Scalextric My First Scalextric Set

Birthday time and what do you buy a 5 year old who already has everything? Well I spotted this and of course hubby did not need much convincing as he loves Scalextric!

~~THE BOX~~

The scalextric comes in a nice big yellow box with bright pictures on the front and a big picture showing the two cars which you get and a carton boy playing with them. The sides of the box have information about the voltage needed for the power supply and a warning that this toy is not suitable for children under the age of 3 due to small parts. The bottom of the box has a picture of the completed track on so you can see what it is supposed to look like.

Upon opening the box a polystyrene piece slides out which has different cut out where the parts are inside.

~~CONTENTS~~

Inside the box there are 11 different sections and inside them are:-

1 Red car
1 Yellow car
1 Power adapter
1 red controller
1 yellow controller
15 track pieces
4 stands
18 yellow track edges

The track and contents are easily placed back into the sections if they are taken apart correctly and the polystyrene is not damaged so it is safely stored when not in use.

~~SETTING UP~~

Now as this is a child’s scalextric then it has been made extremely simple to put together. On the base of each piece there is a number and the track fits together in the number order. Even without these numbers then this is very simple to set up just by looking at the picture on the bottom of the box.

On the top of the track are two lanes which are both coloured, one yellow and one red. The corresponding coloured car fits onto the track with a small plastic piece on the bottom of the cars slotting into the grove on the track. There are yellow track edges which can be fitted to the outside edge of the track to stop the cars from flying off but these do not have to be used. It can be easily fitted if required.

The controllers are also coloured and represent the coloured car which they power. On the first section of track there is a small plastic piece which comes out at the side which has the two holes for the power controllers to fit into. Again these are numbered and the numbers are in colour so there is no mistaking which one goes into which hole.

To make the track bend and go over the other part of the track there are some stands which do raise the track up. There just sit on the floor and are to be placed underneath the track which you require raising. The completed track does make a rather large size and it sort of resembles a figure 8 with one side being larger than the other but with a bendy bit in the one side! (ok my description is bad but if you can get to see a picture of the track then you will see what I mean!)

~~PLAYING~~

Now to the best and fun bit, the playing. There really is nothing to this and it is simple by just pressing down on the button on the control to move the car. The car will vary in speed as to how hard or much the bottom is pressed down. This really does sound very basic but that is all there is too it!

The cars will fly off from the track if they are made to go too fast but this is part of the fun for my boys. They will eventually learn how to control the cars with the speed on the bends but for now they take great pleasure in watching their cars go flying.

For something so simple and basic and to me at times, boring, this has given so much fun and pleasure to my 3 boys. The ages which my boys are, are 7, 5 and 2 and they all do use this and equally have fun. This is not recommended for children under 3 but I personally have not found any small parts or anything which may be dangerous to my 2 year old.

~~OTHER~~

Inside the box there is also a set of instructions which show how to set the track up and also details on how to maintain the cars. We also got a leaflet showing other sets which Scalextric do and the different styles of cars. I did not find this useful as it just made my 7 year old sit and decide which one he wants for Christmas. What I did like was the small booklet which had other items which you can by to build up a nice sized set and the addition of people and stands for around the edges of the tracks to make it look more real and more fun for playing with.

One thing which I would advise is that an adult does dismantle this set as there are some delicate parts on the ends of the track and these could quite easily be snapped or damaged if an over eager child tries to pull the pieces apart.

~~AVAILABILITY AND PRICE~~

Well shock as we paid just over £60 for this set from Littlewoods online. I have not seen the set for sale in the toy shops as we do not have many in Stafford but I would say that this was a pretty standard price. I would say that the heavy price tag was worth it for all the pleasure it bought to my birthday boy and the hours of fun playing with it. Saying that it had a hefty price tag, compared to others which are advertised then this was actually one of the cheapest ones which they did!

~~OVERALL~~

Overall taking everything into consideration then I do recommend this set as it has given my boys hours of fun, it is something which they can play with together and it was different for them. I do advise looking online to try and get this for a cheaper price though.