Perplexus Rookie

Essentially the Perplexus Rookie is a much easier and a little more refined version of the Perplexus Original.

Those experienced with the Perplexus Original will likely be turned-off by the ease of the Rookie. I played the Original a fair amount before playing the Rookie, and was personally able to complete it within my first three attempts. The Rookie is best-suited for younger children who have not spent a lot of time with the Original or Epic (and fans of Perplexus who can appreciate something different).

Here are the differences between the Rookie and the Original:
- New unique layout of obstacles with thicker, wider, and more available rails (making it easier)
- 70 Rookie obstacles vs 100 Original obstacles (though both feel about the same length)
- Bolder number markings (deeper impressions) with separate arrow markings
- Denser track layout (increasing line-of-sight difficulties)
- Only one Start point in the Rookie (Original has three Start points)
- Well-defined End point (1" diameter bubble)
- New step, tube, and slope types of obstacles
- No mechanical obstacles (like swing arm and bucket obstacles)
- No markings in the clear portion of the Rookie sphere (Original has a couple large watermarks)
- Better weight distribution in the Rookie (sphere rotates more evenly with the insides than the Original)
- Rookie Diameter: ~6-1/4" (~160mm), ~6-3/4" (~170mm) at the equator
- Original Diameter: ~7" (~175mm), ~7-5/8" (~190mm) at the equator
- Different color scheme; no painted markings (besides the "CE")

The product remains more durable than it looks like it would be. The internal structures appear to use the same material and strong mounting to the equator (though you should not be rough on it). The sphere is made from the same durable plastic. Individuals with eye troubles may still be turned-off by the reflecting and slightly translucent plastic. You need decent light to enjoy playing this.

More obstacles are made difficult by line-of-sight trouble, but this is a side-effect of a more interesting layout, and enriches the challenge. It would be nice if the numbers were all marked in paint (not adding roughness to the tracks), but that would make the product more expensive. Personally I would have liked mechanical obstacles despite the movement troubles they can sometimes cause.

I got this as a gift for my children. They liked it at first but within a few days pieces of the maze had dislodged and were floating around the ball. A friend of mine to whom I recommended this product has returned two of them so far because of quality issues.

So - I think the toy is fun but they need to improve the quality.

We have the original Perplexus and our almost 3 yr old loves it. We thought he would really like a slightly easier/shorter version, and he did, but there are assembly issues. Both balls we tried had points where you could not get the ball past points where the internal pieces were attached improperly (you could see that it was a failure to fully snap two plastic parts together all the way), both in different places. It's a shame, because our son really liked it...until he would get to the defective spot and was unable to get past it.

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