> In this vide you can see even a remote control that I never had. I read also in wikipedia that there was a model with an interface to Commodore 64, a Lego Mindstorms predecessor!
Lego Logo predated Capsela and was mostly inspired from Seymour Papert's 1980 book, Mindstorms. It ran on an Apple II through a special daughtercard and was amazing.
I got to play with Capsela as well, but only ever the basic kit without any expansions. Mostly because of the astronomical price of the parts. I wouldn't be surprised if there is someone with a 3D printer trying to design a printable modular motorized construction kit.
>I wouldn't be surprised if there is someone with a 3D printer trying to design a printable modular motorized construction kit.
Seems like 3D printing would only solve a tiny part of the problem. Some of those Capsela capsules have some pretty complex assemblies inside, which would still be a lot of manual work.
K'nex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%27Nex), my personal favorite as a child- rods and plastic connectors that you can use to build vehicles, small scale models, toy guns, etc. I really liked them a a kid because while LEGO are more about building static dioramas/models, K'nex is more about building dynamic/usable contraptions. For example they had really cool kits to make solar powered robots that would crawl around and were very easy to modify; unfortunately these days they seem to be more focused on branded content (e.g. Mario Kart, Angry Birds).
Logiblocs (http://www.logiblocs.com), plastic blocks from the UK with electronic components encased in plastic that are easy to plug together, allowing kids to assemble projects such as alarms or a basic voice recorder. E.g.: http://www.logiblocs.com/images/understanding_spytech.gif . Their website seems to be stuck in the 90s :)
Littlebits (http://littlebits.cc), in a way a modern reinterpretation of Logiblocs - electronic components that snap together using magnets, sold as kits.
And of course Lego, but no need to talk about these :) Although the LEGO Mindstorms series should get a special shoutout.
Those are all the ones I can think of, but I'm sure other HNers will have contributions. I wonder if there's room to do a construction toy these days, given LEGO's titanic market and mindshare. I was very excited about Goldie Blox recently, but I thought it fell kind of flat - their models aren't very extensible/modifiable in the way that LEGO or K'nex or Capsela are.
"Unlike other building toys such as Lego, Construx feature beam-like pieces of varying lengths that snapped on to cubical connector knots in order to build large shapes. These are relatively secure even though no nuts or bolts were used. Panels allowed assembly of flat surfaces. Hinges, motors, wheels, and other movable parts expand the number of different shapes that can be built, and make moving creations possible."
I had two motors and could build simple robots. Due to the long size of the pieces, one could build truly gigantic things. I build really big helicopters, AT-T Walkers and whatnot. I played with this much more than with Lego. Also, the pieces had a bit of a 80ies future style look, which fit well for all the Sci-Fi things I was building.
Author here, thanks a lot for the suggestion. I will definitely consider some of these.
I have a daughter and I bought her two capselas back when I wrote the blog post two years ago and she wasn't that interested. I think she expected a more espectacular outcome given the effort :)
I didn't have legos, as I mentioned I'm from Argentina and it wasn't very popular here, we had a clone called "rastis".
This year I went for the first time to US and we bought legos, but not a set, the $ 15 glasses of pieces. I did another trip in March and I bought more and last month a friend bring us another one. My daughter play with this every day.
I think legos in general and capsela are very different, but Lego as a brand has many different sets.
I agree with another commenter than "technic" is similar but it is a set and you know all the time what you should assemble and that's the reason I don't like Lego sets/models but I do like the pieces a lot.
I always thought that meccano was originally English?
The great thing about meccano was because it was made out of steel that it could take some amazing abuse - the downside was the nuts and bolts were very easy to lose. I ended up with a whole series of beaten up plates that I could not bolt together :)
FWIW, there's also Snap Circuits: http://www.snapcircuits.net/ I had this one as a kid, and I had fun with it, but I don't know how it compares to the other electronic kits you listed.
Technic is a line of Lego interconnecting plastic rods and parts. The purpose of this series is to create more advanced models with more complex movable arms, such as machines with wheels, in addition to the simpler brick-building properties of normal LEGO.
