The Economics of LEGO
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ธ.ค. 2020
- The first 1000 people to use this link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/polymatter12201
Watch this video ad-free on Nebula: nebula.tv/videos/polymatter-t...
Sources: pastebin.com/3x4tqD9E
Twitter: / polymatters
Patreon: / polymatter
Pins & T-Shirts: standard.tv/collections/polym...
Reddit: / polymatter
Music by Graham Haerther (www.Haerther.net)
Audio editing by Eric Schneider
Motion graphics by Vincent de Langen
Everything else by Evan
This includes a paid sponsorship which had no part in the writing, editing, or production of the rest of the video.
Music by Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com
Video supplied by Getty Images
Like a wise man said: Steal a man's wallet and he'll be poor for a month. Introduce him to LEGO and he'll be poor for the rest of his life..
Lego: crack is cheaper
jokes on you I am poor regardless of where my wallet is.
Can't wait to get a job to start buying LEGO
I double checked. This quote is 100% accurate.
"No honey it is not as expensive as you think!"
You mean economy of Denmark
You mean the economy of Bricksburg.
HELLO!!! I want to spend time with celebrities. Just kidding. GAGAGAGAGA! I only want to spend time with my two girlfriends and record TH-cam videos for with the 3 of us. OH YEAH. Don't hate me for living the best life, dear rj
LEGO is a large company, earning 6 billion $ in revenue every year. But still it's not even in the top 10 largest companies nationally. In fact, it's number 13.
@@Tartar What Company is larger than LEGO? Playmobil? K’nex? Mega Bloks?
@@AxxLAfriku bruh why even exist anymore as a channel if ur like this
As a child that grew up in the early 2000’s, hearing that LEGO almost went bankrupt in 2003 is horrifying thought. Bionicle and various other LEGO brands were such a large part of that. Great video!
I made my first and longest friendship at age 5 because one of us said "do you like bionicle?"
it was a pretty good time to be a kid.
They treated bionicle horrible
@@citrusquest623 Still have my bionicles from 2004-2005 up in my room. Crazy they are over 15 years, like them a lot
Yeah. I was born in early 2002 and got introduced to Lego when I was 6. Lego Bionicle, Star Wars, and eventually Batman were a huge part of my childhood. Scary to think that the company almost failed right after I was born.
@@TheDragonfriday Yeah, Bionicle's parts from 2006-2010 were terrible quality-wise if only the parts didn't shatter. Yet the parts from 2001-2005 are still in good condition, though friction has been lost.
They just gotta stop building full rescue helicopters each time a man falls into a river in lego City
HEY!
Finally somebody referenced the meme in the comment section. The internet made me proud today. 😁
LEGO city is crippled by debt
I'm always amazed at how tight the tolerances are. I've used Lego in engineering projects, because they're way more accurately manufactured than I could ever dream to do myself. Lego bricks and parts are an engineer's wet dream.
Lego technic does that so well, it is a joy to play with.
Mindstorms!
Agreed. I have a 3d printer that wishes that it could create things that are as consistent as Lego bricks
Every time 3D printers become more accurate, a toy company board member gets a heart attack!
@@GyroCannon That's because of the manufacturing process. And that's exactly why we don't use 3d printing for a lot of projects. As a mechanical engineer for mass production of metal part we mostly use stamping, forging and molding.
Cells: “We are the building blocks of life.”
LEGO Bricks: *”Allow us to introduce ourselves.”*
I think you mean cells
Edit: nice
@@flintleviathan5075 I just edited my comment. Thank you!
Lol
666 likes
@@marcelocalucho1756 1 👍‼
Lego, or as it's known to toddlers, food.
🤣
Yeah but babies put anything & all things into their mouth ;)
@Scott then the kids would think any lego is edible...
@@imrannajmi12
Lego Restaurant, though.
LMFAO SIDDHAYAK HI HELLO
“An average of 80 Lego brick per person...”
Me with my collection of over 100k bricks that I used to build a fourteen-story tower with an elevator: **nervously sweating**
Me with my 1969 part lego saturn V
Gotta flex that cash
With legos
Any videos of that ? Would love to see how it looks like & works
@@user-hq3lh4qo1l good question
Rightio trump, no need to lie
Toddlers: "Food"
Grown ups: "Landmines"
Lol
well engineered landmines
It's also important to note Bionicle, along with being unique and appealing to older kids, was more affordable than most lego sets. One character was usually 10$ USD, some 5$, with later on a few crazier complex ones, including ones with traditional legos. Probably became overwhelming for parents as some kids lost interest in Bionicles.
