have fun trying things out and getting started. All beginnings are easy! If you’re new to GraviTrax or GraviTrax PRO, I recommend working your way through the configurations in the included booklet before going out on your own. There is one easy setup, one medium setup, and three hard setups. Working your way through these acts as a tutorial, teaching you how all the pieces work and what their capabilities and limits are. My almost-20-year-old daughter, ever the inventor, of course, improved upon some of the base projects. Don’t be afraid to experiment, even with the included projects! They are a perfect departure point for designing your own setups. I was surprised with the consistency here, simply because of how energetic this expansion is. I expected the marbles to go flying off all over the place, but they went where they were supposed to the vast majority of the time. The Scoop expansion scoops the ball up and flips it over to the next section, carrying on in the same direction. What’s in the Box?