For some reason they changed Lego Technic to studless beams (removed studded bricks) years ago. Lego has begun to re-incorporate studded bricks back into the Technic line - that's good.
Looking at it now, I knew nothing of the comic book/TV show connection. I saw them at some children's science museum (maybe in Chicago?) and spent the better part of a day building cars and simple robots.
Thanks, came here to ask if this still exists. No children but I'm probably going to buy a set. Mainly because of the floating devices: I used to have close to the entire range of Lego Technics, but there was none of the things which could float.
The toys I remember best from my childhood were all the building toys - LEGO, Capsela, k'nex, and this one where you built towers with beams and blew them up with a timed bomb. I had cars and action figures and such as well but can't really picture them and remember as well as the construction toys.
As a kid I enjoyed it much more than Lego. It is more about gears and motors, and back then there were also specialized kits about electronics, pneumatics and robotics.
Opps, just realized I misspelled it, it's called Fischertechnik, not Fishertechnik :-)
Also as an additional point: one reason I liked it much more than Lego is that the system for connecting the pieces is much better. It doesn't fall apart (as Lego is prone to), so it's possible to make machinery that actually does stuff.
LOVED these as a kid. I loved building all sorts of fans and paddleboat things. Only bummer was that my mom who knew jack about electronics was hyper-paranoid that I was going to electrocute myself playing with them in water. I used to sneak them into the bathroom and put them in the sink behind her back.
I tried to create a perpetual motion machine out of Capsela when I was 9 by connecting a propeller to the wheels, so the propeller turns when the wheels move. I was really puzzled when it didn't work! But I still remember that machine clearly 30 years later.
I had Legos, K'nex, Meccano, a lot of Legos, Capsellas, lose PVC pipes I screwed around with in the bath, some roller coaster ball thing I forgot the name of, two spaceship things featured in Lego mag, and probably another modular toy system I forgot about.
Capsela was really cool, but I mostly remember that the tolerances or the connectors were loose enough that some didn't connect properly, and some other just stuck together forever.
I remember being upset my parents wouldn't buy me video games or action figures like GI Joe, Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and whatnot, but looking back I'm really glad they bought me LEGO, Meccano, Capsella, etc instead.
I know LEGO still exists of course (despite LEGO's focus on movie tie-ins, Technic and Mindstorms still seem like good products) but are there other similar newer products worth considering?
Wow, so _this_ is what this toy was. I got several non-working pieces from a yard sale when I was in 5th grade, and had no idea what to make of it -- other than it looked
seriously cool. Since it was non-functional, the pieces mainly became incorporated into Lego play-time.
Really neat to see the full extent of the product.
I had a small starter kit (basically, just a little two-legged blue robot that walked around using some clever rack-and-pinion gearing), and played around mostly with one at a friend's house.
Fast-forward 10 years, I've just graduated high-school, and I find a massive box full of them at a garage sale, for cheap. Floaters and chains and everything. Coolest damned toy in the world. :)
Denshi blocks were one of the most significant educational toys that I had as a kid growing up in the 70's and 80's, and many an afternoon was spent with my Space 1999 Eagle model, a Capsela "moon base", and me "inside with the computer" (Denshi blocks) commanding 'the system'. Ah, to return to those halcyon days when modular toy systems gave my systems-management skills a sharper edge. ;)
Curious - Is calling a building toy a "game" a regional dialect thing, like soda vs pop? I have never heard of Legos, K'nex, Tinkertoys, etc. referred to as "games" before.
Thank you very much, few others pointed out the same mistake. I'm not a native English speaker and I wrote this first on Spanish, although in Spanish is also a toy or construction toy.
I just fixed in the article without breaking the url.
I just spent the past hour playing with a capsela clone that we got our daughter for Christmas :-) I had these as a kid too, although the legos were better in some ways: less prone to destruction and more "abstract" in tht you could create anything you could imagine.
