Episode 8
008 - Lego Pac-Man Arcade
In this episode of the Brick Magnate podcast, I discuss the Lego Pac-Man Arcade set.
I share my excitement when it was announced, talk about the building experience, the interactive elements, and the value for money of this geeky gem.
Transcript
What's up, everyone? You're listening to episode 8 of the Brick Magnate podcast.
Speaker:I'm your host, Mike Morrison, aka the Brick Magnate, and
Speaker:welcome to my little corner of the Internet where I get
Speaker:to share my Lego obsession with,
Speaker:hopefully, fellow obsessives. The and
Speaker:so we are back on track with our,
Speaker:Lego set reviews. This week, I'm gonna be talking about the
Speaker:Pac Man arcade set. And I've got to tell you, I almost
Speaker:exploded when this was announced, when they released the
Speaker:little trailer on the Instagram account. That was an
Speaker:instant kind of shut up and take my money moment. It
Speaker:just looked so damn epic. So this set was a day
Speaker:1 purchase for me, and it did not disappoint whatsoever.
Speaker:So it's a bit of a spoiler. This is gonna be a very very
Speaker:positive review. So this set comes in at
Speaker:2,651 pieces and it retails
Speaker:at around £230. That's about
Speaker:$270 over in the states.
Speaker:Again, I always feel we get kind of the the raw end of the stick.
Speaker:Raw end of the stick? That's not the saying.
Speaker:The there's another saying which involves swearing, which I'll not use
Speaker:here. But, yeah, us Brits kind of don't get the
Speaker:the fair end of pricing, I would say.
Speaker:But, anyway, let's not get into that. Let's start off by talking about the build
Speaker:experience for the Lego Pac Man arcade set. And, really, this
Speaker:was such a fun building experience. Perhaps
Speaker:one of the most unique and most varied builds that I've done for a while
Speaker:because you've not only got the outer units and obviously all the
Speaker:things like the joystick and the controls and the little knobs, and even the
Speaker:little kind of, mock up of the the coin
Speaker:slot, which they did use stickers for,
Speaker:which is kind of a shame, but they also used a little light so when
Speaker:you press the button it lit up. You know? Simple things, please,
Speaker:simple mind. So you had all of the outer unit, and, obviously, it's a
Speaker:it's a bright vibrant color as well,
Speaker:which is always a lot more fun than, you know, building something
Speaker:massive and gray, which if you're a Star Wars fan, that's what most of your
Speaker:LEGO builds actually look like. So you had a lot going on
Speaker:the outside, but there was also what was quite a
Speaker:complex set of inner workings too. And,
Speaker:really, the internal stuff is where this set shines
Speaker:because you actually create what
Speaker:functions or looks like and and replicates a working Pac Man
Speaker:maze. So there's a little kind of crank on the side
Speaker:of the arcade set. And as you turn that around, you've got this tiny
Speaker:little Pac Man that's actually working his way through,
Speaker:an authentically replicated maze. Right? And he's
Speaker:being chased by the ghosts, but it's not it's not just kind
Speaker:of like, you know, Pac man and 4 ghosts on the line. Like, all the
Speaker:ghosts are in different spots, and they're all kind of finding their own ways around
Speaker:the maze. And it looks really really cool. It looks very very
Speaker:impressive, and it's going to make you geek the hell
Speaker:out if you were one of those eighties kids who
Speaker:played Pac Man at the arcade or, you know, if if you're into
Speaker:gaming and particularly retro gaming of any of any kind,
Speaker:that interactivity, that effect that you get
Speaker:is kinda worth the price alone. It was so so cool.
Speaker:Impressive as hell, and the the various techniques and
Speaker:mechanisms and and build methods that go into
Speaker:achieving that end result really, really
Speaker:impressive. I think it's the most I've probably the most
Speaker:I've been impressed at that sort of mechanical side.
Speaker:I don't do the Technic sets, so those of you who have probably done the
Speaker:Technic stuff, are probably thinking, yeah, this is just this is
Speaker:just bread and butter. But, you know, for someone who
Speaker:doesn't do those sets and hasn't tried those sets yet,
Speaker:like, I was really, really impressed,
Speaker:and I love when Lego do this. When they come up with something that is
Speaker:so clever, it makes you, the person who's building it. Feel
Speaker:like you're the clever one. Right? Like, you're you've just
Speaker:wired up an actual arcade machine from scratch yourself
Speaker:using nothing but basic tools. Right? Whenever
Speaker:Lego do that, whenever they make you feel like you've
Speaker:accomplished something extremely clever. When all you've done is followed, you know,
Speaker:the instructions of someone who is actually the clever one.
Speaker:Like, That's a very special moment. You get that smarty pants moment.
