We opened the Domino Rally Racing set on a quiet Sunday afternoon. I expected setup of the pieces to last about 30 minutes or so. Well, two adults together spent well over two hours putting the pieces together and trying to get the pieces to stay up while the children basically watched.
The setup is really not easy for children to do. The first time you set it up, you need to punch out pieces, put on stickers and load the dominos onto the tracks. After the initial setup playing with the domino rally game will be much easier.
Once we had all the pieces set up we tried to organize our first domino rally run. The first track setup took 20 minutes; pieces kept falling down, and the various parts were not lining up perfectly.
Once we set up all the pieces, the kids were so excited to watch the dominoes fall. Unfortunately, the fun of watching the dominoes fall lasted about 20 seconds. As parents we really disliked this toy, but the kids loved it. Once the adults got tired of helping set up, the 16 year old took over with the setup and everyone was happy.
There were a few other problems with this toy. The box was so flimsy that it fell apart when we opened it. The cardboard is so thin, that even with tape, the sides will not hold up well. The pieces will be stored in our house in a Rubbermaid container.
Some of the individual pieces were not very well made. The pulley carriage did not work at all. The stairs piece also did not work very well, as you can see in our video. The flimsiness of the domino pieces made them fall over when anyone walks by or breathed too hard. It was a very delicate process and the kids were so sad when all the pieces fell over before we were ready to start the race.
The toy is supposed to be a race between two people. Yet, there was only 1 stair piece included. We used it in our own ways, and the kids loved setting up their own creative tracks.
The way the dominoes can fit into the tracks was awesome. All you needed to do was flip the track piece to the side and 7-10 dominoes all stood right up. Unfortunately this also sometimes knocked them all down.
Overall, the kids in the family loved this toy; the parents not so much. But since we like the kids to be happy, we will continue to set the dominoes up again and again.
Domino Rally Racing Review Video
Domino Rally Racing
Manufacturer: Goliath Toys
www.goliathtoys.de/
Price: $23.16 on Amazon.com
| Appealed to the advertised age range | 5 |
| Instructions were easy to follow | 4 |
| My children played with this multiple times | 4 |
| Small pieces were a problem |
4 |
| Messy |
4 |
| Would travel well | 1 |
| Durability |
2 |
| I would purchase this for my family | no |
| I would purchase this as a gift |
no |
| Overall rating |
3 |
All ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being highest.
Meet the Reviewer!
Sara graduated from Boston University
with two degrees in Education. Once
her first child was born, she left the
teaching world, and has been a busy
stay at home mom for the past 16
years. Raising 4 boys and 1 girl is a
full time job but it is a job she loves.
Sara loves reading, writing, technology,
and experimenting with new healthy
ingredients. Sara’s blog is
http://cookwith5kids.blogspot.com.
