Playmobil: Pharaoh's Pyramid

Today, we’re taking our first look at the History line with the Pharaoh’s Pyramid set. I first saw this huge set at last year’s Toy Fair, and it’s fair to say that it made an impression. Even when sharing the same exhibit space with the Ghostbusters and How to Train Your Dragon sets, the pyramid was a standout.

Right now, the History line is focused on Ancient Egypt (with a dash of Roman Empire). There are a number of other sets, but highlights include a tomb raiders’ camp, a Roman warriors’ ship, Caesar and Cleopatra, and a Roman chariot. Future releases (indicated on the Playmobil website) include the Sphinx an Egyptian house. So it’ll be interesting to see where the History line goes.

Specs:

Product Number: 5386
Number of Pieces: 120 pieces
Number of figures: 3 adults (all male); 1 skeleton and wrapped mummy

Ease of Build:

On a scale of 1-5, the pyramid comes in at about a 4. It’s not incredibly difficult, but it is time consuming with a lot of pieces and stickers. Interestingly, the back of the box even comes with a warning: “Important for Parents: Time required for assembly about 90 minutes.” We’d never seen a disclaimer like this on another Playmobil box, so we were prepared for the worst. That estimate was about on target, though. And it’s nice to see this mentioned on the box. I hope they add it to more of the bigger sets.

Coolest Features:

The sides of the pyramid don’t snap into place. They easily come off so you can access “secret” rooms and more of the interior.
There are two trap doors that lead to hidden dungeons.
In one of those hidden dungeons is a rotating wall with a mummy on one side.
The sarcophagus acts like a Russian nesting doll. Open it up, and there’s a mummy inside. Open up the mummy, and there’s a skeleton!
Sliding brick walls reveal a treasure room at the bottom of the pyramid.
Oodles of gold and treasure, and lots of neat accessories such as oil lamps, spiders, a snake, and a statue of Anubis.

Playability:

Tons. My kids love the bigger sets that have a lot of interactivity, and the Pharaoh’s Pyramid delivers. The hidden rooms, sliding doors, trap doors, and other interactive features make this one terrifically fun. Plus, the ancient Egypt theme means there are a lot of unique pieces and figures that we haven’t seen in other sets.

It’s a big set, but when assembled, it’s fairly sturdy. Some sets crumble to pieces if you try to move them, but the pyramid is pretty solid. So it won’t fall apart if you need to move it between rooms or from a table to the floor.

Kid Verdict:

Two enthusiastic thumbs up. They’ve already got some of the smaller History sets on their want list.

I feel like a broken record at this point, but the gender breakdown in the figures leaves a lot to be desired. If you read this column, you know that gender representation is hardly an issue unique to this set. But three figures and all of them are male? What does it take to get female figures??