Looking for a REWARDING CHALLENGE? This mechanical 3D wooden Marble Parkour puzzle will put your visual-spatial skill and patience to the test!
Marble Parkour puzzle is made of laser cut plywood and contains precise gear design, elaborate mechanisms, small tricks and is fun to watch when completed! It’s brilliant way to enhance and improve a kid’s understanding of STEM principles and learn the fundamentals of engineering and structures of machines.
Marble Parkour demonstrates/contains:
- Wheel lifter to bring marbles to the top
- Flip-flop as a switch to drive marbles from one path to another
- Hand crank to drive the whole system
- Stair stepper used as an elevator
- Downward spiral funnel
- 3 curve rails
- 2 straight rails
- 233 wood pieces and 10 marbles
Once completely assembled with its detailed design and attractive appearance, Marble Parkour will add a unique touch to your home or office.
A Slow Learner –
I seldom write reviews of products but this kit is simply amazing. It is so beautifully designed, laid out and laser cut that I wanted to share how delighted I am. There are 239 pieces in the kit. No glue or other fasteners are used because each piece is a press fit into other pieces. To make this work, very close tolerances must be held in the cutting process. The laser cuts are perfect. I’m incredibly impressed with the thought that went into this design. Like Salieri, I’m just smart enough to appreciate how brilliant this design is, but not smart enough to do it myself! I enjoyed building the kit so much that I bought another from the series. As I write this we are under quarantine from the novel Coronavirus. This is the perfect way to occupy my time at home.
One person found this helpful
Aaron –
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.ProsBuilds memories and quality time with loved oneseasy to follow directionsgreat quality for the pricefun to play with after assembledexcellent giftConsWish 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 USAI would definitely purchase any of the other projects by ROKR. I cannot wait for the next one to build with my son.
Vincent –
It does help if you have small tools like a small drill but for the small pins. Not metal shafts.. The G parts that are pins. Lightly bore out wit drill by hand. Also have super glue on hand for some parts to keep them secure. Parts g1 and g2 be very careful installing because they are thin and fragile. They can break drlurong install. There is a reason why the kit supplies an extra of these parts
Jane Bozarth –
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.
Steven D –
But it still took some time to assemble. In some ways the instructions were a bit of a puzzle, but clear enough for this engineer to only make one mistake that I discovered at the end when I did not have the piece called out. But it was an easy fix. A couple of the thin pieces cracked in my big fingers, but nothing significant. The photo on the cover does not do it justice for this very creative model. I bought another brand after this one and was disappointed in how easy it was to assemble.
Lorendi –
This puzzle was the most challenging and rewarding that I have ever done. It requires lots of light to connect the pieces and lots of patience. My wife helped with the instructions and confirming each step’s installation. That was a big, big help. The assembly instructions were very good (no errors) but there were a few steps that I would have changed the order on. We ordered another ROKR puzzle! [Note: the puzzle was not “easy to assemble” but I gave it 5 stars anyway because assembly wasn’t supposed to be “easy”.]
Aria K. Colby –
These are great puzzles but they can be really hard to put together. Sometimes it feels like you might just break it with the amount of pressure it takes to press the pieces together. They do seem to stick a bit too here and there.I also have a clock that I love but it rarely remains ticking as it needs to be 100% level and have zero earth shakes in the house and with two giant dogs and two kids that’s near impossible. Still it’s lovely.
Dan –
So me and my wee one put this together and they just love playing with it. It works about 98% of the time, the few times it doesn’t, it is usually just because a BB landed wrong and went rolling. Other than that, it is a good way to kill some time with a wee one.
Natalya –
Beautiful puzzle. My teen spends hours building it, keeps her off devices and teaches her about engineering.It’s taking her about 3-4 days to finish it, but she only works on it until it becomes frustrating, then walks away for a while.Each piece is laser cut to perfection! It pops right out, doesn’t get stuck and with minimal sanding.My 6 year old wants to help, and he totally can—if she lets him. It’s like one of those lego sets but with wood, actual mechanics. It’s different in all the good ways.Building itself is fun, but the marble run is great to play with. It really works, and it’s interesting to watch.If you’re looking for a present for a teen, forget video games or clothes. You’ll see a different side of your kid with this puzzle.It says 14+ on the box, but with adult’s help I’d say any school age kid can build it.Directions are marked very clearly, each piece has a number—just be careful with the gears!
One person found this helpful
Terrence Roddick –
I’m a 65 year old retired engineer and I like building things. I bought this because it looked interesting and I had some time to kill. Put it together over a couple of days and was very impressed. This is very well made with amazing precision in the assembly of the pieces. Some areas are more challenging but with some patience it is a very cool little kit. I think every kid should get one to teach them some basic mechanics and that you you don’t need batteries or USB charging ports to have fun. I will be buying more. Well done.
