LEGO board games worth the pieces?

July 11, 2010 12:39 PM

The idea of board games that you build out of LEGOs sounds really cool to me, but unfortunately the official ones LEGO has put out all have abysmal ratings on Board Game Geek, and look like they're all primarily luck-based. Are there any LEGO board games, either official or homebrew ones available via the web, that are on par with strategy board games like Settlers, Carcassonne, Pandemic, etc.?

Ideally I'm looking for something with significantly more strategy and player choice than the standard American board game fare like Monopoly and Pictionary, but not as complex as a full-on 8-hour wargame (which I know there are several of that exclusively use LEGOs).

Something that takes roughly an hour to play, and at the end of which the winner will feel like (s)he really outwitted and out-strategized his/her opponents, and didn't just get a bunch of lucky die rolls.

posted by luvcraft to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (6 answers total)

I have friends of friends who build large (table-top sized) settings out of legos for use in role-playing games. Dungeons and Dragons, I think? I'm not into RPGs, so I don't really know how that all works, but if you play those kinds of dice-rolling games you might be able to figure it out.
posted by vytae at 1:35 PM on July 11, 2010

Minotaurus, from Lego, involves a fair amount of strategy, and can be adjusted in a variety of ways to involve more or less luck. We've found this one to be a very good time, especially for casual play.

Lava Dragon, which is the other one we own from Lego, definitely involves too much luck and not enough strategy. We're playing with ways to counteract that, by removing some of the "lava" pieces and by thinking of ways to lengthen the game. (And Lego encourages you to invent house rules and change the game in any way you imagine.) But keep in mind, most of these Lego games are aimed at grade schoolers-and-up, and the games you're liking normally list their bottom age range as junior high age at least.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 1:47 PM on July 11, 2010

Response by poster: Oh, I know that these official LEGO games are aimed toward grade-schoolers, which is why I was specifically wondering if there are any homebrew LEGO games with more advanced rules, while also leaving open the possibility that some of the official ones might have a decent amount of strategy despite the core audience.
posted by luvcraft at 4:32 PM on July 11, 2010

I'd take this question over to the BoardGameGeek recommendation forums. You might just want to ask for a game that fulfills the criteria and then build yourself a custom copy out of legos. Many people over there are into making custom copies, and I have seen more than a few lego game recreations (too lazy to link). You'll find enough information for most games (rules, pictures, piece lists) to do this; however, I'd suggest buying a copy of any game you choose to emulate as a consideration to the designer and the publisher.

A lot of games are going to meet your criteria, but some will be easier/cooler to make out of legos.
posted by Suciu at 9:03 PM on July 11, 2010

Best answer: Okay, not TOO lazy. Here you go:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/49258/lego-component-replacements

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/52814/my-lego-board-game-accessory-creations

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/14058/lego-bricks-used-as-game-bits

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/9848/games-that-could-be-remade-with-lego-bricks


And here is one about people who have made their own games around legos:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/1344/fan-designed-lego-games
posted by Suciu at 9:13 PM on July 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: cool! Thanks for all the links, Suciu! It looks like there are a lot of wargames, and a few remade board games, but no original board games yet, but the things that are there give me a lot of ideas! :)
posted by luvcraft at 8:41 AM on July 12, 2010