This is as days pass by, by Stuart Langridge

And this is Better than Lego?, written , and concerning LugRadio Live, Conferences

When I was a kid I played with Lego: specifically, Technic Lego, which is the one with the rods and cogs and whatnot. It occurred to me that it'd be pretty cool to have the Lego people be at LugRadio Live USA with a huge table covered in bits that people could go up and play with and use and look at. They can't make it, though (it's a long way from Scandinavia to San Francisco!). So, what are the cool kids using for building things now other than Lego itself? There was Fischer Technik when I was at school, but I've got no idea whether anyone still uses it; if this was LugRadio Live 1978 rather than 2008 then Meccano would have been good; what else is there? Nominate your favourite building stuff...

Comments

chris

Fischer Technik.

Arne

Last Christmas I looked for Fischer Technik for my son since I played with it when I was a child. But it is hardly in stock at any shops anymore and if it is, it is very overpriced.

Instead I found "construction" ( http://eitech.de/english/index.html ) which is a metal construction kit but with motors, gears, solar modules and even with fuel cells available. It is also way better priced than Fischer Technik. So I would nominate this as my favorite building stuff!

Pendulum

Have you checked with the people who run Lego in the US? I know they're still across the country (I grew up the next town over and used to know people who worked there), but it's a bit closer than Scandanavia.

Chris Lord

K'nex is pretty cool, quite a few of my friends had it when I was growing up (personally, I had Lego and Meccano, but I always wished I had K'nex... Grass, greener, etc.)

Dave Neary

My son plays with Kaplas (http://www.kapla.com/ or http://www.kaplatoys.com/) and they're great. Simpler than lego, just wooden planks, that you build into towers, bridges, giraffes, etc.

Lynne

Toby has Knex and he has Meccano (they have upgraded it I think, Toby's is all plastic now but that might just be his age)

Calum

Pixelblocks: www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/6950/

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