Darren’s Diatribe

Lego turned 50 today. See this picture for details of the history of Lego.

I spent many, many hours playing with Lego as a child. I had quite a bit of it, and Dad made me a nice box to store it in. I had heaps of the bricks, roof tiles, plates, wheels, cogs and even the electric motor and train set. With these you could make nearly anything, but many of these pieces don’t seem to be readily available any more.

I think that Lego took a big step backward with the introduction of the modern sets. They allow to you build some impressive things, but a lot of the pieces are very specific and can’t be used for a lot else other than their original intent. I think that these sets actually stifle creativity if anything.

Coincidentally, for the first time in ages I spent several hours yesterday afternoon making Lego things with my son. I made a gun which could fire 10 rubber bands in just a few seconds. It was quite cool. I might post a picture of it sometime.