Can somebody tell me the actual dimensions of Lego blocks?

In particular, is there a block that is about 1"x1"? How many positioning pegs would it have?

Or, can anybody come up with a suggestion for where I could obtain several thousand stackable, interlocking blocks about 1" x 1", preferably with the body of the block about 1/2" tall. If they came in multiple colors that would be good, too.

How's that for off-topic!

tanstaafl.

Curiousity is peaked.

Curiousity is peaked.

[spelling police]
I'll bet piqued as well...
[/spelling police] .

It's for my son (33 years old) who is in the process of trying to bring to market a board game he has designed called "Star Fleet Battles". I am told that those who know such things consider it the best game of its genre ever designed. All the physics involved in the game is dead-on-accurate. He even received a visit from some anti-terrorist government investigator because of the information he was gathering on the internet about damage potential of nuclear weapons in a vacuum.

I was in the process of trying to make him some of these blocks out of wood (I have a pretty complete woodworking shop) when my wife pointed out that they were just like Legos... Believe me, buying Legos would be easier than making these damn things!

tanstaafl.

Hmm... Lego is metric:

"4.9152 cm is the volume of an 8-stud LEGO brick. It measures 9.6 x 32 x 16 mm."

So, the width of each peg element is 8mm, ~1/3", so a 3x3 block (which I've never seen and probably isn't made) would be approx. 1" x 1" x 3/8". A 4x4 block would be 1.25" x 1.25" x 3/8". But again, I don't recall having seen this either. But! If you look at the toddlers version of lego - the smallest single block in that range is the same as a 4x4 regular block, but taller. They are 1.25" x 1.25" x 3/4" according to my trusty tape measure.

PS. There is such a thing as a free lunch. We had one at the Boston Empeg Meet. Thanks ithoughti.

If no body else answers I have some out in my garage that I will hunt down tomorrow and measure for you. I kept an old set. Or they could be in my storage closet. I'll look after work.

Nevermind, someone beat me to it.

Haha, yes you're right. I knew that, it just slipped. Technically, if I was especially curious at that point, couldn't I say I had reached the peak of my curiousity? I'm just kidding, don't answer that

Thanks for the correction!

And if I hadn't been such a stupid child, I would have never sold my wonderful Lego collection. I had the monorail for crying out loud! Now that thing is worth about $150!

Nevermind, someone beat me to it.


Yeah, but I have the dubious advantage of being able to find lego in any room in my house. It was a feature that came with Toddler v1.0

Unfortunately, the only square legos available in the bulk packs that I know of are roughly 5/8" x 5/8" x 3/8" (2 pegs square) http://shop.lego.com would be your best bet for finding something.

bring to market a board game he has designed called "Star Fleet Battles"

I could be mistaken, but I could have sworn I played a series of board games back in the eighties that were called Star Fleet Battles.

DiGNAN17: "I had the monorail for crying out loud! Now that thing is worth about $150!"

Woo Hoo! I still have the complete set, with track extensions!

You could get the plastic custom molded and manufactured.

IIRC, genuine Lego bricks have the Lego logo moulded onto the studs. With such clear branding, you might need to get permission from Lego if the pieces were to be included in a game being sold retail.

Ummm. Yeah. It was developed in 1975, and is still in production. It was very popular at least until the late '80s.

I suppose it's possible that Doug's son is Steve Cole, though.

I suppose it's possible that Doug's son is Steve Cole, though.

No, I have no sons named Steve Cole, at least not that I know of.

However, I can foresee a problem with the chosen name of his game if it already exists...

tanstaafl.

The existing game is also spookily similar to the way you described it...

The existing game is also spookily similar to the way you described it...

I was mistaken about the name -- he says he has done work with Star Fleet Battles, but his game is called "Delta V".

You can find more information about it here.

tanstaafl.

Hey! Something I might be able to help with...

Check out the "Geometry" link here:
http://homepages.svc.fcj.hvu.nl/brok/legomind/insights/index.htm

If you want to purchase bulk bricks, you could do so at an online auction. I would start at lugnet - the Lego Users Group NETwork:
http://news.lugnet.com/market/

Or, if you prefer to buy new from the source, Lego itself offers a discount on bulk brick sales to lugnet users. You don't even have to be a member. Check out this post:
http://news.lugnet.com/lego/direct/?n=3998

Though there is sometimes some confusion about placing orders online using this method, in which case it might work better by doing it over the phone. Just make sure you call during regular business hours (east coast). This is so you speak with a knowledgeable customer service rep and not a night shift order-taker.

lugnet member 169,