When my son chose to purchase the Playmobil Rock Castle with the money he received for Christmas this year, I could see we were moving into a different area of interest. I decided to focus on more figures and playsets to go with the castle for his birthday.

One thing I saw which I thought would delight him was the Playmobil Knights Tournament. It’s reminiscent of a jousting tournament, and although my son has never seen something like that live, he did manage to find a lot of clever uses for the set.

Included in the box were two knights and horses. One is represented by the colors red, white, and blue. The horse with this one features a white head covering, black tail, and red saddle. The “blanket” which adorns him has a portrait of a horse on it, which is duplicated on the flag for this team. The knight is also adorned in these colors with brown metallic armor. He has one plain shield and one shield with the same portrait of the horse so there’s no mixing up the team’s armaments.

The other knight is represented by the colors of green, red, and white. His horse has a green head covering, white tail, and black saddle. The “blanket” on him is green with red crosses, and the flag is a green background with a red cross on it. The knight himself is trimmed in green and red with gray armor. He also has the one plain shield and a second one with the red cross on a green background.

There are a variety of armaments included in the Playmobil Knights Tournament. There are swords, axes, and lances available for the knights to use in their tournament. Each weapon is detailed and will fit in the knight’s curved hands. In addition, weaponry from other sets and figures in this line are interchangeable, making it easy to use across the board.

The weaponry has a storage place with a king’s shield on it, designed with blue and yellow. The previously mentioned flags go on poles with a second kings flag on top. This can be held by the knights as they race along the brown wall, also included.

All of the pieces are made of plastic and have a good attention to detail. The plastic has a little bit of give to it, making it difficult to break. At the same time, there is enough so that the items will pop from the knight’s hand rather than snap or possibly hurt someone. The detail really gives everything in the set an authentic feel to it. The items which are supposed to look like wood are brown and have lines etched in them to give the feel of a wood grain while the metal items are usually gray and smooth. Some here are lighter brown and smooth. The variety of weaponry is nice and with all the figures and sets he’s now acquired in this line from Playmobil, he overall has a very good selection of weaponry on hand for his knights.

Using this small weaponry is a good with developing my son’s fine motor skills, in particular his pincer grasp which has been of some concern. In addition, I like that this helps him to use his imagination when he plays, rather than sitting in front of the television taking in all that is fed to him over the airwaves. He has the knights battle each other, battle a king, and battle knights from other sets. Sometimes they even cross over and battle against the construction workers that came with those toys from Playmobil. This is why I really like this line of toys. There’s no set way to use them and each line is interchangeable, so his imagination can go wild.

It’s also a great toy for me to play with. He and I get together and I show him what a jousting tournament is like. I take one knight and he takes the other as they wield weaponry at each other and the crowds cheer them on. It’s quality time for the two of us as well as something of an education about a time he knows little about but seems to fascinate him.

There was minimal assembly with the Playmobil Knights Tournament. However, there are a lot of individual pieces which pretty quickly got mixed up with the other weaponry he has. This is fine as it’s all interchangeable. It’s also small enough to get lost fast or end up in the vacuum. Playmobil recommends this set for ages 4 and up, and if your child over that age is prone to putting things in his or her mouth, I would exercise caution.

The Playmobil Knights Tournament is available for $19.99 from the Playmobil Online Store. I found it to be a bit expensive, but worth it for the fact that I see this set enduring through to my grandchildren, unless the pieces are lost before then.


Other Playmobil toy reviews:

Playmobil Black Lion Leader ~ Playmobil Cannon Guard ~ Playmobil Captive Prince ~ Playmobil Dragon Attack Cannon ~ Playmobil Dragon Troops ~ Playmobil Evil Knight ~ Playmobil Fierce Knight Leader ~ Playmobil Gold Dragon Leader ~ Playmobil Knights Duel Advent Calendar ~ Playmobil Red Dragon ~ Playmobil Rock Castle ~ Playmobil Three Black Lion Knights ~ Playmobil Three Fierce Knights ~ Playmobil Three Gold Dragon Knights ~ Playmobil Treasure Transport ~ Playmobil Viking Boat

Playmobil Compactor ~ Playmobil Crane ~ Playmobil Dump Truck ~ Playmobil Excavator ~ Playmobil Forklift

Playmobil Small Zoo ~ Playmobil Safari Set


© 2006 Patti Aliventi


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): $19.99