We were returning home from a beach vacation with a rather rude ending. I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s just say the owner of the beachfront property we were staying in told us we could stay another day. Well, a month prior she had promised another family they could arrive on that same day. Within minutes, we were packing our bags, forced to hit the road on the day we were initially planning to leave.
I also won’t bore you with additional details about how we had booked a hotel room in advance, before the vacation was extended an extra day. Then re-booked the same hotel for the following day to accomodate the extension. Or how I forgot to cancel the initial reservation within the refundable cancellation window. The only positive to us being suddenly removed from our temporary home meant the original, non-refundable reservation would get used, after all.
That also meant we were going to be staying two unplanned nights in the same hotel. With a six-year-old. We had to come up with some form of entertainment, and fast. Being cooped up in a full-sized area with a young child is bad enough; it’s even worse when the larger area of a house is reduced to just 300 square feet.
Thankfully, the hotel had an indoor pool. That could keep him occupied for a while, but would only last so long without added excitement. Well, we were also thankfully blessed with a Dollar Tree just five short minutes away from our temporary home. Minutes after entering, we walked out with a foam football (not great for water, but fine in an emergency), and this “Sticky Catch Play Set”.
These sets are a slight variation on the “velcro catch” sets that have always been a favorite of my wife and me. Instead of velcro, the “catching paddle” is made of a smooth, glass-like material that reminds me of an air hockey table’s surface. And the small, “hairy” tennis ball is replaced with a circular shaped collection of suction cups. I wasn’t sure if the paddle could withstand the pressure of water, but I knew the clear liquid generally made suction cups even stronger. So I figured we’d give it a shot nonetheless.
And, in the pool, this little set blew away our expectations. Well, for the most part.
Since our six-year-old was a part of this game, many of the throws to him were soft, and from a few feet away. His return throws were more errant, wildly varying in force; if you have kids, you’ll understand. To make things a little more entertaining (well, for us at least), I occasionally had my wife toss the ball to me from from further away. Some I even “had” to theatrically “lunge” for, diving into the water to make “exciting” grabs. In virtually all conditions, the little suction performed admirably well. Even our six-year-old – who isn’t into conventional sports much at all – was easily able to catch it more often than not. It also stayed affixed after being submerged underwater, helping to serve as “proof” of my over-the-top catches.
The potential drawback is that it doesn’t seem to perform as well on dry land. My son and I only played with it for a few minutes in our hotel room, but the suction didn’t seem to be as consistent. To be fair, most of the throws were in tight quarters (“basic” hotel rooms generally aren’t very spacious). It’s entirely possible this factored in, as greater force might increase the suction’s performance. Even with the space constraints though, the ball seemed to stick at least 80% of the time. (For the sake of comparison, I’d say the “success” rate in water was probably at least 90%.)
The paddles are a little smaller than the typical paddles in “velcro” catch sets, which didn’t surprise me, given the price. In fact, my hand pretty much took up the entire backside. But the 7” catchers still provide ample room to make highlight-reel snares for kids of virtually all ages and skill sets.
While the size is good enough, it’s the quality of the paddles that are the main negative. One of them kept falling apart, even with light use. It happened to be our son’s – maybe he was a little rougher on it than we were – but I didn’t notice any egregious violence directed at it. At one point, the elastic backing used to strap his hand in even came off. (Since the elastic is attached via staples on either side, which are typically hidden under the plastic piece that circles the entire border, re-attaching it was not only possible, but very easy.)
It could be theorized that the water played a role in this. That might be true. However, I must say these actually seem well-suited to be played in wet conditions. Even the product description claims it’s “perfect for pool parties” and “beach days”, which further insinuates they can be used in and/or around water. My paddle didn’t suffer such issues, and didn’t seem to be any worse for wear at the end of the day. It’s also entirely possible the weaker paddle was simply a quality control issue, which isn’t a rare phenomenon in dollar store products.
Durability questions aside, this little set easily surpassed our expectations. Even if it doesn’t last much longer, the fact it kept our son – who loses interest in most new things after about thirty seconds – occupied for over an hour easily made it feel like we got our $1.25 worth. Hell, the broken paddle alone provided some additional entertainment for us all, as he wore the plastic “border” on his head as he swam around the pool.
As corny as it sounds, these are the types of fleeting, stupid moments that you look back on with increased fondness as the years go by.
Overall: 6.5/10. My wife, six-year-old, and I played with this set for at least an hour in an indoor pool, and were mostly impressed with the results. Whether thrown lightly, or with more force, the “ball” easily adhered to the paddle’s surface, resulting in consistent catches for everyone. The suction even stays attached underwater, making diving, “highlight-reel” grabs a fun possibility. The biggest concern is durability: Our son’s paddle fell apart a few times, even though I never witnessed him being overly rough with it at all. He was unfazed, though, wearing the circular ring like a “hat” as he swam around the pool at one point. Fixing it was easy, as the plastic ring simply snaps back into place, but after a few times also become annoying. (If push came to shove, it could even be used without the ring, although the staples holding the elastic on could easily become a safety issue.) It might not last much longer than our initial hour-long pool session, but even if it doesn’t, we all feel like we got our $1.25 worth. And then some.