If you see a price tag that reads "10$" it must be a (probably Chinese) knockoff, so don't buy it. What is it with TH-cam and Reddit comments that has people writing the dollar sign after the number, which even if you didn't learn it properly in school, is not what you see around you on every pricetag, invoice, bank statement, and even the money itself. So how did this infuriating meme come to be?
@@JohnDlugosz
when you say $10, it comes out as "ten dollars (10 $)". so really I just think people are typing fast and decide to put the dollar sign as they think it, after the 10. additionally, some people might have been used to it depending on where they grew up.
@@JohnDlugosz Well, I'm from Poland and didn't even know you write $ first. Also it sounds wrong when you read it (at least to me)
10$ - ten dollars
$10 - dollar ten
@@JohnDlugosz it must be interesting to live in a world, where everybody lives in the USA and pays their bills in dollars.... For many other countries, you write the sign after the number, "10€" etc
@@JohnDlugosz What can I say, I don't think it matters all that much, but that's just my cents two
Forgot to mention that Lego literally built an entire airport next to its headquarter and factory, which is now the 2nd largest International airport in Denmark.
That's pretty damn crazy actually
@@jimpanrooney eeeh, honestly it made sense to put an airport there, its in the central part of the Jutland Pennisula, close to major highways and motorways, the biggest one is literally in the other end of the country on an island, that you're easily a 5-6 hour drive away from it!
@@Elenrai Putting it in that general part of the country was to be expected, but Lego is definitely the reason it is in Billund instead of somewhere along the E45.
PC Building is Like Lego Building, Costs about the same too.
I wish.
@@IthorBricks wdym, Lego is sooo expensive dude
@@Splinter-ge9pf what lego is not expensive
@@STAR7827 yes it is, in Poland we have these small sets with like 60 bricks for 80 pln (~20$)
@@STAR7827 Lego is expensive, but not remotely as PC parts. Also, some sets are much worse value kinda like buying a 2080 super for 800 dollars right now.
Well done, but failing to mention the Lego “Ideas” concept was a serious miss. Lego brilliantly invests in the Lego community, developing superfans that purchase 10x more Lego than their typical customer.
It’s like a license to print money
I just finished the Voltron set so I’m pretty biased 😅
Not to mention Lego Mindstorms/Robotics, an entirely brand new way to use Lego, with electricals, compute modules, sensors, etc.
Who design sets for them
I'm a fan of that concept, maybe because the Saturn V is my favorite set that I've built
This is an interesting point actually. But I guess that maybe they are not a significant part of their revenue
I think this vid kinda overstates how important licensed movie themes are, and glosses over ninjago, City, Modular, or Creator Expert, which are all amazing themes in their own right.
I remember in the 1990's there were generic pirate and castle sets. I loved Town and had a lot of those, but also had times where I wished we had gotten the really big castle. Those castle/pirate sets could easily go together, with their hand weapons and stone-and-wood buildings. There were a few different space sets, too, which was cool to have different space factions with different ships and tech.
And also understates the importance of Bionicle. (It played a much bigger part in saving Lego from bankrupcy than licensed themes did around 2003)
Agreed. They also glossed over how Lego's gotten really good with multimedia products. They aren't just selling toys, they have successful movies, tv shows, video games, and books. And they use this media to promote their physical toy produces. It creates an awesome financial synergy!
Definitely understated the importance of Ninjago.Its probably the 2nd or 3rd most profitable theme for the Lego company and the best thing is that they don’t have to pay a licensing fee for it.
@@unspeakablyawesomebros3392 and they don't have to create sets based on previews that don't end up in the actual movie (Star Wars and Marvel)
Goodyear: We make a lot of tires.
Michelin: We make a LOT of tires
Lego: *Allow us to introduce ourselves*
Sucks that I never got into Legos. They were too expensive for my fam.
I feel ya.
you can find fake legos at the dollar store lmao
I got them only on my birthdays as a kid because they were very expensive for us too, yet it was still always my favourite toy
@@griffinfoster3098 today I learned there is an acronym for adults who play with lego.
