Japan snatches the ball tracks away from us
26.9.2018
Translation: machine translated
In Japan, there has been a veritable run on Cuboro marble runs from Switzerland for the past year. This is also reflected in the availability of our products. What is behind this and how will the marble runs be available in the future?
In 1985, Matthias Etter, creator and designer of Cuboro, produced the first version of this marble run. Back then it was still called "Konstrito". I also had a Cuboro marble run as a child and played with it for hours. Over the years, Etter and his team have succeeded in making their products known across national and continental borders and constantly launching new extensions.
Why are the Japanese so keen on these marble runs now?
At the beginning of last year, the then 14-year-old Sota Fujii won the "shogi" chess championship in Japan. This made him the youngest professional of this Japanese variant of chess, which caused a stir throughout the country. To mark his victory, a Japanese television station made a documentary about him. He was asked what he played with as a young boy. His answer was Cuboro. Neurologists then discovered that Cuboro and "shogi" activate the same regions of the brain.
Here you can find the entire Cuboro range.
What does this have to do with availability on Galaxus?
As Cuboro's marble runs have been made by hand in a carpentry workshop in the canton of Bern for over 30 years, the quantities produced are limited. The manufacture of these wooden blocks requires the utmost precision and can only be produced by highly experienced carpenters. The hard beech wood from the Emmental and the precisely drilled holes also increase the production time. As a result, demand is higher than supply. This inevitably means that we in Switzerland also have fewer products on the shelves than before.
However, there is a ray of hope on the horizon. We recently received a delivery and are still endeavouring to be able to offer you these marble runs. Our buyers are doing everything they can to ensure that all Cuboro products are as available as possible for the upcoming Christmas season and that you can build great constructions like the ones below.
