I care for four school aged boys, and when they were here for spring break last week, they really enjoyed a new toy that I recently purchased for them, which is the Hot Wheels Hyper Wheels toy.
Description
This Hot Wheels set comes in a clear plastic box, containing one launcher, which is a ramp that measures 9 1/2″ long and 4″ high on the tallest end, narrowing down to 1/2″ at the opposite end (where the bikes exit the launcher). Also included are two motorcycles, colored blue and yellow, and have a rider connected to the bikes, which cannot be removed.
The motorcycles have good detail, with a steering wheel, and the rider is wearing a racing outfit, complete with helmet, riding gloves, boots, etc. Riders have a number on their back and a “Hot Wheels” stick on logo. This product is made by Mattel.
Some Assembly Required
Getting this toy out of the box was very tedious and frustrating work. The launcher is connected to the bottom of the box with numerous silver colored twist ties. The ties are laced throughout the bottom fo the box, then twisted again with the set of ties next to them. It’s complete over kill and took me a good 10 minutes to untwist all of these to get the toy out of the box. Underneath the launcher is the crank handle, be sure you don’t accidentally throw this out, it’s essential to the operation.
Once you’ve successfully removed all parts, you need to connect the crank handle parts using a Phillips head screwdriver (not included). After the parts of the crank handle are put together, you then are instructed to connect the handle to the launcher ramp, by turning the screwdriver counter clockwise, (which seems a bit strange, but otherwise the screw would come loose when pushing the launcher handle).
Using The Hot Wheels Hyper Wheels
Slide the motorcycle racers along the race track ramp grooves built into the launcher, and push them hard to connect. You’ll hear a snap when they are properly in place. Move the crank handle up and down to wind up the launcher, and when it is revving good and hard, push the button forward to release the motorcycles. They will shoot down the ramp and onto your floor, the two cycles will race each other to the target.
Thoughts
The Hot Wheels Hyper Wheels was an immediate hit with my daycare boys, who range in ages from 5-9. The box says “5+”, but the small print reads “Choking Hazard. Small parts, not for children under 3 years”. We first starting using this on my hardwood kitchen and dining room floor, but the cycles actually hit into my new maple cabinets quite hard, so I moved it into the toy room, which has a carpeted floor.
At first we didn’t think this would work well on a carpet, and I placed a large plastic tablecloth on the floor for the boys to use. They soon learned that the launcher would indeed work okay on carpet, but the motorcycles do indeed go faster on the tablecloth or harder surface.
It didn’t take long for my boys to get very creative with the Hot Wheels Hyper Wheels, they were building ramps halfway down the “road”, using storage cubbied and hard covered books! Next, they placed an empty cubby at the end of the race track, trying to get the cycles to end up in the bins. To my knowledge none of the racers managed to end up there, but a few did do some wheelies and flips!
I explained to the boys that I was going to write a rewiew of this toy, and asked them what they had to say about it. One of them said “awesome”, another said “it’s really fun”, and the last comment was “I give this toy 5 out of 5 stars!” (LOL, that was my nine year old!).
The boys played with the Hot Wheels Hyper Wheels for a long time on Friday, and this morning it was the first toy they were attracted to when they arrived at my home. It’s a little bit noisy when they are cranking the handle, so if noise is a concern of yours, you might want to avoid purchasing this toy. Other than that, the toy seems well built, it was on sale for only $9.00, and the boys have really gotten a lot of enjoyment out of the Hot Wheels Hyper Wheels. One website I visited says that you can race speed bikes, dragsters, dirt bikes, or take to the air and fly two helicopters to the sky! I haven’t seen any of these other vehicles in my store, but the helicopters sound fun!
I highly recommend the Hot Wheels Hyper Wheels.
