Michael Silverman

For CTIN-541 I'm analyzing the formal elements of LEGO. This should be an interesting project.

As I sit here with a few lego creations scattered around my desk I've been pondering perhaps the most ingenious part of their design. When your legos are floating about they are attractive to play with. Putting them away, however, is somewhat unpleasant. These little things are all over the place. (Don't worry I haven't lost any.)

The game doesn't force you to play, but it encourages you to leave the game in its most playable state. Was this by design?

A friend offered a counter point that I hope he won't mind me posting. He incorporated the process of cleaning up his legos into the play. As his models "died" he put them away until the battle royal winner was finally also stored.

I wonder if anyone else has had that kind of experience with legos?

After talking to friends and family about legos I've dug up some more resources on the internet. First, there's a lego set repository:

The link image is the set I spent most of my time with as a kid. I hope I still have it somewhere.

Also, I've been directed to some building systems similar to lego. There's "American Plastic Bricks:"

I never got to play with American Plastic Bricks but I'm told they had a "snap" when connected that was much nicer than the lego counterpart. And finally there's Girders and Panels:

I actually have a faint memory of having something like girders and panels.

My favorite resource is one I found while looking for the height to width ratio of a lego block. (The ratio is 6 to 5) Its a book called The Unofficial LEGO Builders Guide. It is essentially a reference text about how to play with legos. It even explains how to make lego building tools out of legos. I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a copy at some point.

There's a good deal of fun to be had with this kind of toy even without a way to win, high score, or shooting people. Thinking about the formal elements of LEGO is an interesting project indeed.