50 Fun Facts About Hard Lego

How much did Ole Kirk Christiansen pay for the Billund woodworking shop in 1916?

A fire destroyed that workshop in 1924, and he built a bigger one.

Which alternative name, implying a 'legion of toys', did the founder consider before choosing Lego?

The staff naming contest in 1934 offered a bottle of homemade wine as its prize.

What British patent number covered Hilary Page's 1939 hollow plastic cubes with four studs on top?

His 1944 addition, granted in 1947 as patent 587,206, described 2x4-stud rectangular blocks.

The Automatic Binding Bricks were renamed in 1953. What Danish name did they get?

Mursten simply means 'bricks' in Danish; they had been Automatic Binding Bricks since 1949.

Lego's first licensed foreign production began in 1953 in which country?

The partner was Svein Strømberg of Oslo, trading as Norske LEGIO A/S; Sweden and Iceland followed in 1955.

Which 1955 product was the first to use plastic bricks as a 'system' of play?

Godtfred got the system idea from a conversation with an overseas buyer in 1954.

After a 1960 warehouse fire, Godtfred's brothers Gerhardt and Karl Georg left to found which company?

The fire destroyed most of the wooden toy stock and Lego stopped making wooden toys entirely.

Which luggage company made and sold Lego in North America from 1961?

Samsonite kept using some cellulose acetate even after Lego switched to ABS in 1963.

Where did Lego open its first North American factory in 1973?

The plant closed in 2006, and the US headquarters is moving from Enfield to Boston by the end of 2026.

Lego Homemaker, launched in 1971, targeted girls with what kind of sets?

Scala, a jewellery line, followed in 1979 and Paradisa, with pastel colours, in 1992.

Light & Sound sets, with battery packs, lights and buzzers, first appeared in which year?

The same year the educational division produced its first computer-control system for motorised models.

Lego's educational division was renamed Lego Dacta in 1989, after a Greek word meaning what?

MIT's Seymour Papert was named Lego Professor of Learning Research the same year.

The first Lego World Cup building contest in 1988 drew how many children?

It was held in Billund, and Lego Canada was set up the same year.

Which 1990 series was visually accurate where the gears-and-axles line was mechanically accurate?

The first three sets included a race car and an off-road vehicle.

Xavier Gilbert became the first 'Lego Professor of Business Dynamics' in 1990 at which institution?

That year Lego was the only European firm among the world's top ten toy companies.

What voltage did Lego standardise its train and mechanical-set motors to in 1991?

The first trains of 1966 used 4.5V, with a 12V version arriving two years later.

How long was the record-setting Lego railway line built in 1992?

It ran three locomotives; a 400,000-brick castle set another record the same year.

Which family investment firm, founded on April 1, 1995, has led the Lego Group ever since?

The Kristiansen family still owns the company through it as of 2025.

Lego posted its first-ever loss in which year?

The loss was £23 million, and 1,000 employees were laid off.

Besides Star Wars, what was Lego's other first licensed line in 1999?

Harry Potter and Steven Spielberg figures followed in 2000.

In 2002 Duplo was merged with the Baby range under what short-lived name?

The Duplo name returned in late 2004 as the company refocused on its core products.

How large a loss did Lego post in 2004, at its lowest point?

Marketing chief Mads Nipper later said the company was 'almost bankrupt'.

What was notable about Jørgen Vig Knudstorp's appointment as CEO in 2004?

The same year the four Legoland parks were sold to Merlin Entertainments.

The Quatro brick, added in 2004, was how many times the size of a standard brick?

It was aimed at ages 1 to 3 and compatible with Duplo.

Which oil company's logo appeared on Lego sets from the 1960s until a Greenpeace campaign in 2014?

Lego declined to renew the contract; the logo now appears only in co-licensed Ferrari or BMW sets.

Which Chinese artist did Lego refuse a bulk order to in 2015?

Lego said it would not sell to users with 'political intentions'; fans offered to donate bricks instead.

Lego bought BrickLink, the world's largest Lego fan marketplace, in 2019 from which company?

The price was not disclosed.

Which studio signed a five-year film deal with Lego in 2020 after Warner Bros. let its rights lapse?

Warner kept the rights to the original Lego Movie characters.

Which studio produced The Lego Story, the animated short for Lego's 80th anniversary in 2012?

It covers Ole Kirk and Godtfred's struggles from 1932 to 1968.

Which 2022 set was the second ever to pass 10,000 pieces?

The World Map was the first; the Eiffel Tower has 10,001 pieces.

Where did Lego build a factory announced in 2013 to serve the Asian market?

COO Bali Padda explained the strategy of producing close to core markets.

How far did Lego's global workforce fall between 1998 and 2007 through outsourcing?

Manufacturing had moved to Mexico and distribution to the Czech Republic.

In 2017 Lego announced plans to cut how many jobs after its first revenue decline in 13 years?

The dip came in the first half of 2017.

Which theme in 2003 introduced the first minifigures with realistic skin tones instead of yellow?

They were modelled on living NBA players; Lando Calrissian in Star Wars got the same treatment.

Which 1997 minifigure is credited with the first complex face, with an open mouth and detailed eyes?

She came from the Fright Knights theme.

The first minifigure headpieces came in only three types: caps, pigtail hair and what?

They came in black, yellow and blue.

Lego Ideas began in 2008 as an offshoot of a company from which country?

Cuusoo means daydream; the platform moved to Chaordix software in 2014.

On which date was the Mindstorms line discontinued?

It had launched on 1 September 1998, named after Seymour Papert's book.

What did the RCX in the first Mindstorms set stand for?

It grew out of MIT's programmable 'Red Brick' tested in schools.

What was the first Modular Buildings set, released in 2007?

The series was created after feedback from adult and teen fan communities.

Bionicle began in 2001 as a subsidiary line called what?

The portmanteau of construction and action figure had debuted with 1999's Slizer.

Under the extension signed in 2022, the Lego Star Wars licence runs until which year?

The licence, first agreed in 1998, was extended in 2022 to run to 2032; by 2026 the theme included more than a thousand sets and nearly 1,600 minifigures.

Lego Friends was relaunched in 2023 with which new cast?

The original five characters had anchored Heartlake City since 2012.

Ninjago in 2011 was the first theme of its kind since which line ended in 2000?

The Ninjago TV series was superseded by Dragons Rising in 2023.

Duplo bricks are manufactured in which Hungarian city?

The range launched in 1969 for children from one and a half to five.

Legoland Billund sits next to Billund Airport, which ranks where among Denmark's airports?

More than 50 million guests have visited the park since 1968.

In the first half of 2015, Lego overtook Mattel as the largest toy company with sales of how much?

Mattel had US$1.9 billion over the same period.

How large is the Lego House visitor centre in Billund?

It contains 25 million bricks and calls itself the Home of the Brick.

Which 1985 educational system let motorised robots and trucks be run from a PC?

A Lego factory opened in Manaus, Brazil, the same year.

What was the 'medi-figure' of the late-1990s Lego 4 Juniors line?

Belville and Slizers/Throwbots targeted other age groups at the same time.