Smartivity DIY Pinball Machine STEM Toy for Kids Ages 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 | Wooden Construction Kit | Pinball Machine for Kids 8-14 | Birthday Gift Boys Girls | Family Party Game

I bought this for my nephew who had just turned 9, and it ended up being one of the best gifts I've ever given. He and his 10-year-old brother tackled the entire build completely on their own, no adult assistance whatsoever They spent hours reading the instructions, working together, troubleshooting, and figuring things out as a team. This kit is challenging, but that's exactly what makes it so rewarding. It pushed their patience, reading comprehension, problem-solving, critical thinking, fine motor skills, and teamwork. Watching them encourage each other and celebrate every milestone was worth every penny. The finished pinball machine is AWESOME, adults asking for play turn.... but honestly, the building process was the real prize. In a world where so many toys provide instant gratification, this one teaches perseverance and the satisfaction of earning the final result. I'd go beyond recommending it, I honestly think every 9- to 11-year-old should build something like this. It's one of the best STEM activities I've seen for developing real-life skills while still being incredibly fun. The photos show the boys hard at work during the build, completely immersed in the project without any adult help. That says everything about how engaging this kit is. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Would absolutely buy another

I purchased the smartivity pinball machine for my 7 year old son, who desperately wanted a pinball machine for christmas. After looking at some tabletop machines, browsing through numerous reviews, and weighing the pros and cons, I decided that the likelihood of a cheap plastic machine ending up in a landfill after only a couple of months was probable, and not aligned with my less waste goals. Upon first opening his gift, my son was surprised as I'm sure he was expecting an electric game. Once we opened up the box to begin building he was very excited to see all the components, and he couldn't wait to start building. We first made sure everything that was included came in the box and decided it would be best to leave the sheets intact until we were prompted to take the pieces from them. Now let me get to the instruction manual. If there were ever an example of what a perfect instruction manual should look like, it would be this. The directions were exceedingly clear and concise consisting of written description and coordinating pictures of the front view as well as the reverse view which was very well planned out. There was honestly not one step of the way where we were confused on what to do next. we completed the build together in two sessions that were about 1 to 2 hours each, Which I feel is a perfect amount of time to inspire anticipation in my son while not causing frustration or burnout. We're getting to the best part now. This completed pinball game is so so so much fun! my son played for 2 hours straight on the first day. On the second day he played a total of 4 hours trying out all the different techniques and variations. I have never seen him so involved and interested in anything as I saw him with this pinball machine. My teenage son's friend has been over twice this week as well, and he was drawn to the pinball machine both times playing with it for a good amount of time. I especially love the balls in the vaults for keeping your score which doubles as math practice. Overall this has by far been the best online purchase to date that I have ever made, and it has been the most enjoyable thing that I have ever taken part in building. The pinball machine is solid, high quality, and obviously very entertaining as well. If you are looking for a great gift for an engineering-minded kid, I can't recommend this pinball machine enough. Buy it!

I assembled this kit together with my 7-year-old grandson, who loves building STEM-type toys and Legos. At first, he was a bit overwhelmed by the large number of parts in this kit, but as the components began to come together, he grew more and more excited. When finished, the game works very well and has many clever pinball features that add to the fun and interest. The two paddles that hit the ball both move quickly & easily and are comfortable to use, thanks to padded foam handles. My grandson has had great fun playing pinball with it (quote: "I LOVE this game!"). The wooden look of the game makes it unique and interesting. ASSEMBLY: The kit itself is really an engineering marvel. There are a zillion parts, most arranged on thick wooden panels from which you push out the pieces. There are so many pieces, we panicked on a couple of occasions when we thought a piece was missing, only to find that it had rolled off the table, so using Tupperware or cups to stage the pieces in would have been helpful. The pieces fit together well and easily, with most attaching together with supplied rubber bands. There are a few spare parts left over, along with a lot of extra rubber bands. It's amazing how the small pieces slowly assembled into modules and then it all came together into the finished product. INSTRUCTIONS: The instruction book has a lot of pages, with each step in the assembly process clear and fairly easy to follow. A couple of the steps could have used better clarification, though -- for example, in 2 or 3 places you install a rubber band that just hangs there and you don't know what it's for, until later in the book you learn it finally attaches to another module, or else is used to lock down the modules for storage or transport. Another complaint is that some parts are not depicted clearly in the instructions and identifying them was confusing. For example, there are several foam parts that are bright orange in color but are shown in the book as brown; this confusion is made worse by the existence of some similarly shaped wooden pieces that *are* brown. Also, most of the wooden pieces have a number etched on them, but the instructions never referred to those numbers; you just have to match the shape to find the right piece. OTHER CONCERNS: One concern I have is that most rubber bands in my experience tend to deteriorate and break over time, so I worry that might happen with this game a couple years down the road. However, as I mentioned, there are a LOT of extra bands left over, so if you save those parts, it's likely you can fix the issue -- unless the breakage occurs in a hard-to-reach part of the assembly. SUMMARY: Overall, this was a fun kit to assemble, and my grandson was able to understand the process & instructions and actively participate in the assembly. And he has REALLY enjoyed playing with it. A great purchase.

Although it takes a few hours to assemble, the instructions are easy to follow. This is quite the impressive piece of engineering. When assembled, it works very well and our grandson loves to play it.

