Legos for girls and players

I am a girl who loves games. My family played board games every weekend. My parents liked educational toys, so we grew up playing with Lincoln Logs and Legos. My brother is only two years older, so we shared those toys and it never occurred to me that Legos weren’t “for girls.”

When buying Legos for my D&D game, I came across a subset of Legos that were designed to appeal to girls. There is a zoo game and an animal care game. There is a farm game. They are designed for younger girls. So I took a closer look and found the Belville line. What’s in this line? Horses. And dogs. That’s it, so far.

So I started thinking about the girls I know. They are smart, funny and imaginative. What is the perfect combination of Legos for girls? Why not get the girl of your life a “Brickbeard Reward” set? Who doesn’t like pirates? This set comes with the “Admiral’s Daughter” figure and, unlike the website article, she does do not need to rescue. She is in charge of the attack!
If you like Star Wars, the “Tantive IV” set is great. Princess Leia and the ‘droids accent the setting. Lego also has many more space-themed sets.

Of course, the line that got me started looking at Legos again is the Castle line. Knights, horses, castles and evil wizards! It is perfect for Dungeons and Dragons game. One game, the “Drawbridge Defense” game, comes with a princess. She runs the drawbridge, directing the golden knights and their followers on how to repel the skeletal wizard who is hell-bent on conquest!

It’s such an open game that makes Legos a great gift for a child. It attracts players for the same reasons. The adventures of Dungeons and Dragons are intricate and at the same time very open to improvisation. By using Legos as props to help illustrate the story, the Game Master and the players are enacting the adventure. The little figures are interchangeable so you can quickly change clothes for your Lego. This is a clear advantage over using more traditional D&D miniatures for the game. I realize that you lose some (well, all) of the “realism” if you don’t use the D&D minis to represent the characters on the battle mat. For my taste, Legos offer enough versatility to make up for any lack of realistic renderings.

So if you hadn’t thought of Legos as a perfect gift for your daughter, granddaughter, or niece, I hope you take a closer look at it. And if you are a gamer, check out the amazing things Lego does. It may surprise you.