When i was a kid i had to spam my parents for two years to get a new set and now i understand why
THEY ARE TOO EXPENSIVE!
"If anything, the premium-feel of the humble LEGO brick has only grown - as you discover
those from your childhood still smoothly, satisfyingly, click-in-place after decades
of waiting." - Golden Words
The pale and translucent prints on some minifigures:
Am I a joke to you?
@@jimmalybob4829 ball joints (especially in light blue): Am I a joke to you?
Yes
Sorta. Not all LEGO connections click. Some do, but others don't. Among the silent ones are those in between the iconic bricks.
Apart from this minor thing, the line is good
Lol not mine. I left them out in the heat, and even recently our home gets very hot and I’ve noticed cracks on some of my minifigures.
"Customers choose Lego simply because they're better."
Held der Steine would like to know your location.
hallo bruder
75201 hust hust
Erstmal disliken und melden wegen Verbreitung von falschen Informationen.
@@legendarynoodle2438 was?
This. It's so amusing to watch videos like this contrasted to one of his rants.
The Danish gave up on global conquest after the end of the Viking Era
They said
Just wait for our viking 2: Electric Plunder and loot
Awesome video!
Hey David!
Your channel’s great!
I was hoping to see a LEGO youtuber here
Best Lego youtuber 👍
You're the one who's awesome
I thought I would see an intricate description on the taxes payed by the people of *LEGO®City™* But this is acceptable
8:50 i guess der Held der Steine would like to talk about that with you.
Bezogen auf die Qualität der Steine würde er wahrscheinlich sogar zustimmen. Das Problem ist alles andere drum herum: Preise, Storytelling, Strategien, Set-Kombinationen etc. pepe.
The economics of "Ow! That hurts!"
"Let's talk about the success of LEGO"
Bionicle fans: oh yeah, here we go!
Bionicle fans after watching the video: "My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined"
@@sirexilon49 that’s just Bionicle fans after the mid/late 2000s anyway.
@@Voxelize something, something lime joints
@@sirexilon49 no idea what you mean. All my stuff if is blue and white.
@@Voxelize Lime Joints are a sort of inside joke in the Bionicle community:
beacuse in the 2007 Bionicle sets the lime colored parts were extremely fragile and brittle due to, if I remember correctly a cooling error during production.
Though thankfully in 2008 Lego remodeled the ball and socket parts and made all of them just as fragile.(if nor more so, Though here it was so fragile because the balls were slightly too big)
This story was featured in the 2003 bestseller book “The Halo Effect”. At the time, no one knew why LEGO was failing. What a turn around, just like Apple!
Lego walked so Minecraft could run
And now they run together.
Minecraft was hugely popular before lego made branded sets...
@@jttg He meant building blocks in general, not just the licensed sets.
i never liked this comparison. Sure they both have blocks but that's about where the similarities end. The mining, crafting and fighting zombies is what makes this game
@@samuvisser Take away survival and what's left is creativity something they both champion. And besides, the only good games like Minecraft at the time of the Minecraft alpha were the lego games and Roblox which it too was alot alike the old lego games too..
8:57 I disagree! Sets like the Fiat 500 have massive color problems while being more expensive than ever before.
Pretty sure you meant to say "those bricks from 1962" rather than "those 62 year old bricks" --- Bricks from 1962 are currently only 58 years old after all ;)
It could be the other way around - he said in the narration it was in 1958 and that is indeed 62 years ago, only the text shown in the video incorrectly said 1962.
Maybe the vid wasn't supposed to be released till 2024 lol
Give it 4 years and it'll be accurate.
@ yeah I'm pretty sure the illustrator was either sloppy or running out of time.
Also take a look at the first seconds of the video, what is this animation? (Maybe I'm just plain stupid but it doesn't make sense to me)
Bionicle: saves LEGO
Lego: I don’t know this man
PolyMatter, HAI, Wendover, Kurzgesagt, Life Noggin, Veritasium, Real Engineering, Real Science, Khanubis (among others) - things that make my quarantine (and life) better!
Don’t forget about CGP Grey!
The inspiration club right there!
Learning gang woohoo
Life noggin is fuckin cringe
9:02 laughs in Held der Steine
The quality of lego sets has gone up and up over the past 10 years, it even has become an awesome hobby for adults, which already is a gold mine for the company.
Hey, please reply to me!
I don't care, I want bionicle back, as I love the build system there instead of bricks.