Definitely a favorite Christmas gift. It is suprisingly sturdy and functional for a DIY! So that end result- great. Well thought out and fun to play! Read on for assembly experience: I got it for a 5 year old who has been enamored with pinball machines and I couldn’t find one! I don’t think he would have been happy opening the gift as it came—a box with beautiful picture of a pinball machine with a bunch of “stuff” inside…. un-assembled. He’d want that thing in the picture RIGHT NOW! could be tough for younger kids. So we opened it the night before it was to be given as gift. We were fortunate to have an uncle (age 45) who loves to put stuff together. He spent 2 or 3 hours assembling it (while we sang “we are santas elves” from Rudolph). Had a whole table to lay everything out..recommend planning space. and, again— he LIKES to make stuff so we didnt deal with any frustration. The wood looked like cardboard at first but it is remarkably sturdy and right for this! The use of rubber bands— brilliant! Uncle elf Assembler said instruction booklet was phenomenal. Best instructions I ever saw with a toy! As far as the “child assembly with adult supervision” idea— I’d reverse that thought with the child “supervising”. Maybe an older kid (over 10?) with good attention span & patience could take part in assembly and potentially enjoy the process. A teen seemed interested and helped —for maybe 15 min. Perhaps an excited gift recipient (with patience), would get into it more. I think it would be alot for a younger kid to get involved with assembly. If you want it for the end result (working pin ball machine) and want to minimize adult—kid frustration, I’d suggest: —plan for 3 hours and assemble it ahead of time. —then wrap up the box with all the remnants of punch out parts too — so they can see what a gift it is to receive it assembled!! The gift recipient parents were VERY appreciative of that part! End result was worth it— a nice table top pinball machine which the younger kiddo loved (after some guidance on how to use the flippers WHILE holding the thing in place on table). Learning curve. I’d say a 4 year old on up would love it fully assembled. I don’t write reviews— (I am sure this is too long!) but wanted to share our experience because I really studied reviews before purchase. As others noted—It could be a “project” gift for kid/adult pair who like to put stuff together . But, if you don’t have that think about having someone to assemble ahead of gift giving day!

This game is amazing! All pros, no cons. The quality is fantastic. The company is quick to respond. And the game, once built, is a hit with our whole family. (We have kids aged 43, 41, 14, 11, and 8.) The pieces are sturdy and well made. They are strong enough to withstand an 8 year old removing them from the sheets they come in while being just delicate enough to teach using careful movements. The instructions are clearly depicted in photos AND clearly stated with words. Great for visual vs audio learners. We did run into one hiccup which was quickly resolved with no hassle. One of the plastic plugs didn’t fit into the hole it was made for. When I contacted the company, I sent photos of the plug in question. The company sent me a replacement of the plug AND the sheet of wooden parts that it was supposed to fit into. As it turns out, that was great because the plug ended up not being the problem, but the hole; which was too small. So I was grateful they foresaw that solution and sent it without being asked. Once the piece arrived (took about a week) we finished the build quickly. For my 8 year old, the whole machine took about 3 different sit-downs of an hour or so each. If my Lego-building teen had done it, I think it would have taken him only slightly less time. I appreciate that the build took a while and was very involved while being simple. Mostly, I love that the game is so fun. A throwback to the computer game I played as a child in the early 90s. All three of my sons enjoy playing it as much as I do.

Can't say enough good things. What a wonderful project. Huge fun to assemble. Have to give great credit to the designers. Enormously clever, goes together nicely, directions are 98% clear and helpful (way better than average), parts fit and do what they're supposed to. A 10 year-old and 7 year-old were able to do everything with supervision. Took a couple of hours to assemble, but that was the point. And they loved the completed toy when it came together. Ingenious design and legitimately entertaining game, with many features of electronic pinball, but entirely powered by rubber bands. Recommend for parent/child teams who can work delicately and sustain attention to details. Maybe OK for unsupervised kids but they'd probably be at least early teens with good fine motor skills.

A fun present for my 9 year old grandson. He had a lot of fun putting this together. Easy to follow directions included.

A mio figlio è piaciuto tantissimo costruirlo, si diverte giocandoci e a sfidare gli amici. Lo consiglio!

Unglaublich genialer Bausatz. Alle Teile passen perfekt zusammen. Mein 7-jähriger und ich hatten großen Spaß beim Bauen. Die Anleitung ist so gut bebildert, dass man auch ohne deutsche Übersetzung kein Problem hat, ihr zu folgern. Interessanterweise lagen ausführliche estnische, litauische und lettische Übersetzungen bei, vielleicht fälschlicherweise. Es gibt kaum Plastikteile, sehr nachhaltig. Alle Kleinteile sind überreichlich vorhanden, so dass auch was verloren gehen kann. Und der fertige Flipper? Spielt sich super. Kein kurzer Gag, sondern ein tolles Spielzeug von bleibendem Wert.

High quality components with great instruction manual for kids to follow. The completed product becomes the best table top Pin ball toy out there.

the product is very good for the kids

This was a Christmas gift for my 11 year old. He has built it over the last few days with some help. If your child was in to lego they'd probably find this straightforward (he's not!). There are a lot of pieces and a very long manual but it is very easy to put together and the instructions are very clear (and not that long!). Once built it's great fun and feels really sturdy. There are some questions and experiments at the end to help explain the science behind it. Overall, we're really impressed with this. My husband has already asked what other sets are available!