LEGO builder Helen Sham is a huge Nintendo fan, so she decided to combine her loves by building an incredible arcade cabinet completely out of LEGO. Standing more than 5 feet tall, the cabinet features brick-built graphics from the game Mario vs Donkey Kong 2. TBB spoke with Helen, and she’s given TBB an exclusive early look at this amazing machine.
Pinball machines bring out the kid in all of us, hanging out in an arcade losing quarters and setting high scores. And the Classic Space era of LEGO sets appeals to so many of us who got our first LEGO sets back in the 70’s through 90’s. The Brothers Brick contributor Bre Burns hits it out of the nostalgia ballpark with a fully functional LEGO pinball machine called “Benny’s Spaceship Adventure.” She spent several months perfecting the design with over 15,000 LEGO bricks, including LEGO Mindstorms NXT programmable bricks to make sounds and count your high score.
Bre has kindly shared loads of details about her LEGO masterpiece, which stands over two and a half feet tall, exclusively with The Brothers Brick. Let’s pull back that ball launcher, flick those flippers, and learn more about this amazing LEGO creation!
But first, let’s take a look at the pinball machine in action as Bre shares its working features and tells us a little bit about the design process in our latest TBB video.
Learn more about Benny’s Spaceship Adventure, with more exclusive photos and details!
With the latest round of Iron Builder underway, expect to see a flurry of LEGO creations featuring the Friends balloon piece, as we noted a few days ago with the lovely LEGO lotus blossom. Contestant Grant Davis is cranking out something new just about every day — and sometimes more than one new creation a day. One of my favorites so far is this Whack-a-Mole machine. The ill-fated victims of whackage peeking with their single eyes out of their holes are also the tips of the bulbous balloon piece, and I just love their adorable little hats.
We’ve posted several impressive LEGO-built games over the years (including LEGO versions of Settlers of Catan, Trench, Go, and even a LEGO Star Wars pinball machine), but Jonas‘s Lord of the Rings-themed game is truly jaw-dropping. This one hundred percent LEGO, fully functioning pinball machine includes microscale scenes from all your favorite Middle Earth locations, including Hobbiton (the ball shooter lane), Helms Deep, Ortanc, Weathertop (a bumper), Fangorn, Minas Tirith, and even the Black Gates of Mordor (each gate is a flipper!)
The machine is over two feet long and a foot wide and tall (or 62cm x 32cm x 36cm to be precise) and Jonas says it took him twelve straight hours of work and more than 2000 pieces to create this arcade masterpiece.
Watch the video below to check out the game in action and remember, no shaking or nudging allowed!
French Lego fan Jimmy (6kyubi6) made a working pinball machine with lights and working flippers and ball launcher. I’m sure it’s just what the Empire needs to keep all the stormtroopers entertained during downtime on the Death Star. How many points do I get for hitting R2-D2?
Check out the video to see it in action!