Both boys were ecstatic when Trick Tracks from Hot Wheels arrived thanks to the Parent Bloggers Network. They received two separate packages on different days, so the enthusiasm was doubly-exciting.

First they got the Triple Stunt Starter Set. A few days later, they received the Power Loop.

Both package-arrival days, the boys crowded around me as I opened the box. They tried sticking things together before I had a chance to unfold the instructions. But as it turns out, I should have just let my eldest go at it on his own. My attempts to set up the stunts ended up incorrect; but my seven-year old figured it out fine. It was like a bad movie where the lead character keeps repeating the same error:

- The first Hot Wheels package arrives and I was ready to cry because I didn't get it right. Eldest saves the day.

- The second Hot Wheels package arrives and I was ready to cry because I didn't get it right. Eldest saves the day.

Why I was incapable of sticking together the little plastic bits? I don't know. I stuck something in slot A that should have been slot B, but I swear I couldn't tell from the illustrations. I think my son was doing it in a logical fashion, which makes more sense than trying to decipher drawings. (Of course, my son's version matched the drawings exactly.)

The track is plastic, as are the various connectors. The track is pretty slick, which means it can be difficult to snap together some of the junctions, especially since the little plastic buttons have the potential to have a little "spillover" from the mold from which they were created. I would have appreciated metal snaps or something else a bit more secure than plastic-on-plastic for some of the pieces; but, the truth is that even with one loose side (we couldn't "snap" it in,) the trick still worked well.

Similarly, I didn't quite understand how everything was supposed to work. The instructions read, "All green buttons are launch buttons. Red buttons are reset buttons."

There are no red buttons. Or at least I don't know what the red buttons are.

There are some green buttons (which means "a dual-lever on which there is a green circle," not an actual button,) but from what my boys figured out, the surest way to launch is to slam a car into a blue-gray cone-shaped thing that serves as the end of one stunt and the beginning of another. If done properly, the car ending one stunt will trigger the next. This means you must have more than just the single car that comes with the Trick Tracks.

I was also a bit confused about the enclosed rubber-bands. While I figured out the most obvious one (which triggers a loop-d-loop,) there was another one that I simply couldn't figure out from the drawings. I think the other bands were extras in case of snapping.

My boys were able to get the majority of the stunts to work properly, no thanks to my confusion. Even though I think there are some other actions that can be performed with the set-up we have, the boys are extremely happy with the combinations they've devised.

View the video below to see the glee:

Once the Trick Tracks are set up, one must either have a very large storage space, or one must dismantle the various loops. I used a large storage container so that we could store both the Triple Stunt Starter Set and the Power Loop together along with the instruction sheets, extra rubber bands, and the cars.

As I find them, I'll add the boys' existing Hot Wheels cars to the box so that everything will be organized. It is unlikely that customers will want to dismantle the whole set to the point where it may fit back in its original box, but sticking the Trick Track in an existing train-table or large bin with toy cars works.

The boys continue to take out the box of Trick Tracks even though they weren't big car-guys before these Hot Wheels products arrived. They've added in their own little touches, like paper canopies that go over the track, or elephants onto which the cars can leap when released from the Power Loop. These toys certainly have the potential for creative combinations and additions.

Both both the Triple Stunt Starter Set and the Power Loop can be found at Amazon - plus I'd recommend getting a bunch of cars so the stunts can continue domino-style or when the cars get shot into the air, over an elephant, and slide under the couch.