[+] [-] keenerd|11 years ago|reply
Lego Logo predated Capsela and was mostly inspired from Seymour Papert's 1980 book, Mindstorms. It ran on an Apple II through a special daughtercard and was amazing.
I got to play with Capsela as well, but only ever the basic kit without any expansions. Mostly because of the astronomical price of the parts. I wouldn't be surprised if there is someone with a 3D printer trying to design a printable modular motorized construction kit.
[+] [-] mistercow|11 years ago|reply
Seems like 3D printing would only solve a tiny part of the problem. Some of those Capsela capsules have some pretty complex assemblies inside, which would still be a lot of manual work.
[+] [-] jfroma|11 years ago|reply
Do you have any link, reference or picture about lego logo?
[+] [-] GuiA|11 years ago|reply
Similarly engaging toys:
Meccano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meccano), a French brand of metal rods, plates, gears, etc. that you can assemble together to form functioning small scale models (usually of vehicles). E.g.: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Meccano_0...
K'nex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%27Nex), my personal favorite as a child- rods and plastic connectors that you can use to build vehicles, small scale models, toy guns, etc. I really liked them a a kid because while LEGO are more about building static dioramas/models, K'nex is more about building dynamic/usable contraptions. For example they had really cool kits to make solar powered robots that would crawl around and were very easy to modify; unfortunately these days they seem to be more focused on branded content (e.g. Mario Kart, Angry Birds).
Logiblocs (http://www.logiblocs.com), plastic blocks from the UK with electronic components encased in plastic that are easy to plug together, allowing kids to assemble projects such as alarms or a basic voice recorder. E.g.: http://www.logiblocs.com/images/understanding_spytech.gif . Their website seems to be stuck in the 90s :)
Littlebits (http://littlebits.cc), in a way a modern reinterpretation of Logiblocs - electronic components that snap together using magnets, sold as kits.
And of course Lego, but no need to talk about these :) Although the LEGO Mindstorms series should get a special shoutout.
Those are all the ones I can think of, but I'm sure other HNers will have contributions. I wonder if there's room to do a construction toy these days, given LEGO's titanic market and mindshare. I was very excited about Goldie Blox recently, but I thought it fell kind of flat - their models aren't very extensible/modifiable in the way that LEGO or K'nex or Capsela are.
[+] [-] terhechte|11 years ago|reply
"Unlike other building toys such as Lego, Construx feature beam-like pieces of varying lengths that snapped on to cubical connector knots in order to build large shapes. These are relatively secure even though no nuts or bolts were used. Panels allowed assembly of flat surfaces. Hinges, motors, wheels, and other movable parts expand the number of different shapes that can be built, and make moving creations possible."
I had two motors and could build simple robots. Due to the long size of the pieces, one could build truly gigantic things. I build really big helicopters, AT-T Walkers and whatnot. I played with this much more than with Lego. Also, the pieces had a bit of a 80ies future style look, which fit well for all the Sci-Fi things I was building.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Construx
https://www.google.com/search?q=construx&safe=off&biw=1202&b...
[+] [-] jfroma|11 years ago|reply
I have a daughter and I bought her two capselas back when I wrote the blog post two years ago and she wasn't that interested. I think she expected a more espectacular outcome given the effort :)
I didn't have legos, as I mentioned I'm from Argentina and it wasn't very popular here, we had a clone called "rastis".
This year I went for the first time to US and we bought legos, but not a set, the $ 15 glasses of pieces. I did another trip in March and I bought more and last month a friend bring us another one. My daughter play with this every day.
I think legos in general and capsela are very different, but Lego as a brand has many different sets.
I agree with another commenter than "technic" is similar but it is a set and you know all the time what you should assemble and that's the reason I don't like Lego sets/models but I do like the pieces a lot.
[1]: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasti
[+] [-] danieltillett|11 years ago|reply
The great thing about meccano was because it was made out of steel that it could take some amazing abuse - the downside was the nuts and bolts were very easy to lose. I ended up with a whole series of beaten up plates that I could not bolt together :)
[+] [-] eurleif|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frik|11 years ago|reply
Lego Technic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Technic
Technic is a line of Lego interconnecting plastic rods and parts. The purpose of this series is to create more advanced models with more complex movable arms, such as machines with wheels, in addition to the simpler brick-building properties of normal LEGO.
