Lego has a new line of blocks out called Lego Fusion. I know, these are supposed to be for kids, but I want some to play with. I mean, who doesn’t like playing with blocks? If you didn’t use Legos as a kid, you probably played with wooden blocks, Tinker Toys or Lincoln Logs. Kids today sometimes skip the physical blocks for building virtual worlds with apps like Minecraft. But what if you could combine the two?
A new line called Lego Fusion does just that. Each Lego Fusion set comes with a distinct set of bricks and a corresponding downloadable app. Kids (or perhaps me) put the blocks together on a special building plate that enables a smartphone or tablet camera to identify the size and colors of the bricks and transforms the physical creation into a digital 3D creation as well.
Kids can then import their creation into the game and play a series of challenges that require them to use the physical bricks to build solutions to puzzles.
According to Ditte Bruun Pedersen, a senior Lego designer, “In our research, we heard repeatedly from parents that they are constantly battling ‘zombie gaze,’ the experience when their children are immersed in their device screens for large blocks of time. We developed LEGO FUSION with this challenge in mind, creating a play experience that keeps children entertained with the kind of app gameplay they love while giving real reasons to return to the brick pile to creatively build.”
To start, there will be four Lego Fusion Products:
Town Master – kids create and run their own Lego town. First they build the town and import it into the game. Then they use the app to manage the town and solve the residents’ problems.
Battle Towers – Players build a tower to defend their kingdom against attack and then concentrate of warding off skeleton armies and other evil doers. If their castle is damaged, they have to repair it with the real-world bricks.
Create & Race – Kids design and build cars with bricks and then import them into the game for racing, demolition derby and stunts.
Resort Designer – Players build vacations homes and shops and then use the app to decorate the interiors and complete missions like rescuing dolphins and surfing.
Each set will cost $34.99 and be available starting in August. You can download the app form the Apple App Store, Google Play Store, Samsung App Store or Amazon App Store.
~ Cynthia