Lego Games: 3 quick questions!

DunedinNZ

1) Do you buy the lego games?

2) Do you enjoy them, or do you collect them for the parts, or for completeness?

3) Whats the most you would pay for a completely new lego game that was more strategic than the current offerings?

I'm doing a little market research, have some good ideas and would love your very general feedback.

andhe

I bought the Minotaurus game on sale (£5 on Amazon) and actually really enjoy it. It's quick and simple but fun to play when made a bit more difficult (need to rescue all 3 heroes not just one as recommended by lego).
I wouldn't have paid £20 for it (be cheaper to buy the pieces) but for £5 I figured that was a good deal (the blue baseplate alone costs more than that).
I've also played creationary, but again the rules needed adjusting to make it more involving for all playing. I appreciate that they are aimed at kids but the rules for the games do seem under-developed and the 'create your own rules' feels a bit of a cop-out from TLG.

I'm waiting to see if the Heroica prices drop before trying that, as my suggested improvements to Minotaurus are taking the game in a more 'objects and abilities' direction anyway!

StuBoy

I havn't played any, but when they first came out Creationary stood out to me, probably because at first glance it looks like a twist on Pictionary, and as I'm familiar with that knew roughly how the game would be played. The others seem to be new games with unfamiliar rules, so aren't too appealing, but may very well be good games.

vwong19

Creationary, Magma Monster, Robo Champ, Heroica Castle Fortran - I own, but have yet to open it... purchased on sale (25% off+). I intend to play them one day with my kids (currently 0.5 and 3 yo).
Monsters 4 - I got several copies on clearance mostly for parts, but I'd like to play it also.
Tic Tac Toe (Castle and Pirates) - purchased on clearance for the minifigs

I'd love to own a Lego Chess set, but have missed previous offerings.

I wonder if it is possible, with some licensing of course, to have Lego versions of traditional boards (i.e. Risk, Scabble, Monopoly). I'd be all over that.

It would be pretty cool if Lego make some games involving Super Heroes next year with Marvel or DC.

purple_haze

I have played a few, Rameses Pyramid I found disappointing, a bit annoying actually! but all others I have played I quite enjoyed,
Creationary was the first one I bought and with a few tweaks can be very entertaining.
Orient Bazaar was OK, but luck rather than strategy is needed! (much like most games I suppose)!
Hogwarts is great fun, especially when you use Mrs Norris and Dumbledore (take the three shift option and marauders map off the dice) to make it harder.
Lava dragon again is OK but very quick.

The best by far though is Heroica, I have the Fortan and Waldurk Forest games and I will be getting the other two shortly. The rules provided are simple at best but if you put more than one game together (Epic Heroica) and introduce some new rules it is great fun and lasts a lot longer. Some of the rules I have used are:

Monsters life points are the same as their strength so if a monster has strength 3 it will take 3 hits to defeat (rolling a shield on the attack dice kills outright)
You can keep fighting until you roll a skull (so you could potentially finish off a strength 2 or 3 monster in one turn if luck is on your side)
The winner is not who kills the boss monster, once all monsters are defeated the winner is the one with the highest total of points (1 point for each strength 1 monster killed, 2 points for each strength 2 killed etc).
Someone plays as the monsters, once each of the heroes has had a turn the bad guy can move and fight the monsters (monsters move the same number of spaces as their strength) and each monster can attack once per turn.

I intend to try implementing heroquest type rules and perhaps MOCing the board to incorporate larger rooms, traps etc.

So all in all my experiences with Lego games have been mostly great fun and I recommend them to everyone! Especially if you have the time t tailor them to your individual needs.

MinifigsMe

I like the games I've played, but agree that the rules often need tweaking. They're not well written and take some thinking about to understand what they're aiming for.
I'm quite a fan of board games in general, and enjoy the lego games for being quick bursts of fun. (though we ended up tweaking minotauras too much and played for 2 hours with my uber competitive in laws!)

Minotauras is good, gets dull using the basic rules, but start messing with them and you can mess with other people.
Lunar base is good as it is, and fun for a 2 player game (which is rare). meteor strike is ok, but I'd go with lunar base first as an adult, but I think rolling the balls makes it fun for kids.
Shave a sheep is great for even a 3 year old to enjoy.
Sunblock is a bit fiddly for little ones (kind of the point of the game) but is pleasant enough.

I'll be buying/playing more I'm sure.

Also, a friend pointed out that they're great to take on holiday, as you get a game, and/or some bricks to play with, for a change on a rainy day.

sonsofsceva

So far we have only played Magma Monster. My young boys (under 6) love that game! And there is a bit of stragegy involved which they have now picked up on. I think that many of the games primarily have children in mind, though. These are not "Settlers of Catan". More like "Candy Land" or perhaps a bit more complex than that, but not too much.

dimefield

So far i have only bought them for parts and only when discounted. Played Harry Potter with my gf's 9 year old.. it was ok.

mnbvc

I have Pirate Plank, Pirate Code, Magma Monster, Harry Potter, Shave a Sheep and Banana Balance.

Shave a Sheep is a simple game, but the figures are fun to build and it would work well with more than two players. It has the benefit that it's easy for young children to play.

Pirate Plank is similar, although I found it more engaging, particularly when you start altering the rules.

