Bits N’ Bricks podcast celebrates 25 years of LEGO videogames

The LEGO Group is celebrating 25 years of LEGO videogames with a new podcast series that delves into the company’s gaming history.

Bits N’ Bricks will explore LEGO videogames past and present, from classics like LEGO Island to modern titles like LEGO Universe. Videogame journalist and Polygon co-founder Brian Crecente is hosting the series, alongside documentarian and filmmaker Ethan Vincent.

December 2020 marks a quarter of a century since the launch of the LEGO Group’s first ever videogame, LEGO Fun to Build on the Sega Pico. That early Japan-exclusive effort was born out of ‘Project Darwin’, a tiny development team that convinced then-CEO Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen to digitise the brick.

In the years since, the LEGO Group has developed a whopping 80 videogames, selling well over 200 million copies across all its titles. That means there’s plenty of history for Crecente and Vincent to dive into across their 10-episode series, which kicks off with a teaser episode today.

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The first full episode will then focus on meetings between the LEGO Group and Minecraft developer Mojang to create a sandbox, open-world game. That title never materialised, and has never previously been discussed, so the episode should make for a fascinating listen.

Crecente and Vincent have spent more than a year working on the series, interviewing 120 people along the way. Here’s the full schedule for the episodes, which will launch weekly on LEGO.com and all good streaming platforms:

Teaser Episode
Episode 1 – Minecraft
Episode 2 – Fluid Play
Holiday Special
Episode 3 – LEGO Island
Episode 4 – Rise of the LEGO Digital Creator
Episode 5 – LEGO Builder’s Journey
Episode 6 – History of TT Games
Episode 7 – LEGO Universe Part 1
Episode 8 – LEGO Universe Part 2
Episode 9 – Strategic Product Unit Darwin
Episode 10 – LEGO Gaming 25th Anniversary

“Over a quarter of a century after the launch of the team’s first videogame, the LEGO brick and LEGO System in Play continues to provide the ultimate creative medium for gaming fans of all ages.” says Ronny Scherer, Senior Director of LEGO Games.

“It offers builders and game developers unlimited opportunities to create, play and develop in a way that is continually evolving to provide new, exciting play and gaming experiences and that can help introduce new gamers to digital play.”

To support the work of Brick Fanatics, please buy your LEGO sets from LEGO.com using our affiliate links.

Author Profile

Chris Wharfe
I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

Chris Wharfe

I like to think of myself as a journalist first, LEGO fan second, but we all know that’s not really the case. Journalism does run through my veins, though, like some kind of weird literary blood – the sort that will no doubt one day lead to a stress-induced heart malfunction. It’s like smoking, only worse. Thankfully, I get to write about LEGO until then.

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