There are plenty of other rave reviews out there to tell you that Plus-Plus is lots of fun, so I’m not going to write a review telling you that Plus-Plus is lots of fun. I’m just going to tell you what’s in this tub. My tub had more than the advertised 7,000 pieces: 7,130 by my count (and I did actually count them, since I bought the tub to divide up into smaller sets for gifts and I was trying to make the smaller sets as equal as possible). The package ships with the basic color mix pieces loose in the tub and the neon and pastel color mixes in separate sealed bags, so just in case you’re also planning to divide them up, it’s not too onerous a task. The basic color mix included 3,126 pieces in ten colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black, gray, and white. The pastel color mix included 2,010 pieces in six colors: pink, yellow, green, blue, purple, and white. The neon color mix included 1,994 pieces in six colors: magenta, orange, yellow (with a tinge of green, so arguably it’s chartreuse), green, blue, and “white” (actually a translucent frosted color, different from the opaque solid white in the other two mixes). Except for solid white, which is the same in both the basic and pastel mixes, all the shades of color in the three mixes are distinctly different from each other, so the tub contains 21 distinct colors. (But no, I did not count the number of pieces per color. I may not have much of a life, but I draw the line at sorting 7,130 Plus-Plus pieces into 21 color piles.) As for the tub itself, it’s so-so. It looks nice and is generously sized. The pieces don’t come close to filling the tub, so there’s plenty of room for several children to dig for the color they want without spilling pieces, and/or room to dump in all the smaller tubes of Plus-Plus you bought before yielding to your kids’ pleas to buy the big tub. However, one of the latches that hold the lid on came off the first time I opened the tub. I was able to pop it back on, but I suspect it’s only a matter of time before it breaks irreparably. The tub probably won’t hold up to any amount of rough use. So…lots of fun, open-ended play, plenty of colors, gazillions of pieces and more pieces than advertised. Why would I give this fantastic toy only three stars? In a word: price. As you’ve no doubt noticed if you’ve been shopping for more than two minutes, Plus-Plus is absurdly expensive. I understand that toys made in Denmark inevitably cost more than toys made in China, but what on earth are the Danes doing to these little hunks of plastic? Sprinkling them with diamond dust? Although I decided to splurge and buy Plus-Plus once, after I’ve used up this tub, I’m not sure I’ll buy it again. I’ll probably go back to a similar-ish toy I bought before, Color Quarks from S&S Worldwide (https://smile.amazon.com/Color-Quark-Pack-of-8000/dp/B00LNHSVCS). All else being equal, I’d pick Plus-Plus over Color Quarks every time. Color Quarks only come in one huge set, they’re no good for 3D building, and they have a much smaller (and in my opinion, less appealing) color assortment. But all else is not equal, because Color Quarks are half the price of Plus-Plus. As of the moment I’m writing this review, the tub of Plus-Plus works out to 2.6 cents per piece, while Color Quarks work out to 1.4 cents per piece. And Color Quarks work as well as Plus-Plus for 2D building and any kind of math activity: counting, sorting, patterning, whatever. On the whole, though, if you can stand the price of Plus-Plus, you'll probably be glad you got them.
