Single review
Magformers Basic 62 Review
Reviewed from the manufacturer's published specifications and the arithmetic on them. We have not used it, and we say so.
By Sawyer V. · Published
The short answer
Magformers Basic 62 publishes 30 squares, 20 triangles and 12 pentagons, with neodymium magnets that rotate inside each frame so pieces “always attract,” naming CE, ASTM and EN71 compliance, rated 3+. The 12 pentagons are the reason to buy it and the reason it is not a tile set.
Block & Beaker earns a commission when you buy through our links, at no cost to you. It never changes a ranking, and we say so plainly when the right answer is the cheaper set, or nothing at all. Full disclosure · How we pick.
At a glance
The picks, ranked
Tap any row to jump to the full reasoning. Prices come live from Amazon where we have them and read “check price” where we don’t — never a number we cannot stand behind today.
| # | Product | Best for | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The product Magformers Basic 62-Piece Set Rotating magnets remove the wrong-pole frustration entirely, and pentagons enable domes nothing else here can build. | Three and up, for geometry rather than architecture | |
| 2 | The one most buyers actually want MAGNA-TILES Classic 100-Piece Set Solid faces make walls, roofs and rooms, with a published shape mix and a 3-99 age range. | Building places rather than shapes | |
| 3 | The one with the doors CONNETIX Rainbow Creative Pack, 100 Pieces Windows, doors and fences published as included, plus sealed-and-riveted construction. | A child who plays inside their buildings | |
| — | Not the same decision PicassoTiles 100 Piece Magnetic Tile Set Frequently compared on price with Magformers, and answering a different question. | Volume, on solid tiles |
4 picks, including 1 we tell you to skip. Ages shown are the manufacturer’s own rating, not ours.
What we can tell you, and what we cannot
We have not used this set. No lab, no samples, no test children, no star rating here or in the structured data behind the page.
We can report the published shape split, the magnet design and the named standards, and reason about what each enables. We cannot tell you how the frames survive being stood on.
The specification that decides it
The arithmetic
Magformers Basic 62, published
| Pieces | 62 |
|---|---|
| Squares | 30 |
| Triangles | 20 |
| Pentagons | 12 |
| Magnets | Neodymium, rotating inside the frame — pieces always attract |
| Standards named | CE, ASTM and EN71 |
| Stated age | 3+ |
| Consumables | None |
What the numbers mean in practice
Rotating magnets remove a whole class of frustration. This is the single best argument for Magformers at three years old. Nothing ever repels, so no piece is ever “broken.”
Pentagons are a genuine capability, not a bonus shape. Twelve pentagons close a sphere. That is a fact of geometry a child discovers by doing it, and no amount of squares and triangles substitutes.
62 pieces is a small set. Compared with 100-tile boxes this is noticeably less material, and it is the main practical limit. Frames also enclose less volume per piece than solid tiles, so builds get big fast and then stop.
Frames are see-through, which changes the play. A child building a house wants walls that hide the inside. A child building a molecule or a dome wants to see the structure. Know which child you have.
Worth knowing before you buy
Magformers names CE, ASTM and EN71 compliance, which is more than most competitors publish. The 3+ rating remains a small-parts floor set by that testing, and any frame with a cracked joint should be retired rather than repaired.
Who should skip it
Anyone searching for “magnetic tiles.” This is the most important line on the page. If the mental image is a house with a roof and a door, buy solid tiles. Frames will disappoint against that expectation no matter how good they are.
A household wanting one large construction set. At 62 pieces this is a supplementary purchase.
A child who already has 100 solid tiles. Frames do not extend a tile build — children keep them in separate piles. See which building sets work together.
Say the unwelcome thing
Do not buy this to extend a magnetic tile collection
Frames and solid tiles attract to each other and do not extend each other. One makes skeletons, the other makes walls, and what you have bought is a second small set rather than a larger first one.
Where it sits
Magformers is the head-to-head subject of Magna-Tiles vs Magformers and appears in the tiles roundup.
In full
Every pick, and what is wrong with it
Published specifications only, each linked back to the page it came from. Where a manufacturer publishes nothing, the row says so — we do not fill blanks in.
1. The product
Magformers Basic 62-Piece Set
Magformers · 63070 · maker rates it 3+
Rotating magnets remove the wrong-pole frustration entirely, and pentagons enable domes nothing else here can build.