One person found this helpful
Iris –
Great kit! Challenging to assemble, but the instructions are well written. Plus there are lots of how-to videos for the really challenging bits. I had a couple pieces break, but they included a replacement for one, and the other was easy to fix with regular wood glue. The spiral took a bit of tweaking to get it working right. Once that was done, my kids and I ended up cranking it for about and hour and never had a marble jump the track or the mechanics bind up. Clearly the was designed by geniuses (Rokr) to be used by idiots (me). Nicely done!
Cellambson –
If you like puzzles and something you can use after, this is great! I would have given it a 4 star but I had so much fun putting it together that I had to give it 5 stars, even though I have had to glue some parts together and use string to make things work right and wouldn’t trust it to hold up with kids. It is still very fun to do and put together. The instructions are pretty good, but I just mostly followed without using the video tutorials, which I could never really get up an running.
Gammie –
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I got this for my 32 year old son for Christmas. He loved it! His wife said it brought out the kid in him! I’m definitely getting more!
beth53beth53 –
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I just finished this & it works great. The laser cutting is very good & the instructions are easy to follow. I did have to do some tweeking after construction to adjust levels and such but I did expect that. I am purchasing the clock kit now & I will be ordering additional kits in the future. Rokr makes a great product. Thanks!
One person found this helpful
Krammitz –
My 11yo son got this as a Christmas gift. He said it was hard, but a lot of fun. It was missing 2 pieces he said, but they were a spacer, so he made do. AFterwards, he found them in the box. They were clear so blended in. Other than that, it was great. He absolutely loved building it and now is enjoying playing with it.
5 people found this helpful
pray4jp –
My son’s hobby is “ PS4†I was looking for something fun stuff for Easter weekends for him not only playing game.also my kid has ADHD easily off focusing, but he loves marble runs so I bought for him with bit worried. He incredibly love this mechanical toy and he done all himself about in half day. We were so surprised he don’t need any adult’s help. We were watch closely just in case. Now my husband and nephew wanna those ones. Lol it’s very fun project with family!
9 people found this helpful
rleete –
My 15 year old son and I assembled this in about 4 hours, taking our time. Parts generally fit well. Although the pictures are kind of small, they do show everything necessary to assemble a working model. If you can follow Lego build instructions, you can build this. Mesmerizing to watch, but cranking the handle gets tiring after a while.I purchased this as a present, and to try out the quality of the product. After a relaxing afternoon putting this one together, I will probably purchase more for us to build.
Emily B –
I got this for my lego loving husband and he loved putting it together. It’s too complicated with too many little pieces for little fingers (probably go with 12+). We found a little sand paper to smooth the edges and a little crafting knife to help pull the pieces out was a help. Great 3-5 hour project. Only good for one time putting together.
6 people found this helpful
Keverpops –
Perfect design. Great quality. All pieces are perfectly precut and marked. Easy to understand assembly manual. Also saw a great 26 minute assembly video on youtube. Took me 8 hours to assemble. Works wonderful no glue or other tools were needed. I’m going to try the bigger ones next.
Brenden D Richard –
These are great kits. I have constructed all three of their marble runs. The wood is laser cut and assembly is straight-forward. Instructions are clear and you shouldn’t have any problems as long as you take your time and pay attention to what you are doing. The one issue that does arise is the waxing part. The kits that I received did not come with wax but apparently there are shipping constraints depending on where you live and they do mention up front that your kit may or may not have the wax due to those constraints.They recommend using candle wax if their wax is not included. Instead, I use a spray dry lubricant which seems to work very well and doesn’t require me melting anything and trying to smear it on.The kits have been a big hit with our family as well as visitors. Everyone wants to play with them for a bit so I think they make good coffee table pieces.
pkf –
This fascinates our granddaughter. She will play with it for a long time. She has learned to be careful with it. She makes up stories about the 10 marbles that go down the roller coaster. It took patience to put it together and some of the pieces can shift, but not as delicate of some of the other wood products from this company. It will entertain all ages. I would not gift it to anyone who is not crafty (that is my reason for the rating on that item).
Matthew Pinzur –
My 11-year-old daughter and I had a blast building this kit. It definitely requires an adult to interpret most of the directions and help with some of the more physically difficult assemblies, but she was able to do 80 percent of the work without frustration. The finished product worked far better than I expected, I figured we would need to troubleshoot a few of the imperfect connections, but she was delighted with the action from the first test run. It probably took us about four or five hours spread across two sessions. We will definitely buy another Rokr kit for our next vacation.
One person found this helpful
Miss Melisa –
This was a gift for my husband and he really likes it. The pieces are well organized and sturdy. I didn’t hear him griping about the instructions so they must be pretty clear. He took his time since Christmas and finished assembling it this week. I would buy him another and he would happily assemble it. It was a good buy!