In Germany we say: Welt seid mir gegrüßt
Ich bin der Held der Steine in Frankfurt am Main im Herzen von Europa in meinem wunderbaren kleinen Lädchen an einem fantastischen Tag und schaut mal was ich euch mitgebracht habe, eine Anklage der LEGO Juris AS!
Danke! 😁
I must admit that the thumbnail was pristine.
Lego seriously did bionicle dirty by passing up the 20 year anniversary set from lego ideas
The name 'LEGO' is an abbreviation of the two Danish words “leg godt”, meaning “play well”. Smart. I like it.
It also means "I put together" in Latin.
@@philip9830 the danish word is legetøj, which means play thing (although tøj also most commonly means clothes)
Glad to see a mention of Bionicle.
Most people out there always saying that star wars is the one saving Lego but they forgot the very first Messiah
Already heard of the Lamborghini Siam containing a stunning amount of different shades of green? Thats just another level of detail!
People refer to that set as
*Fifty Shades Of Green.*
On record John Lennon said "I would absolutely get my ass kicked by a Bionicle. Like it would kill me easily".
When and where? He died in 1980, no?
@@mohammedsarker5756 google image search "John Lennon Bionicle" it's a lot faster than me explaining it lol
"You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one"
LMAO
@@mohammedsarker5756 whoosh
When something is a huge
1.kids toy
2.adults pride
3.meme
4.super handy
5.possible weapon
It is bound to succeed
When I was 6, I nearly swallowed a lego plate. Still haunts me.
Yo, please reply to me!
What's in your profile picture picture?!?!
polymatter is one of my favorite youtube channels ever created. he always explains interesting things with beautiful visuals. never stop making videos
Hm seems to me that IKEA borrowed a bit from lego’s business model...
I love your videos though! They inspired me to start my own channel!
Noice channel!
@@mrtek8095 thanks!
IKEA currently has a release of LEGO BOXES
@@debated8358 OMG, Your channel is my heaven. Will definitely be subbing on my alt.
@@savagenovelist2983 Thanks!
Regarding Lego striking licensing deals with other IPs and their attempts to break out of dependency by creating their own IPs, I feel the need to mention that Lego has done this successfully a number of times, not just with the Lego Movies.
The first massive success was obviously Bionicle (which you mentioned) but there were loads of others before even the Lego movie. Lego Ninjago, for example, was a breakout star and is probably the most popular original IP Lego currently has. It's essentially the new Bionicle in terms of popularity and it still going strong after 10 years.
Other successes over the last 10 years include Lego Friends, Lego Elves, and Leo Chima. And Lego has also become really consistent with producing temporary IPs. They introduce a theme and plant for it to run for 3 years. It's not meant to be permanent, but in those 3 years they market it and develop it and it makes money.
It's all a way to help balance licensed IPs and Lego's own IPs. And I think Lego's doing a pretty good job balancing their portfolio's most popular IPs (which are currently Marvel, Star Wars, Ninjago, Friends, and City). It's an excellent mix for licensing and originals and it leaves the floor wide open for experimentation to find the next big success. And if you want even more info, I'd encourage you to look at Lego's quarterly reports. You can find them online and they give a lot of info about what's really popular in terms of Lego Themes.
Good job
Lego: delighting children and striking terror in the hearts of bear footed parents for decades.
The economy of lego went downhill because they didn’t use skillshare
My mum used to work at Lego in Billund when I was a kid and I would get all kinds of experimental Lego sets and Lego media
Waaw! That must great! Any experimental Lego set that stood out to you?
@@business_central yea i was very spoiled haha. Don't remember any specific sets sorry I was a kid
@@ebbeb9827 Oh it's alright! Just was genuinely curious about it. :D
Good for you! Wish you more fun to come!
07:15 aren't legs styles same mold and just differ with the print? Don't know if it's a good example.
You've got a point.
I found that part a bit confusing as well, unless it is just having multiple mold setups for different colors.
Other than colors the only leg parts that was significantly different for the pirate sets as far as I know was for peg legs or skeletons.
I thought that minifigs had outnumbered humans by now.
