A couple of years ago, I wrote about the LEGO Ideas Book, a collection of ideas to help you with “brick-block” when you’re building and not sure what to do next. The collection of models intended to inspire has been a very popular book. Now, author Daniel Lipkowitz is back with a sequel, LEGO Play Book.
Subtitled “Ideas to Bring Your Bricks to Life,” the hardcover book from DK has 200 pages, packed with more than 500 LEGO models. Your adventure begins with some suggestions for sparking your creativity — how to sort bricks, add detail, and get inspired.
The LEGO Play Book is broken into five main themes, each with its own section. Each theme features the work of one or two fan builders who created the works found in the book. First off is “Once Upon a Time,” which features fairy tale themed models. In this section, you’ll find hi-res photos of a troll bridge (and the troll to go with it), knights, wizards, and a really cool giant and a dragon to threaten the land. And, of course, there’s a castle.
Moving on, the “Small World” chapter imagines smaller version of models. Builder Tim Goddard says “For this chapter, I could build pretty much anything I wanted, as long as it was in a small scale.” Police stations, city parks, race tracks, and even the sea floor can be found. But that’s not all, there are micro-castles, historical buildings, and outer space in the “Small World” chapter.
For those close to nature, the “Go Wild” section will be sure to please. Safari animals, barnyard beasts, fish, insects, and all kinds of critters can be created based on these models. One of my favorites are the penguins and sea ice.
Halloween may be past, but “Things That Go Bump In the Night” will have you feeling spooky again with models based on classic scares. There’s a nightmare carnival, witch hovel, and haunted house. There’s a spectacular bathroom scene that has tentacles erupting from the bathtub and a mad scientist’s lab, and more robots than you can shake a fist at.
If you need some relaxation after those scary models, the final chapter “Wish You Were Here” fits the bill. Showing off some wonderful vacation vistas and wonderful plays to relax, beach huts, extreme sports, and great holiday postcards are just a few of the things you’ll be able to build. But there are also all the peripheral objects you’d expect to see — huge water slides, surfboards, lounge chairs, kayaks, and more can be found on the pages within. It’ll be a long time before you scratch your head, wondering what to build next, with the LEGO Play Book.
Disclosure: GeekDad was sent a sample of this book for review.
