We bought this at our school fete for the princely sum of £1.50. For £1.50 I have subjected myself to the longest game in the history of the world, because if you don’t read the instructions properly it takes hours (OK slight exaggeration). It is made by the manufacturer Kids Fun Factory, and seems to be from The Works.
Block Tech look remarkably similar to Lego blocks. The figures have similar hands, the legs look the same design and the colours remind you of Lego sets. That is about where the similarity ends. You can tell it’s not, the pieces don’t feel the same quality as Lego. It’s hard to explain how something plastic doesn’t feel the same as something else plastic.
The game is for ages 5 and over. My four year old played it with us, and we built her model for her. There is no way she could have managed it, the diagrams aren’t as clear as those you get with Lego.
There are 4 characters, and the game should be played with 2-4 players. A firefighter, ranger, policeman and super model. A super model. I’m not a raving feminist, but surely there could have been a better career option than a model. A doctor? Nurse? Teacher?
The game is very simple; collect your pieces, head to the finish line and hope you have got all of them to build your model. If you don’t, it’s down the ladder and try again. We started building as we went. Don’t do that!! It takes ages, there is only one instruction sheet, everyone is fighting over it. It gets confusing whose go it is because you’ve all been waiting. Do it properly and build at the end. Once you do it properly it is easy to understand, without a million and one extra rules to try and remember.
The models you build are quite cool. I love the dinosaur the best. The other three are vehicles. They build up in a similar way to Lego builds. My seven year old built his easily following the instructions.
It is a good game, it’s not a great game. Even my two weren’t that enthusiastic about it, so it’s not just me being miserable. The game is relatively durable, although if you lose any pieces it will affect it, and you can’t swap in Lego as they don’t fit properly. You might be able to get replacement pieces.
New from Amazon it costs around £6.80 so it is much cheaper than the Lego games you can get. The Works have stores around the UK and you can shop online at http://www.theworks.co.uk, although I couldn’t see this particular Block Tech game online.
Toy Infinity 