GMTRCPLY - GeoMeTRiCPLaY - Magnetic Sticks

 Magnetic Sticks 

Note: Work in progress, more brands and details will be added step by step.

 Desktop Sets   ·   Floor Play   · 

Desktop Sets

Geomag Sets

Geomag has countless sets with different themes. This is a summary of how to get certain colors.

There is a Rainbow palette of twelve colors, where six colors can be considered "standard" colors. In addition to that, there are steel blue and pink, plus black, white, grey and clear/silver. Then there are certain special molds with translucent colors or glitter, plus a glow in the dark type. In total, there are about 30 different variants available.

Brand	Type	Set Size	Sticks	Balls	Notes
Geomag	Masterbox	248pc	144	104	Available in eight colors, plus black and white
Geomag	Masterbox Compact	192pc	120	72	Available in eight colors, plus a glow in the dark set, and assorted glitter colors
Geomag	Pink #344	104pc	36	28	36 Sticks Pink
Geomag	Magnetic Motion #762	146pc	38	44	38 Sticks Steel Blue
Geomag	NASA Rocket #810	84pc	30	19	6 Sticks Grey, plus 12 blue, 12 red
Geomag	Rainbow #370	32pc	12	9	One stick of each color, plus 11 different panels of selected colors
Geomag	Rainbow #371	72pc	24	24	Two sticks of each color, plus 24 different panels across the full color range

Goobi Sets

Goobi mainly offers different sized sets with seven assorted colors, plus one set with black and white elements, which seems to be discontinued now.

Brand	Type	Set Size	Sticks	Balls	Tripods	Notes
Goobi	Color	40pc	21	12	7	3 sticks of each color
Goobi	Color	110pc	56	33	21	8 sticks of each color
Goobi	Color	180pc	84	61	35	12 sticks of each color
Goobi	Color	300pc	140	90	70	20 sticks of each color
Goobi	Black and White	110pc	56	33	21	28 sticks of each color

Floor Play Sets

Goobi Juniors Sets

Please note that Goobi changed the physical size for the Juniors sets. Old sets had 144mm sticks with 60mm balls, new sets have 130mm sticks with 53mm balls. The old 144mm sticks cannot be used with the new ball size, the minimum ball diameter for the old sticks is about 56mm.

Brand	Type	Set Size	Balls	Sticks	Notes
Goobi	Juniors	40pc	16	24	Sticks and Balls in red, green, blue, yellow
Goobi	Juniors	20pc	8	12	Sticks and Balls in red, green, blue, yellow

The Goobi sets are excellent for geometric builds. Only long sticks and balls, strong magnets, no extra pieces.

Nexus Sets

There seems to be only a single set Nexus Magne Sticks 863052 avaiable. This set is also marketed as Eduplay Magnet Jumbo Sticks 120540.

However, there are at least two different production batches. The sticks of current sets have one unique pattern per color, previous sets did not have this strict pattern assignment. The sticks from the older batche have "KEBOTOYS" lettering in the recessed areas, while the sticks from the current batch have no lettering in the recessed area.

Brand	Type	Set Size	Balls	Medium Sticks	Short Sticks	Curved Sticks	Notes
Nexus	Magne Sticks	52pc	12	20	4	8	Sticks and Balls in red, green, blue, yellow; plus 4 Half-Balls and 4 Eyes

With twenty medium sticks per set, you only need two sets to get enough to build different geometric models. With only four short sticks per set, these have no real use for geometric purposes. Three sets contain just enough short sticks to build an Octahedron.

Magplayer Stick Sets

Magplayer are the only sets of this size with good magnetic strength.

Brand	Type	Set Size	Balls	Long Sticks	Medium Sticks	Curved Sticks	Notes
Magplayer	Stick	26pc	7	4	6	2
Magplayer	Stick	48pc	11	8	10	4
Magplayer	Stick	78pc	17	10	22	6
Magplayer	Stick	103pc	23	16	26	8

The Magplayer sets allow acute angles, even a pyramid of long sticks on a triangle of medium length sticks.

Magformers Stick-O Sets

The Stick-O series is mainly intended for entertainment. The set listed here is already the most geometric biased one.

Brand	Type	Set Size	Balls	Long Sticks	Medium Sticks	Curved Sticks	Notes
Magformers	Stick-O	30pc	6	2	8	4

With only two long and eight medium lenghth sticks per 50-Euro-Set, Stick-O are not suitable for geometric use.

SmartMax Sets

SmartMax offers many different sets with different focus. The sets listed here are examples for geometric use with a good price/value ratio.

Older sets had metallic silver balls and six colors for the sticks, new sets have white balls and nine colors for the sticks.

Warm Colors: Red, Yellow, Orange, Pink^*.
Cold Colors: Blue, Green, Purple, Light Blue^*, Lime^*.
( recently added colors marked with * )

Brand	Type	Set Size	Balls	Long Sticks	Medium Sticks	Curved Sticks	Notes
SmartMax	Build & Learn (SMX908)	100pc	26	18	48	8
SmartMax	Build XXL (SMX907)	70pc	20	12	38	-
SmartMax	Start XL (SMX501)	42pc	12	12	18	-
SmartMax	SMX104	12pc	-	6	-	-	Supplementary set: Long sticks; Out of production?
SmartMax	SMX105	12pc	-	6	6	-	Supplementary set: Long and medium sticks

If you mainly want to get straight sticks, the 70-piece "Build XXL" is the best option. To add some more long and medium sticks, you can add one or two supplementary sets.

SmartMax is the only brand where you can get enough long and medium sticks to be suitable for larger geometric builds. However, the concept of monopolar sticks divided into warm and cold colors restricts the choice of colors for the builds.

Old sets contained a balanced amount of three cold and three warm colors. Recent sets come with nine colors containing an unbalanced amount of more cold than warm colored sticks.