| Players: | 1+ |
| Recommended Age: | 7+ |
| Cost: | $12.99 |
| Company Site: | www.goliathgames.us |
| Contents: | 100 Sticks, 1 Starter Tool, 4 8-position pieces |
| Play Time: | 5 minutes to hours or even days. It is up to you. |
Not a real tornado…you knew that right? Ok…I mean the messy room kind of a tornado. You know when your kids make a HUGE mess and it looks like tornadoes came through instead of small innocent adorable children? Well Stick Storm is a tornado that is not only ok to have in your house but a lot of fun too!
Goliath is probably more known for Doggie Doo or Gooey Louie games but they have this really cool game/toy called Stick Storm. It takes time to set up but when it goes off it makes even adults giggle! Here is the video from Goliath to show you what I mean.
How awesome is that!! Now it does take awhile to set up anything even remotely cool and can be a HUGE pain to pick up. Those are the downsides but if you are like me then you have a husband who likes doing meticulous things and children who still think its a game to “clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere”. So its maybe not so bad for me and it is pretty awesome to see all those sticks flying everywhere!
He and his brother tried to set up a huge one where it went up the wall using the wall mount pieces from the Cobra Strike set. This was a great idea and would have been awesome but they didn’t stick to the wall. The wall we tried this on was the textured type of wall so it probably works best on flat walls. It was still pretty neat to see all those sticks fly everywhere though.
It WAS a lot bigger but a slip of a finger and we lost some of it along the way. Luckily the Stick Storm box comes with these awesome clips that will relieve your hands by holding it in place. We learned that a little too late…
The sticks are slightly sturdier large popsicle sticks but feel smoother. The pieces are all plastic and have a little give so they don’t snap or anything. I have two children…it was attempted. Other than sticks and those pieces the box only comes with one starter tool. Which you WILL need…unless you are just awesome at this sort of thing and then I am not a fan of you…
Honestly though you don’t need anything else. The box comes with a LOT of sticks…100 of them and with just that you can create quite the extravagant set up. All we have been able to manage so far is some what curved mostly straight lines but with more practice I am sure we can achieve some of the more crazy up, down, loops with balloons ones. Some day…
There is not really any instructions on how to play or any setup that I can explain. Setup can take 15 minutes up to hours depending on how big you want to your creation to be or how much time you want to invest in it. The hardest part is getting the pattern down but that is what the starter tool is for.
There is a red piece that has 3 stick shaped ends sticking out from short to long. The idea is to make a weave pattern with one stick going in each horizontal spot on the starter. After you have the three in place you start putting one in the other way (the same way as the red parts) so that you make a crisscross pattern.
You keep going and going until you either want to loop it, lift it, split it off into side trails or just stop and let it fly. It is all up to you and how much patience you have or how much time you are willing to put into something that could be epic but will most certainly be entertaining.
My 5 year old was very excited to try this out so my husband (who is a lot better at this sort of thing than I am…) showed him how to get one started. He didn’t get very far the first time but after a couple tries the made one as long as he is which is saying something for his patience. When he let it go he was SO excited to watch them fly all over the place. I think he liked making the mess on top of watching them fly all over.
This is recommended for ages 7+ but if you supervise and help a lot kids of all ages can try to put it together. If you have a set that comes with goggles they are not meant to be protective eye wear. They are there more to make kids feel like they are engineering something which is still awesome. My son loved doing this and love watching them fly.
We literally try to make more elaborate ones every time we play with it but sometimes we slip and it flies earlier and sometimes we just can’t wait so we let if fly. The one thing that always happens is everyone laughs and giggles. This is great for any family who wants to build something together and then have a good laugh.
