LEGO fans young and old were thrilled to try out there favorite carnival games in brick form at a recent event hosted by HollywoodLUG. Local toy store Tom’s Toys helped host the event, held during the weekend farmers market in downtown Montrose, California. Attendees were able to try their skills at classic carnival games like Skee-ball, Ring Toss, Pachinko, a Shooting Gallery, and a minifigure guessing game.
The games brought out children and their parents to play favorites such as Ring Toss and Skee-ball. Paul Hollingsworth, a HollywoodLUG member who built both games noted that “it was really fun to see how challenging the games were to both children and parents alike.” For the Ring Toss, attendees tossed large LEGO tires over the giant-sized LEGO figures built upon a pile of gray BURP (Big Ugly Rock Piece) bricks.
The idea for brick built games started several years ago, when HollywoodLUG Ambassador James Banks built a large board for the popular game known as Pachinko or Plinko. “That gave us the idea that these could be fun to make more of. We sat down and brainstormed a bunch of games and started building them. The results have been so impressive from everyone.” The LUG members spent the spring and summer designing multiple games to be featured at this event.
One of the most impressive brick built games was the shooting gallery designed by Brian Heins. Using a LEGO robotics brain, the defender can be manually programmed to defend the goal net as the user wishes. The user then has to shoot past the defender and make it into the net. “It’s a really challenging game,” remarked Heins. “It’s a lot harder to miss the defender than to shoot past him!” The advanced programming of the shooting gallery demonstrated that even the most sophisticated games can be built into functional brick games.
The last carnival game was a test of counting skills as participants tried to correctly guess the amount of minifigures inside a clear jar. HollywoodLUG member Xenia Arriola helped run the contest and noted that “the kids and parents would disagree about the amount in the jar by a lot. And the kids were always closer!” Three winners won LEGO sets by all being within 8 minifigures from the correct amount!
The inaugural Brick Carnival Games was a massive success for all involved. All attendees were rewarded with a free bag of LEGO brick to continue building with at home. HollywoodLUG and Tom’s Toys are already planning a follow up event in 2019. LUG members are planning away at new and more challenging carnival games than ever before!
Many thanks to LEGO for support brick and Tom’s Toys of Montrose, CA for hosting.
Keep on building!
James Banks
HollywoodLUG Ambassador
https://hollywoodlug.weebly.com/
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