ThinkFun Roller Coaster Challenge STEM Toy and Building Game for Boys and Girls Age 6 and Up – TOTY Game of the Year Finalist

I have purchased three other Think Fun games for my grandsons; Gravity Maze, Lazer Maze, and Domino Maze.. Every one of them are excellent so ordered this for my 8 year old grandson. Like all the others, it is well made, versatile and he plays with it non stop. You don’t have to play any of them as a game but just for fun and creativity. I can see it being appropriate for many age levels as has many variations built in. It easily assembles and stores well in box. Bravo Think Fun for making educational games with purpose.

I bought this for my niece who is 8 years old. SHE LOVES IT! She gets so proud when she completes one and it really is a great skill building activity for kids. As other people stated, you kind of have to figure out how to interpret the little cards with each of the challenges on them. The cards give have two sides. One side gives you a starting point picture of where some of the main parts should be placed on the building platform and then gives you a list of what other parts you will need to complete that roller coaster. When you are done, you flip the card over and it gives you the solution with picture of where ALL of the parts should be on the platform. It took me a few minutes to figure out that each of the different size tracks have either 1,2,3 or 4 dots on them depending on their length and that at the bottom of the front of each card it tells you how many of each size track you will need to complete the challenge, etc. However, once I figured it all out, it was easy.For a 5-7 year old, depending on their level of reasoning and problem solving skills, they will most likely need adult assistance. My 8 year old niece needed adult assistance for the first 4 or 5 levels and then she could pretty much figure out how to do it on her own.This is super fun and is an excellent tool to help children learn problem solving, reasoning skills, spatial recognition skills, and so many other things. Great STEAM Toy. For younger kids, some of the pieces are not super simple to snap into place but that age should probably need adult assistance for completing the roller coasters anyway.Highly recommend this!

We purchased this game for our five-year son, even though the recommended age is 6+. After opening it up Christmas Day, he couldn't wait to play with it. He and I sat down together and went through the instructions as to how everything works and what each symbol stands for on the example cards. He slowly began to understand the symbolism and was eager to get started.The cards the game provides show you how to BEGIN to set up each rollercoaster, but don't show it completed. That's where the child's logic needs to kick in. Each puzzle card gives you the exact number of pieces that you need to complete each coaster design, and it's up to the "designer" to figure out where the rest of the pieces go to complete the rollercoaster and make it function.The cards start off from easy and progress to very difficult. With practice, and a bit of my assistance, my five-year old was starting to complete the puzzles. Now, he's even getting the advanced/harder coaster designs without much help from anyone.All in all, this is a great game for getting kids to think in three dimensions. The intent is to take a two-dimensional "plan" and building a 3-D working model. The reward is being able to take the little rollercoaster car and send it down the track to the finish line. I would definitely recommend this game to children who are interested in architecture and/or engineering, or who like to build things with their hands. Absolutely outstanding toy!

My 10 year old has been playing with this non-stop since we got it. He likes it, but I think he is perhaps a bit too old for it so I would recommend it for slightly younger. My son is very good with Legos, and building games online like Roblox and Minecraft, so my only issue is this is just a bit too easy for him even in the higher level cards. Not saying it isn't a challenge, but not enough of a challenge for him at his age and again he plays legos all the time. So I also question how much replay there is with this once past the 40 cards. I wonder if expansions are coming. That would help with additional pieces and new cards. Again, this is a very good game and if your kid is maybe closer to the recommended age of 6 it would be even better. We like the game very much, just it is not as challenging as we would have thought. He is challenged a bit by the higher level cards but not overly challenged. It is a well made game, easy to follow, and the concept is great. I would again just caution if your kids are really good with building stuff, this might not be challenging enough. Good game though and since it does keep him off the computer I like it even more. My son thinks it good though and he likes making the rollercoasters and doing the challenges. He feels it is fun overall. So maybe as a dad I question the replayability but he does not.

My 7 year old loves this! The Easy level was just challenging enough to keep him engaged. The medium level is a little too challenging for him right now. But he still enjoys repeating the easy ones and coming up with his own designs. This will get a ton of use as he gets older and more experienced. So great for the little analytical minds.

The media could not be loaded. Great time together. We tend to look at the solutions to help us, but it's loads of fun.

One of the plastic pieces broke the first time my kids played with it. They've still been having fun with the game, but I don't anticipate it lasting a super long time.