David Hammel –
We have 3 of the 4 of these now with the forth on order. The Marble Parkour was our first and it was the easiest to assemble and it worked fine right away. It is great how it chooses between the two paths. The lift coaster was the second one. It is much more difficult to assemble and the lift would not lift high enough to drop off the marble. I had to do three modifications to get it to work. It still is not perfect but it does work now and is fun. The third was the Marble Squad. It went together fairly easily as most of it is the same as the Parkour. One of the supports for a ramp broke when trying to attach the ramp. But I was able to glue it and it holds up fine. This works fine except they have two paths and the marbles never take the second path. It still is fun. We will see how the forth one works as it is similar to the lift coaster.
One person found this helpful
Amazon Customer –
This was so much fun to put together. The directions make it simple. I enjoyed putting this together and will probably by another from this company. I loved it
larryd517 –
I’ve done a few models from different companies, this one is superior and worth the build.Only warning… when hanging pieces V, W, and X, make sure you hang them in the correct direction. I had one reversed and had to take the model apart and rebuild it. The little tab is off center, on one side of the piece. This dictates the direction it flaps. I can’t remember which side it should be on, sorry, but look very closely at the diagram and try to figure it out.
One person found this helpful
DayTexas –
Bought as a gift for my granddaughter who loves LEGOs. Perfect next step up project for us to assemble together. The all wood pieces are precisely cut and fit together well. So well that glue is not required. The instructions are detailed, accurate and easy to follow. Understand, this is not a quick build project but it does progress well over several sessions spread over a few days. Excellent parent/grandparent-child project.
Dawn F.Dawn F. –
I’ve purchased all 4 marble runs Rokr made. This one I painted as I assembled it. My grandson loves it.
2 people found this helpful
TeeJayNTeeJayN –
Over many years I’ve assembled various mechanical kits with varying degrees of accomplishment. But this wooden “Puzzle” was unique for me. It was amazingly FUN to build! First, it’s not really a “Puzzle”. There’s nothing hidden for you to solve. It’s a mechanical “marble run” that you completely assemble with all the supplied laser-precut-wood pieces using pages of assembly pictorials. All the wooden parts are numbered, and if you *FAITHFULLY follow each pictorial, the 7 flat, pre-cut sheets of wood will be transformed into a fully functioning Mable Run Machine. The manufacture (Rokr) makes other wooden kits doing different things and I’ve ordered another! Highly recommended.–*Note: I said “FAITHFULLY follow each pictorial”. The assembly instructions are not word driven. There are no printed words like “Take part A7 and insert it together with part B9”. Nope. Instead there are only a series of pictorials that visually show the assembly of each numbered part. Just take your time and make sure you carefully follow each one and it will all come together nicely! Have fun!
18 people found this helpful
Saints072Saints072 –
Great gift idea. Got this for my 19 year old son for Christmas. He spent about 4 to 5 hours assembling the puzzle. Extra pieces are included for commonly broken pieces during assembly. Occasionally the metal ball needs moved so they don’t go in the same sections.
M. McFadden –
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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.
Mary Vasseur Finn –
This was a great project to do after work when I needed to unwind and wanted an alternative to TV. I’ve never done anything like this but found the instructions (99% visual/pictoral) to be clear and straightforward. Agree with another reviewer that the ramp pieces didn’t seem to snap into place new like the other pieces, but my completed project works great. Overall these was very satisfying to build, and I would highly recommend it. I am a 55+ professional female.If you run out of the 3mm dowels (like I did because I mistakenly threw away leftovers) you can get some here; they are a litter softer and therefore easier to work with, though they require 40 seconds of light sanding to fit with these pieces:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077XXJHYK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
23 people found this helpful
Patrick J. Van Durme –
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I got this to fill my time stuck at home because of the Corona virus. It was a great way to spend time. Highest recommendation. Some issues -ALL my fault! Look at the directions. Every time I thought, “yeah, I got this.” I messed up. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed rather easily but I was glad I saw it. Made one mistake that I didn’t see until it was all done. Simple error but I went back and the directions had a big picture with an exclamation point saying watch out! I fixed it and I am already ordering another and will be extra careful. I think it could be done with an older child and an adult but even a young teen I think would make mistakes and get frustrated.
Kevin L. –
I was very impressed by the design, the precision of the cutting of the pieces, and with the clarity of the instructions, although it is important to pay close attention to the pictures in the instructions to be sure the assembly is being done correctly. I bought this kit as a project to do with my 5-year-old grandson. His big limitation was his attention span, but he was able to locate and punch out the pieces as I called for them, and even assemble a few of the larger pieces. He was fascinated and entertained by the finished project!
Amazon Customer –
This is my twelfth wooden puzzle project and I just ordered my thirteenth. From different company’s. These are excellent winter projects. I particularly like these marble mazes. This is my third of these and I have motorized them. They are entertaining to watch. These puzzles can be quite challenging at times. Just be patient and take your time there is much enjoyment to be had. I have gotten these for my last three birthdays and I look forward to them. I am sixty-seven years old and eight years retired.
