Rube GoldbergThe Acrobat Challenge

I used these in my middle school science class as a way to help demonstrate Newton's laws. The setups are challenging, but not so much that it can't be done in under 30 minutes by a few 12 year old kids without much of any assistance from an adult. Out of the three sets I used; basketball, water the plant, and acrobat challenge, each of the sets had some groups that completed them. Those that did not were very close, but ran out of time during the 40 minute period.

I bought this for my eight-year-old nephew, and quickly found out it would never be operational “as pictured”.It looked cooler on the box. The structure itself is pretty flimsy, and I’m not sure we ever figured out how the monkey would stay at the highest level on the balance beam without falling down before it’s time? Perhaps, the trick was with the snake? Everything else was trial and error trying to position parts so they would domino into each other as intended. It didn’t work out for us and I would not recommend purchasing.Even being completely meticulous about it (as an adult) we could not get it to function properly one time, let alone seeing an eight-year-old try to attempt it! Luckily it was somewhat cheap to begin with, but still a flop.

As all of Rube Goldberg books this one was terrific.

Some of the parts didn't line up quite right so half of the machine worked and the other half, to get it going, you have to get the ball a-rolling by hand. It is such a pity because the machine is so fun-looking and colourful and my daughter loves Rube Goldberg machines so she played with it for a few days and hasn't touched it since.

My youngest daughter (6 yrs) loves this Rube Goldberg Acrobat toy .As soon as it arrived , I gave it to her and she haven’t stop playing with it . I really wanted to play with it myself .This toy works perfectly as long as you put it up correctly .

Does not work. My 10-year-old daughter ordered 4 different Rube Goldberg kits which she bought with her own money. She had gotten 3 out of the 4 so far and none of them are actually functional. Very cheaply made. She is so disappointed and feels like she got ripped off. Will be returning for a refund.

Cool toy for kids.

I’m teaching an enrichment class about inventing with students in grades 3 and 4. We had just talked about Rube Goldberg when I came across these kits. They were at a drastically reduced clearance price at Target and I got a couple more on sale here at amazon.After reading the reviews and testing one at home, I knew I couldn’t use them as intended with my students. But with a different focus, they gave me a great lesson.Instead of the students trying to build them to work, I told them right away that reviews showed that they didn’t work. Inventors need to test and improve their inventions. The students’ job was to find out which parts worked and which parts didn’t. Then they were to think about what they would change to potentially make it work.There was one boy who saw what I had and said at the beginning with a scowl, “I have one of those. It doesn’t work! It’s terrible!” At the end of class, the same boy said with an excited smile, “That was so fun!”None of the 6 sets (including this one) actually worked for us. Maybe if you had more luck at balancing and lining things up exactly right, you would do a bit better. Be prepared to make adjustments toward that end. And in a home situation you will probably only use this once, so don’t spend much on it.All my students said that this company must not have tested their products and that they should go back to the drawing board to fix them.1 star for the excitement of my students (even in their “failures”)1 star for customer service (They were friendly and helpful to send a replacement for a missing piece.)I’d like to give it another star for giving me a successful lesson, but it doesn’t really deserve it since it didn’t do what it’s supposed to do.