Speaker:Like, there's a few sets where you get that where
Speaker:It's just joyous as a as a Lego fan, as a total geek,
Speaker:and you feel like you've really really done something
Speaker:clever. That that game board,
Speaker:so that maze, that makes up a fair amount with the build time, but it's
Speaker:not boring as at all because as you're building
Speaker:this game board and you're putting the different elements in place, you're also
Speaker:building the anticipation to see this in action. Right? Because you know
Speaker:what you know, sometimes you'll build parts of Lego setting you. You're not
Speaker:sure from the outset what it's actually leading to.
Speaker:And then you you realize what it is, and you think, oh, that's cool. But
Speaker:with this, you know what you're building. So you have that excitement, that anticipation,
Speaker:and loads of little kind of, oh, that's really clever moments
Speaker:as things start coming together. And you'd think that with all that clever
Speaker:stuff in the game board happening that that it'd be
Speaker:where Lego would stop in terms of the interactivity.
Speaker:Like, that in and of itself is interactive enough, but they
Speaker:actually squeeze in, you know, working knobs, little high
Speaker:score display, at the top of the arcade unit.
Speaker:And there's a whole detachable model with
Speaker:larger versions of Pac Man and the ghosts. That actually looks
Speaker:really really great. You know, they've done them a good substantial,
Speaker:like, attractive looking size.
Speaker:Attractive movies. The first time Pac Man's we called attractive, unless we're
Speaker:talking miss Pac Man. The yeah. That's a whole of the podcast.
Speaker:But, yeah, there's a whole detachable model with a mechanism in place where
Speaker:you turn a knob on this model, and the ghosts and
Speaker:Pac Man all flip around 180 so that,
Speaker:you know, in one view, it's the colored ghosts chasing Pac
Speaker:Man. You flip it, the ghosts all turn that blue color with
Speaker:that worried expression on their face, and Pac Man's chasing them. You know, what
Speaker:happens in the game when Pac Man eats a power pellet. And
Speaker:so, again, we're talking about so many different mechanisms and
Speaker:interactive elements inner set where they probably could've got
Speaker:away with just doing the game board
Speaker:because that that's enough. But you can tell whoever
Speaker:built this, whoever designed it at Lego was a
Speaker:massive retro gaming fan and just wanted to just pack
Speaker:in as many fun interactive additions as
Speaker:possible. Now that detachable model,
Speaker:It's a very cool addition, but I'm not sure the set actually needed
Speaker:it. Like, they probably could have sold it separately.
Speaker:Like, as a little, you know, 30, $40 set
Speaker:or had it as a gift with purchase.
Speaker:And there was kinda that feeling during the build when when you're working on
Speaker:that that it was a bit of a distraction. Right? Because you're
Speaker:like, the the main event. I wanna work on the main event. I
Speaker:wanna build I wanna build my Pacman arcade. So kind of having
Speaker:that that model as a separate piece of the build.
Speaker:It does kinda feel like it's holding you back from the thing you really wanna
Speaker:do, and it's not it's not an essential piece of the build.
Speaker:It's just something cool they thought they'd throw in there
Speaker:that doesn't need to be in there.
Speaker:That sounds like I'm really kind of, you know, looking a gift horse in the
Speaker:mouth, but, yeah, the it's certainly worth worth
Speaker:noting. So overall, I really, really enjoyed this build. Now it's not a 5
Speaker:out of 5 because there were some parts that got a little boring
Speaker:mostly with building the outer walls of the arcade unit because there's only so
Speaker:much you can do to make building straight walls feel exciting.
Speaker:Right? But this gets a very strong 4a half
Speaker:out of 5 for the build experience. And the
Speaker:quality of the build experience is reflected in the end
Speaker:result. Now as a display piece, this is fantastic.
Speaker:It looks unique, vibrant colors. They got the size and the
Speaker:scale of it perfect too. So because they went for that tabletop
Speaker:arcade style rather than a full cabinet arcade.
Speaker:That was a very smart decision because it means that everything's very
Speaker:satisfying in terms of its its size. Right?
Speaker:And so it makes for a really great feature set for
Speaker:any LEGO enthusiasts, but also any gaming enthusiast
Speaker:who maybe just dabbles in the odd piece of LEGO. This is gonna be a
Speaker:great great addition to their collection. And, of course, the interactive
Speaker:elements really take it to another level too. You know when someone
Speaker:sees a set, so when you have a guest or friend around who
Speaker:doesn't judge you for your Lego obsession. And they see something
Speaker:you've built and they're like, oh, wow. Yeah. That that's really cool. Right? And they
Speaker:wanna look at it and prod and probe. And then you get that kind of,
Speaker:like, that mega nerd giddiness where you you get to say,
Speaker:oh, yeah. It's really cool, but wait until you see this. Check
Speaker:this thing out. Right? And you get to show off, you know, the the little
Speaker:hidden section or the cool feature that maybe isn't obvious.