One person found this helpful
Laura B. –
I do a lot of wooden puzzles, and I was impressed with the quality of this one. Every single piece snapped out easily, and went together relatively smoothly. Most of the smallest and most fragile pieces have duplicates in case you break them, but I didn’t even need a single one.The final construction was also very good. After I finally put everything together, it took only about 5-10 minutes of tinkering and tightening things to get the entire thing running smoothly. With all the moving parts and pieces this puzzle has, that’s really impressive.
One person found this helpful
Shutterbug –
I purchased one of these for each of my grandson’s for Christmas. I wanted to get their headsout of their electronic games for a while — they were an instant success. The youngsters were fascinated by the concept of a working, wooden toy that they could build. I highly recommend them for youngsters ages 10 and up.
2 people found this helpful
Carl Brown –
This was a great way to spend a few hours with my sons. This gave me the opportunity to explain gravity, gears, designs, machines, engines and many other concepts.They liked it because it was something we were building together.I had to build this in shifts. It can get tedious and let’s manage expectations, it isn’t a precision instrument. It’s also pretty inexpensive for what you get.
4 people found this helpful
KageShima –
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This product is very fun to build.. the precision cut for the parts are on point.. However, you still need to be careful as there is a slight chance of breaking it.. not all parts has a spare.. Smoothing the breakoff section of each part is recommended..The manual crank is ok.. hope they have an option to include motor to have a motorized version.. I did motorized my build and it was awesome! check the vid and pic i have for my build..Overall I would recommend this product if you want a mini project.. Im looking forward to build more from ROKR..
PDEE –
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Very cool and works great! Just bought a couple more to work on.
75 people found this helpful
ron roepke –
Take your time and this will be worth it. Had fun building it and even ordered another one a little larger. They do supply some extra pieces but if your carful you won’t need them.
YUEBEI WANG –
Wonderful birthday gift from my wife. I am civil engineer and doing roadway/bridge everyday. It is a perfect birthday choice for someone like me.When you take the component from out from the board, you need to be really careful, you don’t want to break it.It is not quite possible to finish it during one sit, it is better to have some rest and continue.
Mark C. –
They sell two kits that use steel ball bearings. Both are their best products in my opinion. They have well marked pieces (laser engraved part numbers on the parts). One weak link is the spiral track. Both my son and I had difficulty installing it without breaking the piece. It doesn’t want to stretch to the place where it needs to be installed. Would suggest to the manufacturer that they include two of these pieces.
Avid Techie –
This is the 3rd woodwork item we’ve purchased and assembled. They are amazing feats of design and ingenuity – challenging yet fun to put together and a great sense of accomplishment when finished. Everyone who sees it marvels at the clockworks. Think of it as a combination of a puzzle and model wrapped up in a 3-D artwork. I look forward to many more!
One person found this helpful
Wayne Anderson –
You have to follow the directions very closely. Check the pictures for details. This puzzle was a challenge to put together, I had to slow down and think about what I was doing. Some places have you putting square pegs into round holds. This could have been a problem until I noticed that the pegs expanded into the round holes and made for a very secure fit. I loved this puzzle and will be ordering another one. Its amazing how fine the laser cuts the plywood.
Health For Life –
As an engineer, I have to say this is really well designed. I followed the instructions step by step and had no issues. It will take 3-4 hours to build so you shouldn’t try to rush this. Be careful taking out each piece, sand or clean the sharp edges, lube all the gears. This is wood so expect some minor adjustments but overall, all the pieces fit together well.I super glued everything once I was finished since this was for my 5 year old and he hasn’t managed to break it yet.
NoÄnica FeeNoÄnica Fee –
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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 includedMy 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
5 people found this helpful
norm hughes –
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I USED THIS AS TIME EATER DURING THE COVID. TOOK ABOUT 10 HOURS. TAKE YOUR TIME, IT’S NOT A RACE. THESE ARE HIGHLY ACCURATE LASER CUT PIECES. THE PIECES COME OUT OF THE SHEET EASLY. THE WOOD IS 1/8″ PLYWOOD THAT IS VERY STRONG. I GLUED MANY OF THE PIECES TOGETHER TO ADD A LITTLE WEIGHT AND RIGIDITY ALTHOUGH IT’S NOT REQUIRED. IF YOU GLUE, MAKE SURE YOU YOU DON’T GLUE PARTS THAT NEED TO ROTATE. ALSO MAKE SURE YOU FULLY ENGAGE THE SLOTS COMPLETELY. OF COURSE ” MADE IN CHINA”.TWEEZERS AND EXACTO KNIFE ALL COME IN HANDY.
One person found this helpful