Primo

Aleydita

I'm just wondering if anyone has anything to say about Lego Primo? I know they're slightly bigger than Duplo but smaller than Quatro, with rounded studs to help smaller hands. Also they were made in Switzerland for some reason. Some sets were released with the Duplo logo instead of the Primo logo, and they were available at least in the US, Canada and the UK.

Does anyone know anything else? Why they were discontinued, when they were first made? Is anyone still using them? Are they 'in system' with Duplo?

I have some new sets incoming because I came across them on Ebay by accident and curiosity got the better of me. My girls enjoy playing with Duplo so it's probably a bit too young for them, but I'm thinking they'll make good presents for other kids in future.

Aleydita

Oh yeah, one other thing, some Primo sets were released under the Lego Baby brand.

Bumblepants

I remember my 10 years younger brother having some of these when he was 1-2. I think there were at least one or two Primo blocks that had Duplo studs on the top which allowed the two to interact. I think I read they got discontinued just because the window of relevance to kids was so small it made more sense to just do Duplo. 

datsunrobbie

Primo to Duplo adapter block do exist, but I don;t think I've ever seen one in person.

Russell844

I have a couple of Primo pieces including a couple of these adapters in my collection. They definitely exist.

Aleydita

Interesting, that means Primo, Duplo and system can be connected together. I wonder if the same is true of Quatro?

Russell844

I believe regular Duplo bricks do fit on Quatro bricks. I think a 2x2 Duplo bricks fits on one Quatro stud. I can test it this weekend.

datsunrobbie

https://www.freelug.org/spip.php?article372
https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/38/are-duplo-blocks-compatible-with-lego-blocks-in-any-way

I've used 2x2 Duplo on top of Quatro. The Stackexchange link shows lots of connection, but says 2x4 Duplo won't fit on top of Quatro. The Freelug article says Duplo 2x4 bricks made after 2002 will fit.

Aleydita

So Duplo is the master brick :) It fits system, Quatro and Primo.

Any idea why these were made in Switzerland? Was that a regular Lego production facility?

KungFuKenny

Aleydita said:

So Duplo is the master brick :) It fits system, Quatro and Primo.

Any idea why these were made in Switzerland? Was that a regular Lego production facility?

I know that Switzerland was the first country outside of Denmark to produce Lego elements. I believe it was sometime in the mid 70s. I also read somewhere that perhaps it had something to do with the precision molding LEGO required, and Lego’s management feeling that the Swiss were better able to maintain production standards at the time.

edit: I found an interesting article on the subject...

https://www.lego.com/en-us/lego-history/lego-molding-in-switzerland-61f8a7bfdaad452e8ee2793a8e2583f0

CCC

KungFuKenny said:

Aleydita said:

So Duplo is the master brick :) It fits system, Quatro and Primo.

Any idea why these were made in Switzerland? Was that a regular Lego production facility?

I know that Switzerland was the first country outside of Denmark to produce Lego elements. I believe it was sometime in the mid 70s.

LEGO elements were being produced in Britain and in the US (under license) in the 1960s!

https://brickset.com/article/12576/british-lego-ltd-the-early-years-(1960-65)

Note that the article you refer to is for molding factories specifically run by LEGO, not for factories producing LEGO parts.

madforLEGO

Just a wild guess, but paging @Istokg to see if he knows any info about this

Istokg

Can't help you with Primo... not part of the LEGO System of Play.

But LEGO parts were made in Oslo Norway (1953-62), Bembole Finland (1960-63), Reykjavik Iceland (1956-78), Wrexham Wales (1962-78), Stratford Ontario (1961-88) and Loveland Colorado (1965-72), for LEGO licensees.

The Baar Switzerland plant was not via a licensing agreement, but directly from LEGO A/S.

The first LEGO bricks for young children were via USA/Canada Samsonite, from 1964-72 known as Jumbo bricks.  Starting circa 1967-68 TLG made a European version of Jumbo bricks that were slightly smaller than the Samsonite ones.  These were Jumbo Bricks sets 501, 502 and 503... produced in very limited quantities, and were discontinued in lieu of Duplo bricks in 1969.

Here is a comparison between the Samsonite Jumbo bricks (left), and EU Jumbo bricks (right).... image Michael Firnhaber...

Astrobricks

^ How do those compare in size to Duplo and “regular” bricks?

Istokg

Here's a comparison of all the various LEGO bricks (and brick-like parts) sizes... the Samsonite Jumbo and EU Jumbo bricks are in the right side of the lower row, and the Duplo is the hollow stud brick in the middle of the upper row....

https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/49282782002/in/photolist-2i5X96Y-qvApcS-9k9omt-9k9okx-25BGAS9-2g7B5FX-euzB74-qLMy5u-4frsDY-ALEsiW-21awUg1-21awUiW-ZazQaL-9thnqb-osCovP-HayHor-bK4nRF-f9VzqJ-kV6ceN-Bgt4Xj-AaZntP-byzHe9-f9VzhG-a8QQKt-f9FjVH-2gPJaQC-bw9CCy-ThKTze-9ttGUB-GajPyc-8NPo45-75aefC-8NLhMx-euCJjJ-o6fsdR-7SYKHF-8NLhKt-nQ1Txm-3ftxhV-eZTwpk-o7cMXD-nLYXcs-MgQG8c-W8cECB-agEN4Y-agENcA-83KRgE-a8TH2o-6TcDRf-26Uku5p

bortan88

Primo fits on to Duplo and as mentioned above with the adaptor brick Duplo can be built on to Primo. Primo is limited but I still like to use it.

bortan88

Primo was also marketed as Lego Baby and they produced some very unusual pieces, such as rattles, teethers, cloth pieces and a walker. You can just see the shape sorter behind the Quatro and Duplo Queen Watevra Wanabi

Aleydita

I recently received a German-language Primo booklet and it had a few products listed in the back. One of them, #2093-1, is one of the few products ever recalled by Lego after release. Apparently.