When it comes to the title of undisputed king of the toy construction kit world, the Danes have it. Lego are ubiquitous in the toybox, and parents worldwide know the joy of stepping barefoot on a stray brick. Aside from the themed sets for youngsters and collectors, we see a lot of Lego in projects that make it to these pages. Sometimes they are from hardware hackers who’ve chosen Lego because they had some to hand or because of its utility, but at other times they come from the Lego community rather than the wider one.
Take the Star Racer from [Alexis Dos Santos] as an example of the former. It’s a table top racing game made entirely from Lego, and with control courtesy of Lego Mindstorms. It’s a real rolling road game, with a track made from five continuous belts of grey Lego sections, with obstacles attached to them. The Podracer slides from side to side at the front under user control, and the object is to avoid them as they come towards you at varying speed.
It’s a beautiful piece of work, and as well as the linked Flickr photographs it can be seen in the YouTube video below the break. The sticker says it’s a highly addictive game, and we’d be inclined not to disagree.
Via The Brothers Brick. Thanks [FL] for the tip.
Reminds me of those old Tomy electro-mechanical games I had as a kid.
“Lego are ubiquitous…” Should be “Lego is ubiquitous…”
Should be “Legos are ubiquitous…”
Wash your mouth out
Lego is the name of the company, their product is plastic bricks. In the same way Intel is the name of a company and their product is semiconductors or chips. You say ‘Intel chips are ubiquitous’ not ‘Intels are ubiquitous’, the same goes for Lego, the correct thing to say is that ‘Lego bricks are ubiquitous’, Legos would mean more than one Lego company and that does not make any sense. Just because in North America it has become popular to say Legos does not make it correct.
Both forms are correct. In English you can refer to a company as either singular or plural.
Incorrect! From the LEGO website (regarding proper use or the LEGO IP, say putting up your own designs like this site references:
“Proper Use of the LEGO Trademark on a Web Site
If the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun. For example, say “MODELS BUILT OF LEGO BRICKS”. Never say “MODELS BUILT OF LEGOs”.Also, the trademark should appear in the same typeface as the surrounding text and should not be isolated or set apart from the surrounding text. In other words, the trademarks should not be emphasized or highlighted. Finally, the LEGO trademark should always appear with a ® symbol each time it is used.”
There was an interview on something (Netflix, Youtube) where the PR rep specifically states multiple blocks/units/creations are NOT to be referred to as “Legos”. And it’s not just people in the US that do it….
Source: https://www.lego.com/en-us/legal/legal-notice/fair-play
As other commenters have pointed out, the language is more flexible than that. Myself I hold that while the company is an entity it is also a collective entity, therefore I go with the plural.
Now that’s pod racing!
Too bad the controls are wrong – it should really have tank style steering and two thrust inputs
Then get to work.
amazing what creative minds can come up with when building with Lego