Have We Lost Our Marbles? Not Yet!

Disclosure

For as long as I can remember, there was this couple that my parents had always been friends with. And by my saying “as long as I can remember”, I mean that the wife was the person who drove my mom to the hospital when she was in labor with me. So…a long time.

One of my earliest memories of Bruce (the husband) was of him making these wooden dancing toys. They’re kind of hard to describe – it’s a mannequin on a stick that dances when you tap it against a wooden platform. Anyhow, my brother and I always enjoyed visiting them and pulling out those ‘dolls’. Later he began painting them to match the features of the person that he was going to give them to.  Such a great personalized gift.

Handmade wooden marble racing track.

He also dabbled in making other wooden toys, and one that we have had for a long time was a marble tower that rang a bell at the end. That’s it in the photo above, painted red and full of marbles. It resides at my mother’s house and gets pulled out by the girls every time we visit, usually on the first day. Such a simple toy, but it brings them so much enjoyment. But it has one flaw. Well, not so much a flaw but a limitation – it only has one track. And I have two daughters. I’m sure you can see where this is going.

Techno Gears Marble Mania Dual Speedway is a marble racing game built for two that is as much fun building as it is racing! - SahmReviews.com

But what if I told you that I found a product that not only solved this dilemma, it also upgraded the experience and made a fair racing game out of it? That’s where Techno Gears Marble Mania Dual Speedway 2.0 came into play. Just look at all the parts and pieces this thing comes with! This is no simply toy!

Techno Gears Marble Mania Dual Speedway is a marble racing game built for two that is as much fun building as it is racing! - SahmReviews.com

Once the pieces were sorted out and the instructions consulted, construction began. Both of our daughters (ages 10 & 11) were able to assemble this on their own (with only a few consultations with dad). By the end of the first evening, we were a little over half done.

Techno Gears Marble Mania Dual Speedway is a marble racing game built for two that is as much fun building as it is racing! - SahmReviews.com

Unlike some of the other construction sets we’ve encountered, these pieces snapped together (and more importantly came apart) very easily thanks to their unique design.

Techno Gears Marble Mania Dual Speedway is a marble racing game built for two that is as much fun building as it is racing! - SahmReviews.com

And as I mentioned earlier, the instructions are well-drawn and easy to comprehend for anyone over 8 years of age. In fact, there are no written instructions, only photos!

Techno Gears Marble Mania Dual Speedway is a marble racing game built for two that is as much fun building as it is racing! - SahmReviews.com

On the second night construction was finally complete. This particular set is quite large once assembled, and in this case bigger really is better! At the base is an electronic ‘announcer’ that counts down to the start of the race, and two spring-loaded canisters launch your marble to the top at the press of a button.

Techno Gears Marble Mania Dual Speedway is a marble racing game built for two that is as much fun building as it is racing! - SahmReviews.com

But if a picture is worth 1,000 words, then this quick video of the speedway in action should be priceless.

Techno Gears Marble Mania Dual Speedway 2.0 is a product of The Learning Journey International, maker of a number of great educational toys, all sorted by age range. Pick up a speedway or one of their other marble tracks on Amazon before they sell out for the holidays!

As for the marble track that our friend made?  It’ll stay at “Grammy’s” while we play with the speedway here.

Do you use toys and games to make learning fun?

27 thoughts on “Have We Lost Our Marbles? Not Yet!

  1. I just have to tell you that I was scrolling through and saw this post…my 8 year old daughter was behind me and saw it…”Quick, Stop! Go back! I want that!” …It’s on her Christmas list now! lol

  2. Wow that’s a ridiculous number of pieces. I’d be pulling my hair out before it was put together. But it looks like your girls had no trouble! My niece is still too young for it otherwise I bet it would be on her wishlist too.

  3. My husband had one of these when he was a little kid and I completely forgot that we wanted to look into seeing if they still made these. Looks like not only do they still make them, but they are better than ever! That is really elaborate! I bet that this would keep my son busy for hours.

  4. I loved this!!! I went over your post 3 times reading and checking the video, I fell in love with the marble track.. they always fascinated me even when I was a little girl and the new high tech ones..WOW.. soo super cool.. I have to have one for ME!!! I’m sure the kids want to play, too.. I may not let them.. this is way too cool. Thanks for an awesome review Scott and I’m off to get me one… soo excited.

  5. Very cool, I would have loved this with my sister. I’m sure assembling it is half the fun – that thing looks like a massive puzzle to put together!

  6. This is really cool. I have one daughter in particular who is obsessed with legos and puzzles. I just found a Christmas gift for her. Wow! In our case she would be putting it together completely on her own since she likes to do these types of projects herself. Awesome! 😀

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *