When I was a kid, once summer arrived we were outside everyday from dawn until dark. On the occasional rainy day, one of our favorite things to do was play with Lego’s. We didn’t have all these fancy gears, custom curvy pieces and twenty kinds of rubber tires. We had squares and rectangles and a couple of big green flat pieces. Over the years all the blocks were mixed into a small suitcase and we built a lot of stuff.
We had two basic contests: build the tallest tower or span the widest gap with a bridge. The only rule was that every brick in the suitcase had to be used.
At some point, we acquired some Lock Blocks. These were not “file compatible” with Lego’s. They had the same footprint, but the studs were taller. You couldn’t usefully mix them with the Lego’s. I think we had an over night case for the Lock Blocks. It seems my youngest brother always got stuck with those any time there was a contest.
Now there are Mega Bloks. These are the exact same size as Lego’s and can be used interchangeably. But Mega Bloks aren’t as nice as Lego’s. They aren’t as shiny. They don’t seem to fit as tight and they bend more–important properties when you are building a bridge. On the other hand, Mega Bloks are a lot cheaper so you can build a taller tower for less money.
Today we had our first rainy-day-bridge-contest of the summer. The goal was to span a two foot gap and hold as much weight as possible. The contest was won by a third grader using Mega Bloks that bent, but stayed together. The stiffer Lego’s did come apart under heavy weight.
I created the picture above using Lego Digital Designer. It’s a free download. Using the software you can use any piece that is made by Lego (763 different bricks) to create anything you can dream up. If you really like what you’ve made, Lego will put all the pieces in a package and send them to you. They charge by the brick. My Golden Gate replica would cost $146.08 if I were to order it.
Aside from those black flat pieces, I used only square and rectangle pieces. I’m still “old school” when it comes to Lego’s.
