All Sorted Ep 19: LEGO Boardgames
On a die defying episode of All Sorted, Jeff and James discuss LEGO Boardgames.
Thanks to Jacoby Young for setting us down the LEGO board game rabbit hole:
@StillSorting and @epicgumdrop – I think this custom LEGO board game may be up your alley. https://t.co/rH3b528i4Q
— Jacoby Young (@jacobyjyoung) September 7, 2015
Roll the dice on LEGO’s early board games:
Watch LEGO attempt to be a major game publisher (Part One):
- LEGO publishes 12 games in five years!
- Came in two versions, terrible table hockey, or, anger-management roboty things…
- Featuring fun cardboard versions of minifigs! Now you can play with minifigs without all that annoying articulation an “3Dness” getting in the way!
Catch our breath:
- Nothing happens for four years…
- Except behind the scenes:
- In 2006 LEGO hires board game designer Cephas Howard to develop a line of board games.
- Reiner Knizia and Bernie DeKoven are brought in to consult.
Watch LEGO attempt to be a major game publisher (Part Two)
LEGO comes out of hibernation and goes on to release 43 games over the next five years! Here is a sampling:
- Robo Champ (2009)
- Magikus (2009)
- Monster 4 (2009)
- Lava Dragon (2009)
- Race 3000 (2009)
- Pirate Code (2009)
- Minotaurus (2009)
- Lunar Command (2009)
- Creationary (2009)
- Ramses Pyramid (2009)
- Happy Holidays The Christmas Game (2010)
- (This game was a gift to LEGO employees in 2010)
- Meteor Strike (2010)
- Atlantis Treasure (2010)
- Orient Bazaar (2010)
- Harry Potter Hogwarts (2010)
- Pirate Plank (2010)
- Magma Monster (2010)
- UFO Attack (2010)
- Shave a Sheep (2010)
- LEGO: Life of George (2011)
- LEGO Champion (2011)
- Ninjago: The Board Game (2011)
- Frog Rush (2011)
- Banana Balance (2011)
- Ramses Return (2011)
- Sunblock (2011)
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
- Star Wars: Battle of Hoth (2012)
- (Was not available for sale in the USA as Hasbro has exclusive rights to Star Wars based board games in America)
- CITY Alarm (2012)
- Mini-Taurus (2012)
- (Smaller version of Minotaurus.)
- Kokoriko (2012)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Battle of Helm’s Deep (2013)
- LEGO Batman (2013)
- LEGO Legends of Chima (2013)
- Heroica – LEGO’s light adventure/RPG system. Each module could be played by itself, or combined for a more epic adventure.
Take LEGO gaming into our own hands:
- The link that sent us down the LEGO game path:
- BrikWars – probably the most complete LEGO based skimish game on the internet
- BrikWars (old)site list of other Brick Based War games:
- Most of these links are dead – but you do get an interesting collection of 404 Errors!
- Mobile Frame Zero
- Ian Spacek’s Clue MOC (flickr)
- Chess, Battleships and Monopoly MOCs (YouTube)
- LEGO Ideas projects:
Finally, Do you have a favorite LEGO board game, either official or MOC? If so let us know in the comments, or hit me up on twitter, @StillSorting.
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About The Author
james
When he's not podcasting, playing board games or building LEGO with his kids then he's LEGO gaming boardcasts in his pod. Also, not a Time Lord.
Thanks for talking about my board game! I have a second one up on my channel as well. Ive tested the game multiple times and found no holes in it when you play four players. It’s basically your strategy that determines who wins the game.
Thanks for creating it, Hayden! We loved doing this episode and enjoyed seeing how much creativity everyone put into the LEGO as game concept.
And four players is great – makes it a nice one to bring to the table with no one feeling left out in this house.