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Comment by upupandup | Hacker News Reader

a bit off topic, but is there like a more affordable lego like alternative? it really disgusts me how expensive lego and litigous they are. so many Americans live in poverty who would love to get their kids to play with lego but can't because its ridiculously expensive.

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Thrift stores have piles and piles of Legos. I've seen various small stores around that sell Legos in bulk. They'll have huge bins, and you can buy them by the pound. I used to buy a few official Lego sets back in the day, but also I would buy the big bucket of generic blocks. They were cheap and gave you a huge stockpile.

Stumbled over a (German speaking) youtuber, "Held der Steine" (Hero of the stones) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVtbNWH_9So

Who reviews "Bricks" of all kinds including Lego. He consistently is annoyed by how expensive Lego is compared to everything else, with usual worse quality (in terms of design, fun to assemble, etc). If you can bear google translate or even speak German, he may be worth listening to.

Anyway, got sucked into that and got my first "brick" set since around 25 years ago and it felt like Lego (as far as I could remember). Instructions, presentation, the stones, everything.

I believe "Cobi" and "Bluebrixx" are often mentioned as good, affordable (seems about half price for similar set) and lego compatible. From what I understand the patent for the particular form factor of the bricks ran out, which is why there are a bunch of alternative now.

I got that one: https://cobitoys.de/small-army-ww2/panzer-und-fahrzeuge/panz...

I live in the UK, think I got it via amazon, so maybe more difficult for you Americans.

I have to ask whether or not you are referencing some specific sets, like high-end Porsche, Lambo ect. or are you talking about LEGO in general, as it seems you have an axe to grind.

If you are genuine about your inquiry, then at this very moment there are 3 supermarkets around me with a toy aisle and a discount basket which includes discounted LEGO sets (30-50%), either due to products running out or box being damaged. I'm assuming there is something similar near you.

Second, and more important, if you or someone close to you work with an organization that helps kids living in poverty, you are welcome and encouraged to contact LEGO directly and ask for help. They have several organizations and initiatives inside the group that help either by directly donating sets or by donating money for other needs.

If the 400 billion or so Lego pieces that have been produced were pulled out of the attics and garages of the world, the market would collapse over night. I have at least $2k worth of Lego in two giant tubs in my garage, collected over the years my now 20yo son was growing up. I honestly have no idea what to do with them - they're surprisingly hard to give away and I don't feel like dealing with eBay.

Sadly, I suspect most of the pieces out there are in landfills or the oceans.

Try Craigslist. That's how I sold a lot of them locally with little effort.

Keep it for future grandkids. Our parents both had sets of Duplo and Lego still in the attic. Now my daughter and her cousins are playing with it.

Try going to <yourcity>.craigslist.org and searching for Lego in the For Sale section. You'll likely find bulk Lego for super cheap.

Toys—even Lego—are damn near free if you aren't picky and will accept whatever you can find used. Often they're literally free. Kids often outgrow toys before they're worn out or broken, and for some reason people hate giving used toys as gifts so there are just tons and tons of them always being dumped on the used market, with relatively little demand.

You could set out with a $20 bill and outfit a 6-year-old with a totally adequate set of toys, from scratch, by just walking a neighborhood on a yard sale day.

Who outgrows Lego? The only exception to that is my Lego went to my nephews, pretty much only because I don't have the space for it in my apartment.

I’m not sure how they compare in price but I really enjoyed erector set and k’nex when I was a kid 30 years ago. And now I’m a robotics engineer!

Also, an Ender 3 3D printer provides a lot of similar construction skills and learning (with the printed objects) for the price of one high end Lego set.

+1 to buying a child a 3d printer. There are okayish ones for about $140 now. About age 6-8 seems like a good time.

Set them up with an easy to use bit of cad software and show them how to 3d print a cube... Then let them 3d print whatever they want to make.

3d printers have hot parts - let them burn their fingers once or twice and they'll soon learn which bits not to touch. After that, a 3d printer is pretty safe. Test it first, but generally the motors aren't strong enough to crush a finger placed in the wrong spot.

The only downside is many 3d prints take 1 hour + to print, which is pretty frustrating for a child. You need another activity to entertain them during printing breaks.

I have no kids but I definitely found that waiting for the print was tough! Often what I do now is I get all my design work done at night. have fun getting design features sorted, or searching online libraries for printable parts, then get everything configured and start the print before bed. Watch the first layer or two to make sure it's gonna work, and then go to sleep while its printing. I wake up and the print is done!

idk if this would work for kids but it works for me! it also means that prints which are 8-10 hours don't feel long, because I start it an hour before bed time, then as I am waking up and doing my morning routine the print is on its last few bits!

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