- Pieces
- 62
- Shape mix
- 30 squares, 20 triangles, 12 pentagons
- Stated age
- 3+
- Magnets
- Neodymium rare-earth magnets that rotate inside the frame, so pieces “always attract”
Magformers publishes the exact mix — 30 squares, 20 triangles, 12 pentagons — and states the magnets are neodymium and rotate inside the frame so pieces always attract. It names CE, ASTM and EN71 compliance and states compatibility with all Magformers shapes and accessories.
The rotating magnet is a real piece of engineering rather than a marketing line. On a fixed-polarity toy, a three-year-old regularly picks up a piece the wrong way round, feels it push away, and concludes the toy is broken. Rotating magnets make that impossible.
The 12 pentagons are the other genuine differentiator. Squares and triangles build boxes and roofs. Pentagons close curved surfaces, which is how you get a dome or a ball — shapes that are simply unavailable in a square-and-triangle set.
Replay signal
- Open-ended or one-shot
- Open-ended, and the pentagons allow curved and domed builds that square-and-triangle sets cannot make
- Does anything run out
- Nothing runs out
- Room to grow
- Compatible with all Magformers shapes and accessories
Why we say so: Magformers publishes the 30/20/12 shape split, names CE, ASTM and EN71 compliance, and states compatibility with all Magformers shapes and accessories. The rotating magnets are a published design feature.
What’s wrong with it
Open frames make skeletons, not walls, so the houses a tile buyer imagines are not what this builds.
| Pieces | 62 |
|---|---|
| Shape mix | 30 squares, 20 triangles, 12 pentagons |
| Stated age | 3+ |
| Magnets | Neodymium rare-earth magnets that rotate inside the frame, so pieces “always attract” |
| Standards named | CE, ASTM and EN71 |
| Consumables | None |
Every figure above is from Magformers, Designer 62-piece set. Blanks are shown as “not published” rather than filled in.
2. The one most buyers actually want
MAGNA-TILES Classic 100-Piece Set
Magna-Tiles · 4300 · maker rates it 3-99 years
Solid faces make walls, roofs and rooms, with a published shape mix and a 3-99 age range.
- Pieces
- 100
- Shape mix
- 50 squares, 4 large squares, 20 equilateral triangles, 11 right triangles, 15 isosceles triangles
- Stated age
- “3-99 Years”
- Material
- “Food-grade, non-toxic MABS plastic that are free from BPAs, phthalates, and latex”
Magna-Tiles publishes 50 squares, 4 large squares and 46 assorted triangles, with magnets held by a lattice plus fastening rivets.
A solid face blocks light, makes a wall you cannot see through and a roof that reads as a roof. That is what most people picture when they search for magnetic tiles, and it is not what frames do.
Replay signal
- Open-ended or one-shot
- Open-ended — there is no finished state to reach
- Does anything run out
- Nothing runs out
- Room to grow
- Every set combines with every other Magna-Tiles set
Why we say so: Magna-Tiles publishes the full 100-piece shape breakdown, lists no consumable parts, and states that “all pieces are compatible with and complementary to all other MAGNA-TILES sets.”
What’s wrong with it
No pentagons, so no domes.
| Pieces | 100 |
|---|---|
| Shape mix | 50 squares, 4 large squares, 20 equilateral triangles, 11 right triangles, 15 isosceles triangles |
| Stated age | “3-99 Years” |
| Material | “Food-grade, non-toxic MABS plastic that are free from BPAs, phthalates, and latex” |
| Magnet retention | Signature lattice plus “fastening rivets keep magnets safe and secure” |
| Consumables | None |
Every figure above is from Magna-Tiles, Classic 100-Piece Set. Blanks are shown as “not published” rather than filled in.
3. The one with the doors
CONNETIX Rainbow Creative Pack, 100 Pieces
Connetix · Rainbow Creative Pack 100 pc · maker rates it 3+
Windows, doors and fences published as included, plus sealed-and-riveted construction.
- Pieces
- 100
- Stated age
- “Recommended for builders aged 3+”
- Material
- “non-toxic, BPA and phthalate-free ABS plastic”
- Construction
- “ultrasonically sealed and riveted for extra safety”
Connetix publishes windows, doors, fences and a travel bag, with tiles ultrasonically sealed and riveted, rated 3+.
