Let's get the most important thing out-of-the-way, despite the name, this is not a kit which enables children to build their own working pinballs machines. I think many who buy it will be disappointed to learn that there isn’t even a ball in the package! It is, instead, an electronics kit that lets kids build circuits that emulate the sounds made by some pinball machines. In short, it is an electronic noisemaker.
Most of the electronic kits I've tested this year have followed the littleBits model of using components linked to gather by magnets. However, Uncle Milton's circuit pinball uses an entirely different approach that is best suited for older school-age kids interested in how circuits work. Tiles fit into a grid, and are then "activated" by plugging in connector pegs to link the components into circuits. So, like the LittleBits sets, this one is solderless. That is the good news.
But, comparisons to LittleBits mostly reveal this set's limitations. First, the instructions are on a single, black and white sheet of paper, rendered in very tiny lettering and rather dense blocks of text. On the one hand, the set does explain what the various components do (something that LittleBits and other kit makers sometimes scrimp on). However, unlike the competitors, this set's "manual" is uninviting and even daunting to adults and kids alike. Where LittleBits uses typography, design, and color to engage, Uncle Milton's approach a throwback to another age, and not in a good way.
The kit has a significant design flaw in that some of the circuits use components that are inside, underneath the tiles, and inaccessible and invisible to the user. As a result, some circuits don't visually connect as clearly as they would in sets where everything is visible to the user. Even more confusing, the numerous points on the edge of the tile board where connection is made to the internal components don't have a schematic to show how they are connected, leaving experimenters without a necessary bit of information to design their own creations.
These unforced design errors are unfortunate as the noisy projects in the kit would appeal to many tweens.
