Perplexus Sidewinder Portable 3D Maze Game with 2 Maze Games for Ages 8+

The Sidewinder seems to be very inspired by a puzzle titled Double Gear Maze by well known designer, Jean Claude Constantin.However that puzzle has very clear goals, this doesn't. Other than “Start on the outside and work your way in” its pretty vague what the challenge is here as its simple enough to navigate both marbles to the other maze without any real effort.The one marker we do get is a star in the on the underside of each gear, located at the centre. So this at least seems like the goal, however the puzzle arrives with the marbles already in this location.Ok perhaps move the marble around the maze to a random spot and try to get it back though it would be more fulfilling if there was a clear starting point, the stars are also shaped into the clear plastic so are easy to miss.The plus side, the design is really well done, the gears move smoothly and both wheels have finger groves to help spin them. The mazes are colourful and its always easy to see where the marbles are, the mazes themselves aren't too complicated though do provide enough of a challenge to move both at the same time.This is at least a fun game of dexterity and skill, though not a difficult puzzle (unless they have forgotten to mention more exact goals).Its worth mentioning this and the Twisted are both departures from what i have come to expect from Perplexus though i do support them trying to expand the marble maze concept into other areas though i feel customers have come to expect clear markings of the start area.In conclusion: a cool toy to distract for a few minutes though ill defined goals could lead to becoming tiresome quickly. A nice display piece and interesting concept though needs some refinement.

An sich eine super Idee, aber für den Preis (13€) habe ich mir ein Spielzeug erhofft dass wenigsten ein bisschen anspruchsvoller ist. Es gibt bei diesem Rätsel keinen wirklichen „Start“ Punkt und das Rätsel kam bereits „gelöst“ bei mir an. Man bestellt ja auch kein ausgefülltes Malen nach Zahlen Bild... Für Kleinkinder bestimmt ein netter kurzer Zeitvertreib (5-6 Jahre) für Erwachsene allerdings nach 5 Minuten bereits „Rätsel“ gelöst.