Lego is one of the most universally loved toys in the world.
Kids all over the world have been playing with Lego building blocks for almost 100 years now. And the popularity of these toy sets doesn’t seem to be slowing down in any way.
Lego has been stimulating minds, helping kids develop various life skills, and entertaining both kids and adults with their huge array of Lego themes and sets.
Something that makes these colourful little bricks so popular is that they are there really are no limits when it comes to what you can do with them. Whether you’re building something following the instructions of the set or you’re free playing, there is just so much you can do.
Today, we want to tell you about some of the most interesting facts you probably don’t know about the wonderful world of Lego, but before we dive right in, let’s talk about how Lego got started.
Where did Lego come from?
Lego was founded way back in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen. It began as a very humble toy company that has become over the last 9 decades, one of the largest toy companies in the world.
The company's mission has expanded beyond toys to become the ideal tool for everyone who wants to create and play. There's nothing a set of Legos can't make, from grand monuments to works of art, and everything in between.
While we could sit here all day and give you a play by play of absolutely everything there is to know about Lego, we’ve decided to give you some of the most interesting and unexpected facts you may or may not know!
15 Lego facts that are almost unbelievable
Here are our favourite Lego facts for you.
1.Compared to Goodyear, Lego makes more tires
This might sound like a classic silly myth, but it is indeed true! Lego makes more tires than Goodyear does each year. While they obviously make Lego tires, so they are much smaller than the real thing produced by Goodyear, they still make a whole heap.
Lego is actually a Guinness World Record holder as the ‘largest tire manufacturer per year.’ They make around 870,000 mini tires every day, which works out to be about 318 million tires er year on average. They were bestowed this honour in 2012.
Lego actually makes their tires round the clock, 24/7, 365 days a year – making them hard to keep up with!
2.You could have one of your ideas turned into a Lego set
For something to endure you need to listen to the people who love and use it. Customer feedback helps any business continue to grow and evolve, and Lego have taken customers thoughts and feedback to help their sensational toys to continue to be loved all over the world.
They do this in the form of Lego Ideas. Lego Ideas is a forum that allows people to share their ideas for potential Lego sets, and other customers and Lego fans can vote on the ideas.
When an idea reaches 10,000 votes, Lego will actually review the idea and decide whether it is a kit they will create.
Just because an idea reaches 10,000 votes it doesn’t mean it will automatically get made into a kit, this might be due to copyright issues and licensing agreements. It might also be because there are so many incredible ideas out there that Lego can’t possibly make them all.
Some of the coolest Lego Idea theme sets include an International Space Station, the house from the Home Alone movies, and Stratocaster Guitar that has actual strings.
3.Lego Figures are made yellow for a special reason
Yellow was chosen as the colour of the minifigures in Lego sets as it is meant to promote racial neutrality. There is no specific ethnicity of Lego characters.
All traditional Lego sets and those that aren’t based on movies and tv series are yellow, while various skin tones are used when they are replicating specific characters and people.
4.Lego bricks used by artists to create inspiring masterpieces
While many of us think art comes in the form of paintings, photography and sculptures, there have been some pretty incredible scenes and masterpieces created by Lego bricks.
One particular artist, Nathan Sawaya uses Lego bricks to recreate some of the world’s most renowned pieces of art. Sawaya used Lego to recreate a self-portrait by Rembrandt, as well as recreate The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Katsushika Hokusai and Edvard Munch’s The Scream painting.
Sawaya used to actually practice law before being recognised for his Lego building. He went on to build Lego full time and also worked for Lego at one point. Sawaya has been recognised by Lego as a certified Lego Professional and one of the best Lego builders in the world.
5.1958 Lego bricks can be used with the modern ones
Though the design and purpose of Lego bricks have been in a constant state of evolution since they were first developed, the bricks made in the very early years of Lego are compatible with the latest bricks that are created today.
The bricks have been designed to always be able to be compatible, making the system universal. So, yes, if you started collecting all the way back in 1958, you could still easily use those Lego bricks with any new set you buy today.