For some reason they changed Lego Technic to studless beams (removed studded bricks) years ago. Lego has begun to re-incorporate studded bricks back into the Technic line - that's good.
[+] [-] davidb_|11 years ago|reply
However, I did get a set of Robotix: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotix_(toys)
Looking at it now, I knew nothing of the comic book/TV show connection. I saw them at some children's science museum (maybe in Chicago?) and spent the better part of a day building cars and simple robots.
[+] [-] jacquesm|11 years ago|reply
http://www.fischertechnik.de/en/Home/products.aspx
[+] [-] smanuel|11 years ago|reply
http://www.captoy.eu/toys/iq-key-and-capsela-358/
[+] [-] stinos|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andrewstuart|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kalleboo|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] facepalm|11 years ago|reply
I just want to mention "Fishertechnik" as another alternative to Lego. Not sure how common it is in the US, but it seems to be available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_10/191-8762533-9514...
As a kid I enjoyed it much more than Lego. It is more about gears and motors, and back then there were also specialized kits about electronics, pneumatics and robotics.
[+] [-] facepalm|11 years ago|reply
Also as an additional point: one reason I liked it much more than Lego is that the system for connecting the pieces is much better. It doesn't fall apart (as Lego is prone to), so it's possible to make machinery that actually does stuff.
[+] [-] DaveSapien|11 years ago|reply
Working with my classmates, it was the first time I didn't feel like an idiot. I just simply 'go it' and knew how it worked.
I was quite let down when they took it away, and fobbed me off with an excuse that I can't remember now.
It would take me over a decade to find that part of me, but we got there in the end.
Thanks for the reminder (and the name) of this great toy.
[+] [-] bane|11 years ago|reply
I don't think I ever got into them in the same way I got into tinker toys or lego though.
[+] [-] JunkDNA|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nilsbunger|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] slashnull|11 years ago|reply
Capsela was really cool, but I mostly remember that the tolerances or the connectors were loose enough that some didn't connect properly, and some other just stuck together forever.
And now I program.
Correlation not causation, but...
[+] [-] tlrobinson|11 years ago|reply
I know LEGO still exists of course (despite LEGO's focus on movie tie-ins, Technic and Mindstorms still seem like good products) but are there other similar newer products worth considering?
[+] [-] benjohnson|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gdubs|11 years ago|reply
Really neat to see the full extent of the product.
[+] [-] angersock|11 years ago|reply
Fast-forward 10 years, I've just graduated high-school, and I find a massive box full of them at a garage sale, for cheap. Floaters and chains and everything. Coolest damned toy in the world. :)
[+] [-] danellis|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gregrata|11 years ago|reply
http://www.iqkey.jp/
[+] [-] xorcist|11 years ago|reply
Anyway, I too had one of these and what I loved most was that you could build boats with propellers.
[+] [-] jfroma|11 years ago|reply
I loved propellers and floating vehicles although I didn't have a pool to test it out back then.
[+] [-] fit2rule|11 years ago|reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gakken_EX-System
Denshi blocks were one of the most significant educational toys that I had as a kid growing up in the 70's and 80's, and many an afternoon was spent with my Space 1999 Eagle model, a Capsela "moon base", and me "inside with the computer" (Denshi blocks) commanding 'the system'. Ah, to return to those halcyon days when modular toy systems gave my systems-management skills a sharper edge. ;)
[+] [-] jfroma|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bullman|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jfroma|11 years ago|reply
Game (juego) is often used here as a synonym of toy like in "board game". I call it "juego de construcción".
[+] [-] evantahler|11 years ago|reply
So what's the equivalent toy these days?
[+] [-] dllthomas|11 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jfroma|11 years ago|reply
I just fixed in the article without breaking the url.
Thanks again
[+] [-] davidw|11 years ago|reply
http://iq-key.com is the manufacturer.