In the summer, my son and I sorted through Zoob construction set, looked for broken parts for exchange, and at the same time decided to create our own catalog of parts. Zoob is an old building sets brand, it has been around for more than 20 years, and we play with it for 6 years now. So our family has collected both parts from older and newer sets, both the common ones and with sparkles. Children call the parts by their forms: ball, claws, center, notch. Here’s Zoob piece variety got:
GREEN (LIME)
First of all, it is, of course, more lime than real green. 99% of the green pieces are 2-claw pieces, like in the top row. The glitter set also has a 2-claw piece. In the middle row is a piece from a Chinese Zoob clone set, in emerald color. In the bottom row on the left are 2 parts with balls. This shape rarely comes in green, and on the right are parts of a rich emerald color from a vintage set of the late 90s.
BLUE (PURPLE)
In the top row, on the left there is a purple part with sparkles. In the center is a blue part with sparkles. And the right is the most common form of part in blue – with 2 claws and a notch in the center. In the middle row on the right is a blue piece from the Chinese Zoob. On the left are parts of a rare color, found mostly in the old sets of 1997-2001 – purple. In the bottom row – on the left – there are 2 dark blue pieces, they are common in the older sets.
GRAY
Parts of this color come in all kinds of shapes, usually with a metallic tint. In the top row there are the most common pieces of gray color. In the middle row on the left is a part from the Chinese Zoob clone set.
BLACK
Black is rare now, which is a pity – it was common in Zoob sets in 1997-2001.
YELLOW
99% of the yellow parts are the parts with 2 balls and a notch in the center, so all the cute crosses are yellow. In the middle row is a part from the Chinese – big thanks to them, because we constantly need these pieces. In the bottom row are rarer parts.
ORANGE
We have only one type of pieces – with glitter.
RED
In the top row there are 2 version, the most common one, on the right – a pieces with glitter. In the middle row we have a scarlet-colored piece from the Chinese Zoob clone. And on the right there is a burgundy piece from Zoob clone by ZZToys. In the bottom row are rare versions in red. Our most fragile parts are red, they break most often, and green with glitter, breakability is almost 100%.
This “catalogue” does not contain another wonderful type of ZOOB – glow-in-the-dark parts. We remembered the luminous set after we had laid out the parts; we couldn’t repeat the layout a second time. So I plan to show the glowing set in another post.
Well, now this is an impressive collection! And it looks like you did serious amounts of work – to sort, lay out and describe everything… Have you ever tried to count, how many Zoob pieces do you have? At least, approximately. I’ll try to guess – 2-2,5 thousands?
No, there are smaller numbers, around 1500. We just got curious – why there are many pieces of certain type in one color and few in the other. So we tried to figure out how many pieces of each type and color we have.
Tatiana, please tell me at what age it is better buy ZOOB (regular one, not Jr), so the interest doesn’t disappear before the child grows up. When children can connect and separate the parts at their own? It just seems that even a 3-year-old can easily build with it, but the age indicated everywhere is 5+. So it’s interesting to hear your opinion. While the child is trying to build with Lego, unfortunately I don’t see any mega design solutions or crazy interest. That’s why I want to enhance the choice of constructors by different types in every possible way. Thank you in advance.
I generally thing that ZOOB Jr is not even a serious building kit, but my youngest daughter (she will soon be 4) prefers this option 🙂 If you just want to introduce your child to this set and see what the ZOOB is like and how it fits in the child’s hands, buy a set of 35 parts . Age: you can buy it for a 2 years old, but you will build it, and the child will just play with the result. At 3.5 years old, they will already be able to independently build simple objects – sticks, rings, snakes, people and objects that you had no idea about before the ZOOB :))) It is at this age of 3-3.5 years that you can purchase a small set for. Expect active independent construction at age 5. The Creators Kit is very good for this age. This set contains parts made of colored porous rubber. It will turn any eird craft into a cute animal, aand it will undoubtedly stimulate interest in further building. But keep in mind these soft parts break over time. At 7-9 years old, children usually build their own and complex things, without relying on instructions – this is the most creative age. At 12 years old some kids still are interested, some don’t 🙂 Many parents buy sets with wheels, especially for boys, but I don’t recommend starting with them. ZOOB is not a construction set that always requires wheels. You have to get used to the wheels, and they are movable. So it’s better to start with a colored one, and buy a set with wheels later, when you will get used to ZOOB, at about 5 years old 🙂 These sets are creative and unique, so I always aprove them 🙂
Tatiana, thank you very much for such a detailed answer. I think that I will still buy a set of 250 parts (the child is 3 years old, but our dad and I are big fans of building something) so that there is no war for the parts. And closer to 5 I’ll actually buy a creator kit. I thought about starting with it, but since these additional rubber elements are fragile, it’s better not to give it to the child yet. Thanks again!
For some time now, Zoob has been sold as one of the brands of the toy corporation Alex Toys. The company’s policy has changed… Turns out that now, unfortunately, they no longer replace the broken parts 🙁 However, there still are interesting series with a space theme – Galax-Z. Several sets from a small lunar rover to a large spaceship. The largest the set of this series – Zoobotron (409 parts) is simply fascinating. The construction series – Z-Strux – also deserves attention: it has bulldozer, crane, tractor and other construction equipment. Boys 4 and 5 years old liked the streamlined cabins and astronauts the most so far 🙂