Speaker:The that's not just me. Right? Please say it's not just
Speaker:me. But those moments, those kind of,
Speaker:like, nerdy giddiness, the this set is perfect for
Speaker:that because there's so many little things like, oh, yeah. It's really really cool. Watch
Speaker:this, and then you turn the crank. Watch this, and then you fiddle with the
Speaker:knobs. Watch this, and then you flip the interact the the
Speaker:detachable model thing to turn Pac Man and them around.
Speaker:And they even, you know, they're they're yeah. They include a little Easter egg of
Speaker:a minifig playing Pacman at an arcade too, so that's kind of
Speaker:if we take the back panel off the the arcade.
Speaker:You've got that cool little scene, with the mini
Speaker:fake hidden in there as an Easter egg as well.
Speaker:So, obviously, the game board is crazy impressive when we're talking about showing
Speaker:off your set. I I'd
Speaker:I put it up there with the TV in the NES
Speaker:set. Again, for any of you who have that, who've seen that, the,
Speaker:the the Nintendo, the NES Lego set comes with
Speaker:a TV that again has a little turnable crank on the side,
Speaker:and that crank kind of the
Speaker:it it it revolves what is a a
Speaker:good reproduction of one of the Super Mario Brothers
Speaker:levels. And it's kind of you you have to see it.
Speaker:If you've not seen it, look up a video or go on the Lego site.
Speaker:It's kinda built in a way that you've got a little Mario in the middle
Speaker:of the screen, and he's kind of climbing up the different
Speaker:blocks and dodging the different articles and jumping when he needs to jump.
Speaker:Like, it's so smart. It's so so clever. The game
Speaker:board for the Pac Man arcade. You might
Speaker:argue it doesn't hit the heights of that TV, but it's in the right
Speaker:kind of vicinity in terms of something that's just
Speaker:really cool. They put a lot of thought into it. They probably didn't
Speaker:need to do it, like, just as a display
Speaker:piece, just the arcade unit would have satisfied
Speaker:people, but it really shows their love of of the
Speaker:concept that they've they've made an interactive. So
Speaker:yeah. One of those things that feels like it's too cool to be achievable with
Speaker:just Lego. And again, I'm sure the Technics fans out there
Speaker:are, like, please. But, hey,
Speaker:leave me alone. I'm gonna get into Technics at some point.
Speaker:So yeah. Again, now I think about it. I mentioned that Easter egg of the
Speaker:minifake playing Pac Man. So the little scene that's in
Speaker:there. Now I think about it, they've added Easter eggs to
Speaker:every gaming unit LEGO set that I've seen from them.
Speaker:So the Nintendo set that I've talked about, that has a little
Speaker:hidden recreation of the 2nd level of the
Speaker:1st world in Super Mario Brothers. So there's a kind of a a little
Speaker:detachable panel on the side of the NES unit. Pull that
Speaker:away. And it's just a really small scale,
Speaker:tribute Easter egg to that level, and that's hidden away.
Speaker:In the Atari, model, which, have I
Speaker:talked? I've got a feeling I have. Yes. Episode 2, I talked
Speaker:about the, Atari, games console
Speaker:LEGO set. Again, they've got a little Easter egg
Speaker:hidden in there when you open, the unit. You pull the the front of the
Speaker:unit. It flips up this bedroom scene of a
Speaker:kid. Again, 80s kids sitting on the floor playing his
Speaker:Atari. So, it's kind of this running theme. I don't know if
Speaker:that's deliberate where they've kinda said, you know, anytime we do this kind of gaming
Speaker:set, we want to have this kind of Easter egg.
Speaker:Or maybe it's just because they know the people who are drawn to these sets
Speaker:will just go nuts for these little, hidden scenes.
Speaker:So, yeah, I hope they keep it up with to do more gaming sets, but
Speaker:I'm not sure I'm not sure if they can do many more gaming
Speaker:sets. I'm not sure if there are any that are iconic enough for them to
Speaker:make more. Maybe n 64 possibly, but that's
Speaker:more about the controller. I think the controller is a bit more iconic. The mind
Speaker:to a Game Boy. That would be quite cool actually.
Speaker:Probably an easy one for them to do. Do a little Game Boy. They could
Speaker:probably do something interactive with, the Tetris blocks. First
Speaker:thing that comes to mind, and have a little Easter egg in there. Who knows?
Speaker:We'll see. But all of this is to say the end result is extremely good,
Speaker:and it instantly became one of my favorite display pieces. So this gets
Speaker:a 5 out of 5 end result from me.
