The Marble Run Spiral Hoist is the fourth model in the Ugears collection of fascinating DIY wooden mechanical marble runs. The hoist has two types of rails to speed the ascent: the main spiral rails and vertical rails. Turn the crank to lift the colored glass marbles upwards (one marble rises per nine revolutions of the winding crank) to the three-marble storage up top. From there the marbles begin their downhill runs through exciting elements: a high-speed slide, a vertical snake and a mountain river.Our team of designers created the Marble Run Spiral Hoist and our three other marble runs (Chain Hoist, Stepped Hoist and Tiered Hoist) as fantastic standalones, but also as modular elements able to be connected together into a super Marble Run! You can connect any two or four marble runs together with special connectors (included in each kit) for a giant marble amusement park, with a variety of soaring lifts and obstacles to overcome on the descent. The escapement at the end of each set can send the marbles back to the original hoist, to the adjacent marble run, or alternating between the two (you control this with a special weighted switch).\nThe Marble Run Spiral Hoist wooden mechanical model consists of 266 parts, is rated "advanced" level, and provides 6+ hours of fun assembly time. No glue or other tools are needed for assembly. Just snap the parts out of their laser pre-cut plywood boards and connect them together, following the detailed, illustrated instructions included in each Ugears kit.\nThere's something mesmerizing about marble runs. Kids and adults can get lost for hours watching the motions of these magical machines, and the Ugears Marble Run Spiral Hoist promises endless entertainment for all ages. Discover your inner engineer as you build this engaging 3D mechanical puzzle. If you're up for a challenge, why not assemble all four marble runs and quadruple the fun?\n*Model size: 11.2 x 10.4 x 10.9 in (28.5 x 26.3 x 27.6 cm)\n*Package size: 14.9 x 6.7 x 1.3 in (37.8 x 17 x 3.4 cm)\n*Number of components: 266\n*Estimated time of assembly: 6 hours\n*Level: Advanced