Toy Review: Banzai Slip 'N Six Pins - Limited Entertainment Value

Are you looking for a summer gift that will help your children cool off during the heat of the late spring and summer season? Well then you should probably consider the Banzai Slip and Six Pins outdoor water slide toy for your kids. The Banzai Slip and Six Pins toy is similar to the old Slip and Slide toys that many of us had as children and loved. This Banzai Slip and Six Pins just takes it a step further as it introduces bowling to the fun of summer water slides on flat surfaces.

The Banzai Slip and Six Pins includes a plastic mat that your children slide out that is just over 20 feet long. It also includes six inflatable pins that can be inflated and then filled with water to weigh them down. The goal is for your child to take a running start towards the water coated sliding mat and sliding down the mat to knock down as many pins as they can when they play on the Banzai Slip and Six Pins Toy.

As a parent, I'm not really a fan of the Banzai Slip and Six Pins Toy as it takes quite a bit of work to set up for a water slide toy. There are eleven, yes eleven individual compartments that must be filled with water for this toy for your children. Of course these compartments can not be filled until the Banzai Slip and Six Pins is inflated which takes about 10-15 minutes on average despite the manufacturers claim of a shorter period of time.

My child and my nieces and nephews thought the toy was interesting, but didn't work quite as well as the manufacturer would like for you to believe. You must let the slide sit hooked up to your garden hose for about 10-15 minutes before it is wet enough to be used as a play toy. We also found that the slide was very thin and the children felt all the bumps from the ground below. Overall the slide never quite got wet enough for the children to slide fast along the surface as indicated in advertisements you see for the Banzai Slip and Six Pins Toy. Quite often they didn't reach the pins.

When the children did reach the pins, they enjoyed the fun of trying to knock them down with their legs, arms, and head. As far as cooling them down in the warm spring sun, the Banzai Slip and Six Pins toy didn't really accomplish this goal. Therefore, I can imagine in hotter summer weather it will be even less effective. The little fountains on the side seemed to quite often shoot water onto the grass instead of the slide itself.

Honestly, if you are looking for a toy to keep your children cool during the heat of the late spring and summer I can't recommend the Banzai Slip and Six Pins toy. It is ok as a novelty toy, but doesn't do what it claims to and starts to tear and have small punctures after just a few uses. You would do better with a sprinkler or water guns to entertain the kids.