LEGO Games

### Location

The instructions for Phineas & Ferb and Story Mixer are easily available online for those that want to recreate what they would’ve looked like

## Product Information

### Year(s)

2009-2014

While everyone is well aware of the many video games based on original and licensed LEGO themes, very few people know anything about LEGO Games: a line of brick-built board games introduced in July 2009.

## **Summary:**

How they worked is that the playing board uses standard bricks and building techniques in both construction and play, but only two elements - the microfigures and die - are both characteristic and exclusive to the line. 29 sets were released in total with one original sub-theme (Heroica, which was inspired by Dungeons and Dragons) and a few license tie-ins (Harry Potter, Star Wars). Europe got many of the sets much earlier than America due to having steadier waves while America’s retailing was sporadic at best and non-existent at worst.  The line was discontinued in 2013, but let’s go over several Games sets that were never released.

* Knight’s Kingdom
* Maya Mystica
* Phineas and Ferb
* Story Mixer
The title is unknown, but there was set to be a 2009 board game based off the Knight’s Kingdom theme and has no other information.

 Marketed under #3867, “Maya Mystica” was going to be released in the summer of 2012 and would take influence from the Mayan people of Mexico and Central America with four microfigures based on their tribesmen (Red, Blue, Black, and White) and the brick-build board game featuring their famous Mesoamerican pyramids. Some people believe it was cancelled due to sharing the exact same design as *The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey* set with a change of colours and microfigures made to resemble Gandalf, Dwalin, Fili, and Kili. However, some have speculated that the Mayan prophecy of the world coming to an end on December 21st 2012 would have scared away potential customers from this game when released.

 One of the more interesting sets in this category, this product from 2012 was to be based off the Disney animated series *Phineas and Ferb:* a cartoon about the two titular kids who set out to do extraordinary activities in the span of their 104-day long summer vacation with their friends while their snooty sister, Candace, tries to expose their ordeals to their parents; though is unsuccessful by the end of the episode. Revealed on August 2012, the playing board would have been a map of the Tri-State Area city named Danville with micro-builds of Phineas & Ferb’s house, Mr. Slushy Burger, Danville City Hall, and 🎵DOOFENSCHMIRTZ EVIL INCORPORATED!!!🎵 What’s interesting is that instead of microfigures, the four playable characters would be represented by brick-built robots with different colours: Red (Phineas), Blue (Ferb), Orange (Candace), and a generic Yellow robot. One of the more interesting aspects of this set was a minibuild of Perry, the boy’s pet platypus who is an undercover secret agent that tries to stop the plans of the show’s antagonist named Dr. Doofenschmirtz, who isn’t successful, but always makes the boys inventions disappear unintentionally before Candace can bust them.

 Similar to the Game of LIFE, Story Mixer from 2013 would’ve featured a board with a six directional spinner, colour fields with special properties, and 30 small LEGO models each on a 4x4 base. The player spins the spinner and then places one of their models onto the field area it points to. She/he then gives the model a name of two words like “red dragon” (not the movie), “stomping elephant”, “birthday cake,” etc. and begins a story with that element. The next player does the same, but must use both the first model and his/her own (in that order). Whoever makes a mistake (ie. saying “fire dragon”) will be immediately penalized and must take the model back. An element that returns to the field is allowed to be re-named, adding to even further chaos. The goal of the game is to get rid of one’s own models first, and could be varied by adding your own models. Some of the minimodels that could be build include an elephant, space shuttle rocket, a castle, truck, dragon, giraffe, helicopter, and so much more. Some of the microfigures that were planned to be included are eight golden variants, Pirate Plank Captain (same one from 3848 Pirate Plank), Jay from *Ninjago* (same one from the 3856 set), Red Spartan (same one from the Minotaurus and LEGO Champion sets), Pink Princess, Zombie, Knight (same one from Castle Fortaan), Crook, White Astronaut, and Black Mummy.

Many of these sets were cancelled due to the poor sales of the LEGO Games theme, their lack of a manageable release schedule, and how expensive they were to make. No other information is available about the Knight’s Kingdom set and the instructions for Maya Mystica are nowhere to be found online, though the ones for *Phineas & Ferb* and Story Mixer are available for those that want to recreate what they would’ve looked like.   The only parts of the set that are truly lost and aren’t so easy to replicate are any specially molded pieces (ie. the microfigures and printed tiles).

## **References:**

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego\_Games
2. ↑ https://lego.brickinstructions.com/en/lego\_instructions/set/3868/Phineas\_and\_Ferb
3. ↑ https://www.lego.com/cdn/product-assets/product.bi.core.pdf/6047409.pdf
https://brickipedia.fandom.com/wiki/3592\_Knights%27\_Kingdom\_Board\_Game

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/137734/story-mixer

https://en.brickimedia.org/wiki/3867\_Maya\_Mystica