6.The Star Wars Universe has the world's largest and most expensive commercial Lego sets.
Over the years there have been some incredible sets produced, and those under the Star Wars banners have been some of the most popular, as well as the most expensive and have the highest piece count. The Imperial Destroyer and the Death Star sets will set you back a pretty penny, but it’s the Millennium Falcon set from the Ultimate Collectors Series that is both pricey and has a very high piece count.
There are around 7,541 pieces in this kit, and it will set you back over $1000. If you’re a Star Wars and Lego fan, this is the Ultimate kit for you.
7.A house made entirely of Lego bricks exists.
Someone has taken the initiative and created the house of our dreams - a house made entirely of Lego Bricks.
The BBC documented the construction of a mostly functional home using more than three million bricks for the show James May's Toy Stories.
"A working toilet, hot shower, and a very uncomfortable bed" were among the features of the mansion, which was built with more than three million bricks.
8.Over 500,000 Lego bricks make up the world's tallest Lego building.
A group of intrepid builders built a tower out of Lego bricks in Milano, Italy that ended up being 35.05m high.
This was back in 2015 and an estimated 550,000 Lego bricks were used to complete the tower.
This led to a record in the Guinness World Records and contributed to a worthy cause called Urban Oasis. The Lego group donated 7 Euros for every centimetre of the tower to Urban Oasis who help to protect our wildlife with the help of the World Wildlife Fund.
9.Numbers inside Lego bricks has meanings
You may or may not have noticed that on the underside of your Lego bricks there is a number. Well, whether you’ve noticed it or not, it has an important purpose.
This number actually relates to a mould that was used to create the brick. If there is a problem with the brick, then there could be a problem with a mould, so Lego is able to track down the bricks that relate to this mould.
10.A braille printer was created by a kid using his Lego set
In 2014, a child in the seventh grade - Shubham Banerjee – used a Lego robotics kit and some items from the hardware store to build a braille printer.
He called it the Braigo, combining Braille and Lego. Banerjee apparently came up with the idea after he had learned that a printer for the blind costs around $2000. He believed that that was too expensive and inaccessible for a lot of people, so he figured out how to fix this problem. Is there anything that can’t be done with Lego?
11.The meaning of the name Lego
The word Lego means play well and was actually developed as an abbreviation of two Danish words meaning the same thing – “Leg godt.”
Play well is not only the name of Lego but it’s their ideal as well!
12.There are a tremendous number of Legos in the world, and they're all quite robust.
There are believed to be more than 400 billion Lego bricks out and about in the world. And if you wanted to stack them all together (which you could because they are universal), you would need a lot of space.
If you were to stack them all together, it would create a tower of about 2,386,065 miles (3,839,999 kilometres) long. This distance is actually ten times higher than the moon from the earth, so you really would need a lot of space.
13.Legos Do Not decompose
ABS plastic is used to make Legos, so they’d probably outlast you.
ABS is a thermoplastic polymer made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).
We would need extremely high temperatures or a lot of UV light to start degrading it. This is good news for those who want to pass their Lego bricks onto their kids and grandkids. And because the bricks are always universal, it doesn’t matter how old they are, they will work!
14.The options are endless – a wild imagination and a few Lego bricks is all you need
Sren Eilers, a mathematician, developed a computer program to estimate the number of designs that could be built using just six ordinary (4x2) Lego bricks. Results showed an outstanding 915,103,765 designs.
Which basically means that no matter how often you play, you’re never going to run out of things to do with your Legos.
15.If your set is missing a piece, Lego will happily replace it
Though it’s incredibly rare, if your Lego set happens to be missing a piece, no worries, because Lego will always replace the piece, free of charge.
BONUS: You can buy your Lego sets online from Toy Hunters Australia
There’s a reason we know so much about Lego, it’s because we live and breath it every single day here at Toy Hunters.
We have a huge selection of Lego sets available for you to buy, no matter where you are in Australia.
We offer fast dispatch, Australia-wide shipping, buy now, pay later options, and great low prices, what more could you want? Buy your Lego online here.