Lego in the 90s be like:
RANDOM BULlSHIT GO!!!
i had the coolest lego inca temple set from that time
as a kid, i could never really get into the "generic" LEGO blocks, however i was obsessed with star wars, and absolutely loved putting those early star wars sets together, for me the most fun part was following the instructions and slowly seeing it all come to life, not that i didnt enjoy being creative aswell. i loved the mini figures of darth vader, yoda, droids etc, and i always dreamed of one day getting the millenium falcon set. honestly i still do
polymatter at the beginning of the video: legos not simple to sell
polymatter at 6:10
With the prices that Lego is charging now are down right ludicrous... $20-30 for a dozen or so blocks, $60 plus for small models, $80/$70 adult/kids ticket to Legoland just to play with Lego and see models. Wow just wow, truly gone are the days $20 bucks worth of lego would last a whole childhood. If you have ever pirated a game then you cannot laugh at those that use imitation Lego.
Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Even in Denmark, where there's less of an issue with shipping, the prices are higher. But looking at toys in general, it just seems like toy companies over all can get away with it because kids aren't going to weigh the financial burden of it very thoroughly.
This video made me want to go buy legos.
I thought I was the only one
oh man, the temptation
it made me think of all the lego sets i loved as a kid. my deep sea sets with the bright green clear clear plastic hood on the under water vehicle......nobody is going to know which one im talking about but i remember it fondly
great video as always
@4:13 1994-98... I did not know I grew up in the golden age of Lego! I had a train set, civil war fort and the undersea base. I made all my own lego Starwars ships before they got a license deal, by the time Starwars Lego came out I gave up on LEGO and Starwars. But at 32 now and a father of two my love for Duplo, Lego and Starwars has been rekindled!
Very educative, one would expect that once LEGO stole the idea from Kiddicraft, it would be just smooth sailing.
Economics of lego: expensive plastic marketing
Tho video we have all been waiting for
This channel has the smoothest Ad transitions and placement on youtube.
I wish this "premium" brand would print on their god damn pieces instead of including stickers. You'd also think a "premium" brand could make bricks in cohesive colors. The prices are very premium though, I'll give them that.
It’s not economical for them to do that. Similar to creating different molds, it’s harder(& more expensive) to create and individual stamp for a brick (especially if it’s curved or irregular) than it is to create a single stamp sheet. They do tend to print on flat, unproblematic pieces that the process has been proven on, such as 1 x 2 tiles.
Am I the only one that felt like the 915 million combinations is gonna be our Homework for the break, gave me chills )
Thank you lego for a great childhood
Lego is my fav toy and still is today even tho I don't but sets anymore
Never thought I’d see bionicle or galidor mentioned in a polymatter video
Interesting viseo. I've always hated the trend Lego had "later on" (for me) to have a huge number of unique pieces per set. To me, it is obvious that not only is it less fun, but also less economically-viable. Glad they figured that out... eventually.
I been waiting, but finally it's here.
Your TH-cam thumbnails are awesome, tbh. I really like them. They introduced me to your channel like no other thumbnails ever did. Maybe only album covers are similiar in the perfection of design to your thumbnails.
lego: exists
toddlers: finally, some good fking food
It's amazing how such a simple common toy has such a detailed economic backstory
15 years ago, I went to the stores looking for a "bucket of lego" for my nephew.
I couldn't find one. I could only buy very expensive themed kits, most of which had very few basic blocks. They were all just custom pieces that only fit that particular kit. There was no creation involved, only assembly of existing ideas.
We stopped buying lego after that.
The level of quality control is insane. I've gone through thousands of lego pieces in my lifetime and I don't think I've ever had a piece that didn't fit perfectly.
I've had a few.
We had an VHS of Jack Stone back in... Primary school nursery? This shit was hilarious.
after 22+ years of buying legos, i've never received or found a defective part out of all those pieces.
I am sorry for you. Those defective bricks could be worth serious money.
That’s exactly why there is litterally a collectors market for misprinted Lego
How much would a crushed mini window frame from the palace cinema be?
I've gotten a lot of defective parts. Those 1x1 cheese slopes are especially bad, I have so many cracked ones.
Certain blue plates are incredibly brittle...I have a container with a bunch of parts that came broken.
Awesome video as always.
I can't imagine Lego not being there, it feels so iconic
Yeah...Quality, lately they have been having serious issues in that department. Particularly the colors in the most recent sets can be a bit off...
Yeaaa
It's my understanding that the LEGO system was actually created by Ole Kirk Christiansen's son, Godtfried.
This was way more interesting than I imagined. Thanks.
