Thomas & Friends Steam Team Station for iPad, Tablet Game, App-Assisted Games & Interactive Play with iPad, 4+ Years, 36+ Months

This product was purchased as a gift for my daughter's fifth birthday at a friend’s suggestion. The game is a physical add on to an iPad app and requires the player to find the required train card and insert it into a slot to move on to the next step in the game. My daughter seems to enjoy playing with it, but I don't see a lot of repeat play coming up when she's finished with the games. It definitely seems like it's more appropriate for a younger child, but at the same time I'm not a big fan of electronic gadgets for 3 year olds. One game involves taking the train cars (all characters from the show) and placing them 10 giant steps away. Then the station calls out "go get Thomas" and the child has to go seek out that card and bring it back and plug it into the station in a certain amount of time. So it's requiring them to get up and move, which is good. But, the issue here is, unless your child is a Thomas fanatic and has all the train faces memorized, they need to be able to read to know which card is which. So an adult ends up having to play (defeating the purpose of most iPad usage--which is to distract your child while you get something else done). It would also be nice if the games were multiplayer. There is a big difference between YOU telling your kids to take turns, and the game actually calling them player one and player two. So, the GOOD: adds physical interaction to an iPad game and is a cute idea if you're a HUGE Thomas fan The NOT SO GOOD: limited games that are single player only, and they don’t seem to change them up at all. The train relay game calls the trains out in the same order each time. The BAD: This game costs over $30 and with the “free” app that you download you only get two games. There is a third locked game and it costs money to play it. For $30 plus dollars it should come with MORE than 3 games, for multiple players, and they shouldn’t cost anything extra.

The toy doesn't work anymore, because the app doesn't exist. I had to return it, which was thankfully easy. It's shame because my son would have loved it.

I got this set on sale and was very worried that meant that this toy wasn't very good. But my son has actually had a lot of fun using the Steam Team Station. He loves running around, scattering the cartridges, racing the characters and playing the games. I like it, because it actually gets kids moving, and not just passively staring at a screen. A great way to mix things up for Thomas fans.

My 2 boys love this game! They run all over the house to get the cards to put it in the dock. It's kind of expensive for really only having 2 games but of course they sell more games through the app. All in all, I'm glad I bought this because the boys really love it!

The product is very basic and probably more suited for the three year old versus the five year old. My son is five and was done with it after playing with it once.

(1) No instructions included to enable microphone for the toy to communicate with iPad. (2) Trying to remove the card from the slot makes the whole toy and iPad lift up off the table. (3) does not work well with iPad's protective shells with smart covers.

This a great interactive tool for kids, however, there is a problem with the Thomas card it is not clicking properly. Waiting to return content.

Should have read the reviews. Bought this for my son this year for Christmas and the app not there anymore to download. Looks like all the company's that are selling them would quit trying to make a dollar. Useless product.