Matchbox playsets from the Action Drivers line

Space, age and what Matchbox playsets need

The subjects run wider than a street. There is a police traffic center with a Ford Interceptor, a transforming excavator that opens out into a construction site, a farm set with a tractor and trailer, a car wash with a Corvette and a tow truck, an animal rescue pack with safari vehicles and figures, and three Hitch & Haul boxes — a boat and a bear, a rodeo round-up, a hazmat fire rescue truck. Between them they cover most of the play patterns children invent on their own. There is no fuel station and no taxi stand in the current range, and the epic fold-out town sets belong to the brand's history rather than to this month's shelf.

Age marks matter here more than anywhere else in the case. Most playsets are marked three years old and up because of small parts, and a figure or an accessory the size of a thumbnail is exactly what the mark is about. We print the information the packaging carries rather than our own judgment, and where a set is sold in the United States with a different mark than elsewhere we quote the box in front of us.

Larger playsets fold or come apart for storage. We note the headline feature on each card — what moves, what comes in the box, and how realistic the set behaves once a car is on it.

Why these playsets stay out of the closet

• Every set arrives with at least one 1:64 scale vehicle, so nothing waits on a second purchase.
• Ramps and connectors line up across the Action Drivers line — sets join into one layout.
• Moving parts are mechanical, not battery-dependent, on most of the range.
• Sized for a floor or a table rather than a dedicated room.
• Sold by ordinary retailers, so a missing piece is usually replaceable with another set.

Words that come up in this tray

• Action Drivers — The named playset line. Shared connectors, kid-powered mechanisms, a vehicle in every box.
• Traffic center — A set built around a junction rather than a building. The police one ships with a Ford Interceptor.
• Spinner — The hand-cranked drum in the car wash set. Kid-powered, like almost every mechanism in this line.
• Hitch & Haul — A six-piece format: a towing vehicle, a trailer and a load. The three current boxes are a boat, a rodeo round-up and a fire rescue.
• Connector — The standard track end. It is what lets an auto shop, a wash and a station become one layout.
• Figure — A small plastic person or animal included with some sets. The part that sets the age mark.
• Playmat — A printed paper or card sheet with roads on it, folded into some boxes as a free surface to drive on.