With the Zoob Z-Strux line, from Alex Brands, kids can build a range of construction vehicles using the Zoob building system. The Z-Strux series includes a lifter, a drill, and a crane, and each set features Zoob pieces in evocative bright yellow.
Like any great construction toy system, Zoob is easy to get started with, and versatile enough for users to go in all sorts of creative directions. Each piece has a long body and either a ball or clasping jaw at either end, and some of them also have a notch at the middle, which allows certain Zoob pieces to connect cross-wise. After a jaw clasps onto a ball, the parts can still swivel and turn—provided they’re only connected at one point.
However, once the builds start to get more complicated—think Zoob pieces linked together at both ends, or at one end and across the aforementioned notch—they also get more interesting. During my demo of the Z-Strux Z-Lift Sky Crane, I started building a tower by connecting certain pieces in an especially sturdy pattern, and then building that pattern out both horizontally and vertically.
The Z-Strux sets include anywhere between 73 and nearly 400 pieces, along with poseable figures and accessories for completing the vehicles. The construction role play aspect is, of course, one of the main features that sets Z-Strux apart from other Zoob lines, and in that regard, the line delivers. My favorite in the series, the Z-Lift Sky Crane, has heavy-duty-looking wheels that can be made to really roll by attaching them to a jaw end (They can also be suspended from the crane). The set also comes with a working pulley.
Every Z-Strux set is packaged with an instruction manual containing different builds, some more complex than others. While the recommended age range of 8 years and up might seem a tad high, given that some of the builds are not that difficult, it makes sense: A certain amount of dexterity is needed for connecting and disconnecting the pieces, and very small kids might not have that.
Still, there’s no reason little ones couldn’t team up with older siblings. In this way, along with acquiring a few pointers about design, architecture, and simple machines, Zoob builders can learn the value of collaboration. Once that happens, there’ll be no stopping them from building all their Z-Strux dreams into reality, and then truly, the sky will be “Z-limit.”
Tatyana Bellamy-Walker contributed to this review.
