The Great LEGO Puzzle Book
Posted by Huw,
If you're looking for something to help occupy your kids during the cold winter months, a new book published by No Starch Press, The Great LEGO Puzzle Book, might be just the thing.
The author, Jacob Berg, is a game designer and toy inventor who has used his skills to come up with fun ways to use LEGO to solve 2D and 3D puzzles that need just a handful of bricks to play.
Brickset readers can get a 25% discount on the book when buying from the No Starch website before January 19th, using the code BRICKSET2026 at checkout. That'll take the price down to $12.74.
View samples of pages that illustrate the types of puzzle included after the break.
The book contains 120 puzzles of five types, examples of which are illustrated below, and solutions are provided at the back if you need them.
Adults and older children will have no trouble completing them and are likely to get bored once they've tried several of each, but I think kids of 4 or 5 or so would really enjoy doing them, and probably find them quite challenging.
I think it would make the perfect parent/child activity on a rainy day: the parent sets up the puzzle, then watches the child complete the puzzle, helping as necessary. Unfortunately, I don't have any 5-year-olds at my disposal, so I've not been able to test this out, but I will pass the review copy of the book onto a friend who does and report back.
2D to 3D: build the shape that matches the silhouette
Complete the cube: Build the missing shape to complete the cube.
Master the shadows: Build the shape that matches the shadows.
Third shape missing: Build the shape that completes the cube
Fill it: Build the shape that fills the hole
If you have kids or grandkids of the right age and you want to keep them occupied away from screens for a few hours, the puzzles in the book are perfect activity.
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10 comments on this article
I'm sure it's nice but, at £30 over here, I'll have to pass
I think they'd have more fun if you spend the money on LEGO instead.
I know kids who would love this. It's right up their alley.
Plus it's 12.99 Euro over here on Amazon, so doesn't break the bank.
@Huw , Does the book contain a brick list or inventory that would be needed for the challenges?
The red and yellow shapes on the cover image look like an animal answering the call of nature
@bekuehn said:
" @Huw , Does the book contain a brick list or inventory that would be needed for the challenges?"
For each chapter, yes, but not one that covers the whole book. 28 bricks in total are needed.
Hmmm,.. does book explain why Lego is making silly dumb techno bricks?
Thank you Huw, Looks like a fun activity book for the kids. 1 ordered!
This is an interesting activity book for teachers working with younger children. It offers interesting alternative activities for several curricular objectives for science and math.
Thank you Brickset for bringing this book to a wider audience!
Reasonable discount, taking it down to $12.74. Unfortunately, postage to the UK is twice the (discounted) book price, so overall price is still $36.69, or, in round terms, 27 quid. Thanks, but no thanks. I might see if I can get a used copy later on Amabay or Ezon though...