I'm addicted to this awesome content!
Sonst noch jemand hier, nachdem Lego Held der Steine abgemahnt hat?
Ah yes, LEGO: the analogue Minecraft.
We had a bunch of LEGO from all sorts of sets and we just used it to make whatever our imagination thinks of.
Being able to fashion Lego into your own toys was the driving factor for me as a kid. A toy car... was a toy car... it couldn't be anything else other than a blunt object to throw at a sibling. Lego allowed me to take the very few toys I had as a kid and turn them into something new. We didn't have much money, so I always wished for Lego as birthday and Christmas gifts. At the time Lego was fiercely positioned as a non-war toy. They wouldn't release any large amounts of bricks that were military colors. They didn't mold any weapon parts EXCEPT for the Medieval castle sets... which were swords, lances, and shields.
But at the time (late 70's very early 80's) their set designers were looking to make the most out of the meager number of bricks that were available. What was really ace was their art department. The photographs for the sets were always in full color and well decorated. The packaging always included excellent shots of the toys on the packaging, in their catalogs, and anywhere the toy was featured (like their Builder Books). In fact the Builder Books were fantastic pieces of media.
Finally, they were able to extend the life of the toy with their "Expert Builder" and "Technics" line of toys. As my tastes began to change from toys to models, the Technics line kept me engaged with the brand by adding some real engineering components, gears, motors, etc. It was an Erector Set/Mechano Set on steroids.
When the brand began pairing up with Hollywood, it lost the magic for me. There were too many specialized pieces to make sets that looked more like a piece of Hollywood intellectual property rather than children using their imaginations to build a facsimile of the object.
It is what it is. I'm glad that Lego is starting to see the profit in Adult Fans of Lego (AFOL). Lego selling large amounts of generic bricks was unheard of and when they did, they weren't that many bricks and they were just an assortment rather than specific pieces.
Love these videos
Friendly reminder to check on your Bionicle's when you go home for Christmas everybody!
"An average of 80 Lego Bricks per person"
*Me with like 9 big boxes that each can contain thousands of bricks each: nervous sweating intensifies*
The transition into the ad was smooth!
I hear Lego, I hear Bionicle, I smile, I like the video :)
Pt 2: economics of stepping of one
A video about Emergency Room economics? Sounds good.
Not a problem for the country that created them, since Denmark has universal health care.
Truly, it's a weapon aimed at the US.
I failed my Spanish lesson 5 times in a row.
@@BlackTemplar618 ...con
...gratulations?
@@andrewfelsher7872 Duolingo is right there.
1:38
"1962"
"62 year old bricks"
Hmmm....
I'm 30 years old and I still love Lego..
Such a great document .
Lego has had some quality issues lately with bad colors and gears breaking in sets
I believe that has something to do with them testing new kinds of plastics that use less oil and are even plant based
@@MrJimheeren hope if they cannot maintain quality or find the perfect rasio of new Brick in order to appease enviromentalist. They comeback to old recipe
We all know that LEGO’s economy is based on how fast my LEGO military helicopter can fly!
Right?
That smooth Lego -> SkillShare transition hit me directly in my attention.
I remember when I was younger, my parents wouldn't let me touch the presents under the Christmas tree because of how obvious Lego sets were with the shuffling they made when you moved them.
8:50 "What no one can say is that LEGO hasn’t stayed focused on quality"
That is just not true at all. The quality has really declined in the last couple of years. They have big problems with the quality control of the colours. Just look at the Fiat 500.
I think it really depends on which factory the bricks are produced in. The bricks from Europe are still the same high quality they always have been, but as LEGO have opened up more factories around the world, maintaining the same level of quality control across all of them has become a challenge, to put it kindly.
?
I disagree
Yo yo, Piraka
The car company Renault used Legos to develop one of their transmissions that they use in their cars today.
As a kid I had a big box (about 70 x 70 x 150 cm) filled with LEGO-like bricks with they only difference that they were much larger in size. If I remember correctly they had only 3 types of pieces: 2x2 pin squares, 2x4 pin rectangles and 2x6 pin rectangles. The advantage was that I could build a lot of stuff, take it apart and build something new extremely fast. The disadvantage was that these things were only as good as your imagination as there were no humanoid figurines, no building suggestions and no online communities to get inspiration from.
I hadn't played with LEGO until I was already studying at university.