Brickworld events began in 2007, our focus has always been to present a room full of incredible displays built by LEGO fans, hobbyists, as labors of love. The purpose of the show is to inspire kids and adults to go build something of their own. The show is about bringing out the creativity in all of us. We also include some vendors because people get excited to begin expressing their creativity and need “things” to support it. And, we have some interactive activities and play areas. But, these areas are not the focus of the event. They are simply mixed in as part of the overall experience.
To help maintain our goal of inspiring, we try to keep the event affordable. We have always priced our event like a movie. A movie ticket gains you access to entertainment for about 2 hours typically. You can spend much more time at Brickworld and explore it at your own pace.
When Brickworld began in 2007, there was 1 other LEGO fan show in North America. Our flagship show in Chicago is still the largest LEGO fan display in North America.
Since our shows began, there have been many other shows that have come into existence. A lot of these shows are modeled after Brickworld events, but on a smaller scale. Some are much much less about the LEGO fan displays and more about having stuff for kids to do, like bounce houses, reading areas, rolling around in piles of bricks on the floor, etc; a lot of things the kids could just do at home or a birthday party. And, many of these shows are also charging much more than the price of a movie. While these shows can be fun too, they should not be confused with Brickworld events. They are truly different even though many have similar names.
A key difference that is very subtle for the average public attendee of any of these events to see is that Brickworld (and some other other events) is all about the LEGO fans and the community. And, sadly, some other events are just riding the popularity of LEGO bricks to make money. The gallery of pictures from people that have attended Brickworld events is astonishing on Flickr. If you want to see what kind of displays you will see at our shows, don’t take our word for it. Check out the pictures from Brickworld on Flickr by past attendees and fans.