Marble Parkour

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.

My review is for the “marble squad” version of the kit. This is a complex kit that works surprisingly well for something with 8 metal pieces and hundred of plywood bits. The design is very thoughtful and a lot of work went in to designing something that’s difficult build wrong: * every piece has its pet number etched *on* the part so you can identify it even if you pop it out too early * all identical pieces have the same part number making it easy to keep parts sorted * lots of pieces either can’t fit when flipped over, or are symmetrical so it doesn’t matter * subgroups have little labels etched on them so they’re easy to identify when you need them * the smallest pieces, the tiny pegs, all have spares included My few minor tips: * the laser cut wood can be harder to pop out with your fingers, an exacto knife might be useful here * the included tool can be used to slip the little plastic fairings on the steel shaft. Otherwise this step is quite difficult! * use the included wax liberally every step where it’s indicated on the instructions! *dont worry too much if the gearing doesn’t look perfectly true in the first stages of assembly, the whole thing gets more rigid once it’s completed and the stair stepper particularly feels quite janky until the bottom pieces go in. ——- It’s a really lovely kit, I’ll definitely try another ROKR kit in the near future

Another challenging and satisfying wooden mechanical kit from Rokr. I found this to be more involved and difficult than the Rokr Pendulum Clock I built previously. In addition to a base, support structures and multiple marble ramps, the marble run is made of up three complex subassemblies: a hand cranked gear mechanism, an escalator mechanism and a stacked ramp mechanism with swing gates. Not only are there a lot of small parts in each subassembly, but the final building stage of each involves a tricky bit of alignment - you have to keep track of multiple slots, holes and freely moving pieces. They all have to line up perfectly in order for everything to click into place. The gear mechanism wasn’t too hard. But finishing up the escalator and especially the swing gate subassemblies was quite challenging. If you’re mechanically inclined and/or used to intricate model kits, this challenge can be enjoyable. I’m both, so it was deeply satisfying. But I can see how others could find these alignment tasks tedious and/or frustrating. As in my review of the Rokr Pendulum Clock, the quality of the laser cutting is impressive. Also mirroring my earlier review, Rokr includes extras of many of the small parts. This is a really nice touch that more companies should emulate. More so than the pendulum clock kit (which is mostly made up of parts oriented in a series of stacked, parallel planes), the marble run has a lot going on in three dimensions. There are structures hanging off other structures at right angles. Which means that assembly sometimes requires applying force in multiple directions, or against structures that aren’t that easy to get a finger behind to apply counter pressure. It's difficult to put into words, but suffice it to say you need some fairly decent finger dexterity and hand to eye coordination. ETA: I should say that while the Rokr Marble run was a more complex build than their pendulum clock, it didn't require nearly as much post-construction tuning/adjustments to run properly. That's a big part of the challenge with the clock model. With the marble run, it pretty much worked from the start. Aside from intermittent sticking of the escalator compartments (referenced in the Tips section, below), all it needed were a few tweaks to the ramps here and there when marbles would initially get hung up. Once assembled, the marble run is delightful in operation. There’s really a lot going on. In addition to ramps, chutes and the aforementioned escalator (truly, a marvel of engineering), the complex design allows marbles to do different things depending on whether they are the first, second or third object to travel down a particular path. The more you watch, the more complex and varied the mechanism becomes. Tips: A razor knife is very helpful to slice through those tiny sections of plywood that are deliberately left uncut (to hold the pieces in place during packing/shipping). It’s possible to detach them without a knife, but you’re more likely to damage them. A lot of these pieces look *very* similar, are complex in shape, and must be oriented correctly. Confirm part numbers before separating and re-confirm as you put them together. Pay particular attention to the parts on the thinnest plywood sheet, labeled sheet “G”. There are dozens of tiny wooden ‘pins’ that all look very similar, especially after they are separated from the sheet. But they have different lengths which are critical to proper assembly. Rokr provides a wax stick to lubricate certain moving parts. Definitely lubricate all the areas identified in the instructions. But one place not identified are the fronts and backs of the individual compartments that carry the marbles up the escalator. They rise and fall right next to each other. Occasionally one gets hung up on another and doesn’t descend when it’s supposed to. Take a few moments *before* final assembly of the escalator mechanism to apply a bit of wax to where the compartments slide past each other. I tried doing it after assembly and by that point it’s really impossible to get the wax everywhere it’s needed.

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. Pros Builds memories and quality time with loved ones easy to follow directions great quality for the price fun to play with after assembled excellent gift Cons Wish 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 USA I would definitely purchase any of the other projects by ROKR. I cannot wait for the next one to build with my son.

Since lockdown began in March I've been looking for hands-on projects. I rotate building-block sets, jigsaw puzzles, paint-by-number kits, and have now done 2 of these wooden puzzle-models. They offer a lot of building time - 6-8 hours for me--and nice finished working project. Laser-cut pieces are precise and easy to punch out and I find they require minimal sanding. Pieces fit together tightly -- in fact, this marble run kit doesn't even include any glue. Some advice: the manufacturer instructions can be challenging and in this kit include some well-intentioned, but broken, QR code links to some videos. (They work if you type them in by hand and correct the space that breaks them.) There are always some YouTube videos of people building these and I highly recommend finding one you like, slowing it down if need be, and reviewing relevant bits before you begin building the next component. I find this helps a lot to understand what you're about to do. These are a LOT of fun, rewarding to finish, and make great gifts. Appropriate for teenagers and perhaps younger kids with an adult helper. Highly recommended.

This is a delightful model. It's packaged very neatly and compactly. It basically consists of a series of wooden panels of assorted thicknesses with clearly labeled laser cut pieces. It includes all the parts you'd need to assemble the model, including wax to smooth any sticky parts and a piece of sandpaper to smooth any splinters. The pieces were cut very well and we did not have issues removing them. Some of the larger pieces felt very fragile, but being careful, it wasn't a problem. It includes a few extra pieces for the tiny bits that might get lost. We only had one issue of a duplicate part, one was correctly machined one was not. I did this little by little with my 8 y/o and 11 y/o. The younger had trouble connecting the tighter pieces, but the elder could have built it on his own. Both had fun playing with the finished product.

These are very addictive! They are very well made and lots of fun to put together! I have 4 of them and look forward to new models coming out in the future.

I was working on this set, and believe me i was enjoying it and everything, but i got to a certain point and the mechanism just stopped working, even when done correctly. I tried to force it a little and it snapped the one of the whole mechanisms. If it worked, would have been a great piece.

Took 3 nights to put together and hurt my fingers cuz those wood pieces are tiny, but so much fun. And it really works well. My children are fascinated by it (but too young to have assembled it.) It provides sandpaper and wax and tells you when to use them. Follow instructions. Also, I broke a couple pieces, but nothing some wood glue couldn't mend. It's held up for several weeks of curious visitors.

Small parts easy to broken

Our 10-year-old son bought this kit, and he really enjoyed it. After he had finished it, I had to do a bit of fine-tuning with glue, cardboard, etc. because the marbles and moving parts were hanging up in a few places. Now it works flawlessly. I would definitely recommend this kit for someone who likes to tinker.

Robuste et divertissant a construire

This was a present for the Grand Children, it took a while for them to get used to it Once, with a little guidance, they got the hang for it, and it was completed. Super presents, we will buy more, thank you