Scalextric. Of toys that transcend the generations, Scalextric has to be up there with the likes of the Fisher-Price pull-along telephone, Barbie and LEGO.
I vividly recall licking the metal brushes on the bottom of my brother’s Scalextric cars to keep the strands of metal together and touching the track, and the chances are I’m not the only one.
Little B turns three at the end of the month (yes – it’s been three whole years since he was born!) and we’ve been wondering what to get him for his birthday, so it was timely when Scalextric got in touch to see if we’d be interested in reviewing their My First Scalextric set. (And they not only sent us a set to try out, we’ve got one to give away too – scroll down to find out how to enter!)
The My First Scalextric set (£39.99) is aimed at children 3+ and features a figure-of-eight track with two rally cars and hand-held power controllers (as you can see someone was rather pleased when ours arrived!)
You can raise one section of the track up to create a bridge and the cars and power controls are colour-coded to match chevrons on the circuit, so there’s no arguing which car belongs to which player.
The pieces of track slot together, and they’re compatible with Micro Scalextric so when the time comes you can extend the track and add new cars later on. The track is relatively easy to piece together, however you do need to make sure the pieces are snug and as tightly fitted together as possible to ensure the circuit isn’t broken.
It took us a few goes (and a few expletives from Misery Guts) to get our cars going around the track but in my opinion Scalextric is as much about tinkering with the track and getting it right as it is about racing the cars – or that’s my childhood memories of it anyway! Isn’t setting it all up half the fun?
The kids certainly love it – Little B was literally hopping from foot to foot in excitement when we got the cars racing, and it might be designed for children three and up but BB (six) spent the entire morning the day after it arrived playing with it by herself while her brother was at nursery. And I might have had a little tinker with it myself when I was ‘putting it away’.
The cats quite enjoyed it too!
Would I recommend this as a birthday or Christmas present? Yes! This is the kind of toy childhoods are made of, and there are few toys or games that have us sitting down (or hopping about) as a family to play.
So if you fancy winning one, here’s how!
WIN a My First Scalextric set worth £39.99!
Scalextric have very kindly given us one #MyFirstScalextric set to give away to one lucky reader.
All you have to do to enter the competition is send a tweet through the Rafflecopter form below, follow @Scalextric or me on Twitter or comment on this blog post saying who the set would be for.
The competition runs from now until Wednesday November 1 and is open to UK residents only. Terms and conditions apply.
Good luck!
We were sent the My First Scalextric set free of charge for the purposes of review. As always all opinions are my own and based on my own honest experience.
What a great prize to win
Both my sons have had and added too a set, with some Saturday mornings spent entirely on buying a new car with their pocket money
My boys are now 40 & 36 and they have passed the enjoyment of trying to get around the track without coming off to my eldest grandchildren ( now 8&5)
It’s now the turn of my youngest grandson to start to enjoy that excitement so this Christmas a set will be on his list
P.S love the blog
If I win the prize would be for my son. I am sure my husband would want a go too!
My youngest, he’s still a bit young but his dad will have great fun setting it up!
My nephew.
My grandson would love this
My daughter she would have so much fun playing with this.
My Niece she would love it!
my godson
My son would love racing cars on this set
I’d give it to my cousin
This looks like such a fantastic set for kids as a way of introducing them to it. I would give it to both my little girl and boy to share altnough with daddy around they might not get much of a look in lol #TriedTested
My girl. She has been asking for something like this for a few weeks. x
My little boy, we have been contemplating getting him one!
I’ll have to look into this for my daughter’s Christmas Gifts, it’s awesome! #TriedTested
I would love one of these for my son, but realistically I think my husband would actually enjoy it just as much! They really do look like a lot of fun.
I remember a friend having one when we were kids and it was always the first thing I wanted to play with at her house!
Thanks for sharing your review on #TriedTested this week x
I remember really wanting a Scalextric set when I was younger! I know my boys would enjoy this one. Thanks for linking up with #TriedTested
How wonderful, my kids would have jumped at a chance to play with this when they were young #TriedTested
Ethan my beautiful nephew
It would be for my son Ryan , he would love this x
My son’s would love this, top present for Christmas me thinks X #triedtested