If the appeal of Magformers is that it is different, the appeal of Connetix is that it is more of what tiles already do well.
Replay signal
- Open-ended or one-shot
- Open-ended, and the window, door and fence pieces push play toward buildings rather than abstract towers
- Does anything run out
- Nothing runs out
- Room to grow
- Connetix publishes ball-run and expansion packs that attach to the same tiles
Why we say so: Connetix publishes the age rating, the material and the ultrasonic-seal-plus-rivet construction, and sells ball-run packs built for the same tiles.
What’s wrong with it
No pentagons either, and no published shape mix.
| Pieces | 100 |
|---|---|
| Stated age | “Recommended for builders aged 3+” |
| Material | “non-toxic, BPA and phthalate-free ABS plastic” |
| Construction | “ultrasonically sealed and riveted for extra safety” |
| Includes | Window and door pieces, fences, and a travel bag |
| Consumables | None |
Every figure above is from Connetix, Rainbow Creative Pack 100 pc. Blanks are shown as “not published” rather than filled in.
Skip this one
PicassoTiles 100 Piece Magnetic Tile Set
PicassoTiles · PT100 · maker rates it 3+
Frequently compared on price with Magformers, and answering a different question.
- Pieces
- 100
- Stated age
- 3 and up
- Material
- Non-toxic ABS plastic, BPA-free, with a smooth surface and rounded edges
- Shape breakdown
- Not published by the manufacturer
PicassoTiles publishes 100 pieces of non-toxic BPA-free ABS rated 3+, with no shape breakdown and no cross-brand claim.
Comparing it with Magformers on price is comparing a volume purchase with a geometry purchase. If the household wants more solid tiles, this is the cheaper answer. If it wants domes and rotating magnets, it is not an answer at all.
Replay signal
- Open-ended or one-shot
- Open-ended — the same build-anything format
- Does anything run out
- Nothing runs out
- Room to grow
- PicassoTiles publishes a large expansion-pack range in the same 3-inch format
Why we say so: PicassoTiles states the ages 3+ rating, the non-toxic BPA-free ABS with rounded edges, and sells a dedicated expansion range. It publishes no shape breakdown and makes no cross-brand compatibility claim, so we do not make one on its behalf.
What’s wrong with it
Publishes neither a shape breakdown nor a compatibility claim.
| Pieces | 100 |
|---|---|
| Stated age | 3 and up |
| Material | Non-toxic ABS plastic, BPA-free, with a smooth surface and rounded edges |
| Shape breakdown | Not published by the manufacturer |
| Cross-brand compatibility | Not published — PicassoTiles makes no compatibility claim |
| Consumables | None |
Every figure above is from PicassoTiles, magnetic building tiles. Blanks are shown as “not published” rather than filled in.
We are not putting a buy button on this one. It is easy enough to find if you want it anyway — but we would rather send you to something that gets played with twice.
Questions people actually ask
Frequently asked
Are Magformers the same as magnetic tiles?
No. Magformers pieces are open frames with rotating neodymium magnets; magnetic tiles have solid faces. Frames build skeletons and geometric solids, tiles build walls, roofs and rooms. They attract to each other but they do not extend each other's builds. The full head-to-head.
What makes Magformers magnets different?
Magformers publishes that the neodymium magnets rotate inside the frame, so pieces always attract and never repel. On a fixed-polarity toy a young child regularly picks up a piece the wrong way round and concludes it is broken — rotating magnets make that impossible.
What can you build with Magformers pentagons?
Curved and domed structures. Squares and triangles build boxes and pitched roofs; pentagons close a curved surface, which is how you get a dome or a ball. The Basic 62 set publishes 12 of them, and they are the capability nothing in a square-and-triangle set can match.
Is 62 pieces enough for Magformers?
It is a small set, and frames enclose less volume per piece than solid tiles, so builds get large quickly and then stop. Treat it as a supplementary geometry purchase rather than a household's main construction set.
Sources
Where these figures came from
Every specification on this page traces to one of these. If a manufacturer publishes nothing on a point, the page says so rather than filling the gap.
Read next
Where to go from here
Back to Reviews, or read how we pick.