Speaker:So let's talk dollars, cents, pounds, and
Speaker:pennies value for money. Again, this comes in at $270
Speaker:for 2,651 pieces. So it's just a
Speaker:tiny fraction over the 10¢ per piece
Speaker:measuring stick when it comes to determining the value of your LEGO
Speaker:set. But I think the fact that there weren't a whole bunch of 1
Speaker:square pieces or dots in there need to be considered.
Speaker:Some sets where the piece count the sounds like it's real good value,
Speaker:but then there's a whole bunch of tiny pieces, 1 square
Speaker:pieces, the little one square tiles that
Speaker:sometimes feel they were just added in there just up the brick
Speaker:count to make it seem like better value. So this isn't one of
Speaker:those sets. So, it's it's right on
Speaker:the on the button, I think, for just
Speaker:been just been on the line as to whether this is is
Speaker:appropriately priced. I would
Speaker:argue, however, that the detachable model of
Speaker:Pac Man and the ghosts really wasn't essential to this build.
Speaker:It's it still feels like a little bit of an odd edition. I don't know
Speaker:if it's just because they failed. So the way that
Speaker:the way that they have it in the product shots is they have this model
Speaker:sitting on top of the arcade. And it does sit there and it fits and
Speaker:stuff, and it looks cool, and that's why I have mine. So I don't know
Speaker:if it's just they felt like just the arcade unit was
Speaker:lacking something visually, and the top
Speaker:being flat and and kinda nothing going on. They maybe thought
Speaker:they needed something to to up the
Speaker:the wow factor. But, yeah, it's it's it
Speaker:doesn't I don't know. It it it just seems a
Speaker:little superfluous for me. It is a cool addition,
Speaker:but the arcade on its own already delivers enough cool.
Speaker:Right? I just don't feel like the model adds enough
Speaker:for it to be as big a part of the build because, you know, you
Speaker:spend, probably looking at 3 or 4 bags
Speaker:on that. So it's not it's not just a tiny little addition.
Speaker:Might even have been more. And if I remember rightly,
Speaker:from when I build it. I think it's the first thing you build. So it
Speaker:kind of delays getting stuck into the the arcade.
Speaker:But obviously what it does add is the piece
Speaker:count which in turn ups the price. So
Speaker:maybe I I I just have it stuck in my crawl that
Speaker:it might have been a better value, better idea to leave
Speaker:this edition out. Sell it separately, have it as a gift with
Speaker:purchase, something like that, and maybe get the price
Speaker:close at that $200 mark to make it more affordable, more accessible
Speaker:for more people. Still, though, the fun that you have building this, the
Speaker:quality of the set overall are what is important. And my point about
Speaker:the detachable model, probably, just my own nitpicking. I'm not
Speaker:sure if people will agree with me on it. I just think I just
Speaker:think for something that feels so optional,
Speaker:that has contributed to the price being at a place where,
Speaker:a lot of people might have been priced out from getting this or might have
Speaker:thought twice about it. So I don't know. I'm gonna give it 4 out of
Speaker:5 for value for money. I don't think I can punish it too much, just
Speaker:to my own hot take about what is still a quite a
Speaker:cool part of the set. But, yeah, the end result,
Speaker:the quality of the build, the fun of the build, the feelings you get as
Speaker:you're building it. All those little, you know,
Speaker:intangible moments where you feel really smart and you, like,
Speaker:you realize what's coming together. That all make it
Speaker:worth the investment. So I did tell you this is gonna be a very positive
Speaker:review. My excitement from the initial announcement all the way
Speaker:through the build, and then it's seen the finished result. It didn't wave at once.
Speaker:I was not disappointed. In fact, it exceeded my expectations.
Speaker:It's a true true geeky gem, and that's why it scored so
Speaker:highly. Four and a half out of 5 for build, 5 out of 5 for
Speaker:result, four zero five for value for money. And if you wanna
Speaker:take a closer look at the Lego Pac Man arcade, check out at brick
Speaker:magnate on TikTok and on Instagram. That's atbrickmagnet,
Speaker:m a g n a t e. There, you'll find videos of all the sets
Speaker:discussed on this podcast and more behind the scenes of what I'm
Speaker:working from. And, of course, if you're listening on your phone, you're listening in a
Speaker:podcast app, make sure you hit that subscribe button to ensure you do not
Speaker:miss a single episode of the show, and I'm gonna be back again
Speaker:next week talking about the Lego Gringotts
Speaker:set, which is the latest Harry Potter set recently released.
Speaker:Was an interesting one. Again, I kind of maybe
Speaker:got a divisive take on this one. So,
Speaker:yeah, make sure you stay tuned. Make sure you subscribe to the
Speaker:show to check that episode out. Have a good week of
Speaker:bricking. I'll be back again next week with more
Speaker:brick based buffoonery here on the brick magnet podcast. See you then.
