Town Plan

What We Think Fun Factor: Durability: (what this means) The Good: A whole town with mini-figures and vintage vehicles The Bad: Small rooms inside the Town Hall In a Nutshell: This 50th-anniversary set inspires tons of imaginative play At a Glance Ages: 12 and up

The theatre has tons of cool details. View larger.

There's a town map at city hall. View Larger.

The car wash has spinning brushes. View Larger.

Redesigned to include modern bricks and details, this 1950's town center includes a gas station with a car wash, a movie theatre, and the town hall building. There are eight Lego mini-figures, classic cars, corner light fixtures, and a fountain to place in the town square. Collectors are sure to notice the inclusion of unique Lego elements and bricks in rare colors.

Bringing the Town to Life
With 35 bags containing 1,981 pieces and two large instruction booklets, the Town Plan set took our eight-year-old Lego tester about 12 hours to build. Like with all Lego sets, the instructions include here provide colorful step-by-step images that make it fairly easy for any diligent builder to create the detailed town buildings and vehicles. We did have about 20 left-over pieces at the end of construction, which puzzled our tester.

While it may seem like this mature set is designed to appeal to adults, our young tester immediately found lots of different ways to have fun with it. The cinema got a big thumbs up for having cool, realistic details like popcorn at the concession stand and a movie on the screen. The moving garage door and the scrubbers in the car wash were big hits, too.

The rooms inside Town Hall are a little small, which limits Lego figures who want to move around. This pushed lots of play out into the open area around the fountain. The three gold bricks in the fountain add a unique touch to this particular set. The one minor complaint that surfaced in our testing was that the flowers and vegetation "planted" around the Town Hall failed to stay securely attached when moving pieces around.

Overall, this is an expansive town set that promises lots of creative construction projects. With so many people and buildings, and more than one vehicle, this Town is a great pick for a single creative builder or cooperative play with friends and siblings. Additionally, with its unique 1950's vibe, this town is set to inspire fun, interactive play between parents or grandparents and kids. Odds are, you'll even find yourself driving the vintage car through the wash after your children have gone to bed--it's that cool.

What's in the Box
1,981 Lego pieces and two instruction booklets.