Magma Monster was fun, and I liked that it was more strategic...however, the big points go to Harry Potter, which was a much longer, much more involved game, that required you to think a lot more.

I wasn't fond of Pirate Code, but I think that's because we were trying to play it as a two (and the advice is to just end up playing Mastermind, which is easier to do with a Mastermind board!). However, I bought it for the gems, not for the game itself.

Banana Balance is my only un-opened game; I primarily bought it for the bananas, but I will play it soon.

davee123

1) Do you buy the lego games?

Yes. My wife and I (fellow AFOL) have bought: Minotaurus, Creationary, Banana Balance (unplayed), Heroica (all 4), Ramses Pyramid, Pirate Code, Monster 4, Lava Dragon, Race 3000, Atlantis Treasure, and Harry Potter.

2) Do you enjoy them, or do you collect them for the parts, or for completeness?

A little of each, perhaps. We bought them to try them out, and to support the endeavor by LEGO, because we thought it was a good direction for them to go in. I suppose we haven't really bought any of them for the sake of elements, but we almost did (green 1x1 round plates, which were uber rare).

3) Whats the most you would pay for a completely new lego game that was more strategic than the current offerings?

I'm not sure I could give a good answer. I mean, I paid $200 or so for the Giant Chess Set-- but that was really for the parts (mostly the minifigs). So, obviously, I'd pay quite a lot! I think I'd go toward the $0.15-$0.20 per piece ratio for what I felt was a good game, but I'm not sure how much beyond that I'd go. More than that and I would probably want good reviews to back up the purchase.

I'm doing a little market research, have some good ideas and would love your very general feedback.

Honestly, I think the LEGO Games are really targeted at kids-- so I'm not expecting anything amazing.

The rules are annoyingly simply written-- that is, there are often holes and exceptions that aren't explained in the rules, where you have to simply guess what was intended. But it's done to get kids playing FAST. Kids don't want to spend their time reading rules, they want to play. So I understand why LEGO does what they do there. If they were targeting AFOLs, it'd be different, I'm sure.

Also, they're pretty simple games. There isn't a lot of strategy involved. Even in Heroica, which is probably the most complex to date, it's still just a race-to-the-finish game, with some special tidbits thrown in. You really have to modify the rules in order to make it a full-blown strategy game.

So far, I've enjoyed Heroica, Minotaurus, and Harry Potter the most. The other games are cute, but not really very re-playable much as an adult. Rameses' Pyramid was, IMHO, the only bad game (it just didn't make "sense" as a game, and was annoying to play-- also had the worst written rules in terms of not being explicit).

DaveE

ParkGrades

Our kids like the games. All ages seem to enjoy Creationary and the Harry Potter game; our 8 year old also likes the Atlantis game and Minotaurus; out 5 year old prefers Pirate Code and Monster 4.

We aren't AFOLs, so we wouldn't buy any of these if it weren't for our children. I would recommend Creationary in particular as a game that kids will continue to enjoy for a long, long time...

Jasen

We bought Ramses Pyramid when it was on sale.
Played it once and then parted it out. I bought it primaryily for the 32x32 tan brown base plate :) but it is all pretty good for parts.

I agree about the rules, knda confusing in their simplicity. We changed the rules as we went along until it 'stabalised' but yeah- it's parts now :)

bluemoose

I like the games I've played, but agree that the rules often need tweaking. They're not well written and take some thinking about to understand what they're aiming for.

I've been told that this was deliberate; LEGO want to encourage kids to innovate around the rules, to come up with their own versions ... the 'new toy every day' philosophy applied not only to the bricks themselves but also to the game itself. I guess we can all make a judgement on how well it works ... for the most part, I've enjoyed the games I've played, but I haven't really played them often enough to form any concrete views, other than that I think the concept is great.

Jasen

^ yeah you're right - it mentions it in the books more than once, they encourage you to make your own rules as you see fit

andhe

I like the games I've played, but agree that the rules often need tweaking. They're not well written and take some thinking about to understand what they're aiming for.

I've been told that this was deliberate; LEGO want to encourage kids to innovate around the rules, to come up with their own versions ...

Yeah this is made clear in the rule books, but the gripes/reviews I've read about seem to be that in some cases even the basic games are flawed (namely Ramses Pyramid). If they're going to charge you more for the set being game (than the 'normal' cost of the parts) then the basic rules should at least make sense and be enjoyable to a kid!

That said, I really enjoy Minotaurus for a 20min game of mindless 'roll and move' (and becuase I got it for £5 of amazon) :P

bluemoose

... in some cases even the basic games are flawed ...

Which is why I said ...

... I guess we can all make a judgement on how well it works ...

andhe

^which is why I made my judgement... ?

Legoboy

Just in case it hadn't been raised before:-
http://www.toysrus.co.uk/browse/free-storage-case-when-you-spend-gbp25-on-lego-heroica

MinifigsMe

A pretty good offer. I love the ridiculousness of the £25 level, since lots of combos give you £24.99 or £29.99. That damn penny :)

andhe

Didn't I read or someone say that the case can't hold all the sets? Would look nice though, tempting.... but think I'll try and wait til they dip in price a bit...

bluemoose

^ I finally got official acknowledgement from the staff at the Milton Keynes store last night that it doesn't hold all the sets. But Davee123 had already provided a comprehensive answer ..
http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/comment/19271#Comment_19271