Play 101 Bricks with me at Bricks by the Bay Virtual

I’ll be hosting a game of 101 Bricks at the upcoming virtual Bricks by the Bay event. Sadly the pandemic rules out any in-person activities this year, but they’re having a Zoom-based online convention instead, next Saturday July 11th. It’s not too late to register, and it’s only $5 per household to attend!

101 Bricks is a game that I picked up at BrickCon in Seattle a number of years ago. I used to host the game in person at Bricks by the Bay and earlier this year I even played it at Bricks Cascade. (They called it 99 Bricks at Bricks Cascade, but it’s the same game with 2 fewer elements.)

I don’t know if this has been played on Zoom before at one of the other virtual conventions, or if this is the first time it’s being done… so there may be some glitches, but we’ve got a pretty good idea of how to play this online. The rules are pretty simple:

  1. Everyone brings 101 bricks of their own to the event. They can be any LEGO elements, any shape or size. Every element counts! Things like tires, minifig legs, etc. are all counted separately; in other words, if it counts towards the parts count on a LEGO set or if you can order it individually on BrickLink, it should count separately towards your 101 bricks for this game. We won’t be able to verify your brick count, but we will require you to turn your camera on with Zoom so we can see your bricks and the things you build with them, so be honest.
  2. The person running the game (me) will announce a series of build challenges. Each one is 3 minutes long. You build, using only the parts you brought with you, something that matches the theme of the challenge. If you’ve seen LEGO Masters, it’s like that, but only 3 minutes per build.
  3. We will spotlight the video of each participant in turn and then vote to determine a winner for each round, and the totals are tracked in a spreadsheet. Vote will be done by Zoom poll, so only one vote per Zoom connection is allowed. (If you have several people in one household joining us, each can vote if you use multiple devices — just turn the audio off for all but one of them in the room please.)
  4. After 10 rounds (or however many we have time for), the winner is the one with the most wins.

So if you’re interested in joining us, register for Bricks by the Bay and join the 101 Bricks room on Zoom on Saturday at 6pm. (Note: hours may vary; schedule is subject to change).

Bricks Cascade 2020: 99 Bricks Contest

A month ago I was attending the Bricks Cascade LEGO convention in Portland. A highlight of that event for me was on Friday when I participated in the “99 Bricks” challenge, in which you have to build a bunch of different models out of the same 99 elements, each one to a different theme or subject matter, and you only have 3 minutes to do it in! I think my favorite was the first one I made, a robot:

1: Robot
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Bricks Cascade 2020 MOCs

It feels like a million years ago, but it has only been 4 weeks since my first (and I fear it may be only) LEGO convention of 2020, Bricks Cascade, in Portland Oregon. Despite early worries about coronavirus, I had a pretty great time, and don’t seem to have caught anything. Since then, of course, I’ve returned home and have been sheltering in place and watching with horror at the way the virus has spread across the world. It feels almost impossible that an event such as this could ever happen, much less just a few weeks ago. It’s amazing how quickly we adapt to changing realities. Everyone, please stay home and help flatten the curve.

Anyway, let’s try to forget about COVID-19 for a minute, and talk about the MOCs (My Own Creations) at the event. As usual at LEGO conventions, I tried to take photos of photos of all the MOCs displayed by the builders there, and think I probably didn’t miss much if any. Here’s an image of my MOCs that were on display in the Art area:

Bricks Cascade MOCs 0025
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Bricks by the Bay 2019

This year’s edition of Bricks by the Bay, the annual LEGO convention in the San Francisco Bay Area, happened last weekend. It seemed like I wasn’t going to be able to go due to illness, but thanks to the miracle of antibiotics, I was able to go! Here are some of my models (Teddy, Kermit, Owl and California Flag) on display:

BBTB 2019 MOCs 353 BBTB 2019 MOCs 361

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Bricks by the Bay 2018

This past weekend was the 9th edition of Bricks by the Bay, the bay area’s local LEGO convention. I was a co-founder and President from 2010 through 2015, until I resigned and skipped the 2016 event. I returned last year to repair my relationship with the local LEGO community and am feeling very happy to have been accepted and welcomed back into the fold.

BBTB 2018 MOCs
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