Here are some of our favorite LEGO-related web sites and blogs: PCHLUG – The Pacific Coast Highway LEGO Users Group SacBB – Sacramento Area Brick Builders (on Facebook) LUGoLA – LEGO Users Group of Los Angeles SCLTC – Southern California LEGO Train Club SanDLUG – San Diego LEGO Users Group PortLUG – Portland LEGO Users Group SeaLUG – Seattle LEGO Users Group GPLR – Greater Portland LEGO Railroaders PSLTC – Puget Sound (Seattle) LEGO Train ClubDid you mean jobs with Lego in the job posting? What is a Play-Well Birthday Party Like? The best birthday parties are some of the most memorable and fun experiences of your life. Our staff works with you to plan a project using LEGO® materials that reflects who your birthday girl or birthday boy really is. These projects are not only fun, but also interactive, and can sustain the attention of kids for more than an hour. You provide the Kids, and we bring 20,000 LEGO parts. We can hold a party at any location of your choosing, including your home or one of our activity centers.

You can pick a themed party or a favorite project that your child has built in one of our classes. You'll never have the same party twice. Kids at a Play-Well birthday party aren't just playing. They are learning at the same time. In some cases, you can even request a favorite instructor from a class or camp. “Can’t thank you enough for the wonderful time you provided for Henry and his pals during his birthday party. Everyone was talking about it for days- best party they ever attended.” “Our party was a hit! I was particularly surprised and impressed by how the boys reacted to the competition – no whining, no anger; rather intrigue, invention, and perseverance. I’ve been hearing great things back from the Moms.” “I thought it would be great to have an open backyard birthday party, let the neighborhood kids run around with close friends and family in a big jumpy house, have a clown and puppet show and enjoy Legos! But I never thought that the legos would be the best part!

Not only did the kids stay entertained, but the dads actually hung around for a while! Thank you Play-Well for helping me plan and execute a great party!” “With so many birthday party theme options out there we hoped to do something that the kids could learn from at the same time have fun. Boy, did Play-Well far exceed all of our expectations. buy lego hockeyJoy helped guide us through the planning process and on the day of the event Joy and her team provided such a wonderful experience for all the boys. buy lego jabba's sail bargeAnyone who can keep 20+ boys quiet and mesmerized for any period of time at the same time teach them basic engineering is a hero in our book!”where can i buy lego haunted house

“Play-Well delivered an amazing party experience to both kids and adults. Max’s birthday party will be talked about for some time and Play-Well has everything to do with that! The project was exciting, the instructor was patient and helpful, the kids were engaged. The overall experience was truly fun! All correspondence with Play-Well has been great. shop lego hulkSuper helpful people, good response times to questions, flexible and helpful with party details (kid counts, pricing, party details, etc.) lego shop skegnessI am super satisfied with all aspects if my Play-Well experience and I would happily recommend Play-Well to any parent of a Lego lover! lego shop szczecin “My eight year old had such a good time at the Lego camp that he asked for a Lego party for his ninth birthday.

My younger son was so impressed by his brother's party that he requested an identical birthday party of his own when he turned seven. This was the easiest birthday party I've ever given -- I'm so glad I was able to give it twice!” “I just want to express my extreme gratitude to you and Play Well and to Mr. Joey who ran my son's birthday event. Everything went as smoothly as possible and I was able to sit back and enjoy and take lots of pictures. Even three of our dads couldn't resist joining in the fun and having jousts with the boys...I couldn't be more pleased and hope to use Play-Well again in the future for outstanding Lego fun!” “I wanted to thank Play-Well for putting on such a great party! Brian was an amazing instructor. He got here early and invited my two boys to help him set up while I got the house ready for the party (they loved it!). He was great with the kids, easily working with all 13, keeping them focused and having tons of fun. He was so on top of it things that I didn’t even go into the room until he asked if we might want to take pictures at the end before they cleaned up their mess (which I appreciated!).”

“I just wanted to let you know that we were very happy with the party today. Your instructor was great with the boys! He really connected with them right from the start, as evidenced by their behavior and how they listened to him. Everyone really enjoyed it! My friend actually asked if she could "steal" this idea and has already booked her party for April.” "It was easily the best party ever. The kids had a fantastic time. It was great to see them working away on their projects. Your instructor did an amazing job. The kids lapped up everything he said and they had a blast. Lots of the other parents were really impressed...Really pleased and probably the most stress-free kids party we have had."Breakdown: Lego’s “Digital Box”, an Augmented Reality Kiosk Posted on November 16th, 2009 in: Augmented Reality Augmented Reality provides brands with an engaging experience that merges both the digital and the real world. This 30 second video shows how a 3D animation on the product box enabled me to understand the assembled product.

Lego’s “Digital Box” Provides Customers with an Interactive 3D Digital Experience This weekend, I went to the local Lego store here in Silicon Valley (Hillsdale) to see a practical version of Augmented Reality. I was previously briefed by Metaio, the technology vendor that empowers the software for the Augmented Reality kiosks called, Digital Box. This store, outfitted with a kiosk with a screen and webcam gives instructions on how to show the contents of any box assembled in real time.   Not all of the boxes were equipped (I tried the Star Wars line with no available) but was able to grab this lego kit of a bus, hold it in front of the kiosk.  You can see that the contents ‘assembled’ on the screen, and came to life as a pre-set animation, as I rotated the box, the virtual animation would move with it, giving the illusion that the bus was actually moving over the box. Breakdown: “Kiosk” Style Augmented Reality Accessing Augmented Reality experiences from a built in camera and screen at a physical location

Embryonic, this market has physical and software barriers, as well as low consumer awareness and adoption. Kiosk, webcam, encoded experiences. Increase customer engagement in store, increase intent to buy and reduce sales costs. An immediate opportunity is for retail, small business, tourism, and consumer packaged goods industries. Secondly, media, gaming, home and business design, and mobile industries should take note and investigate this space. Consumers have limited awareness to AR space, and are unaware of the kiosks. Interaction is clunky and requires practice, graphics are effective –but not refined Brands that deploy AR in 2010 will benefit from “cool” factor being an early adopter. Expensive deployment to create animations, and put kiosks in all locations. Innovative, but a victim of ‘shiny object’ syndrome as the business benefits aren’t directly indicated. Heavy overhead required to deploy hardware and software, as well as moderate learning curve for consumers.

To truly become a mainstream channel, AR within stories should be accessed by mobile devices –not kiosks. Secondly, existing web content should be ‘linked’ to existing products that include additional videos, support, and consumer generated content. Brands that have complex consumer packaged goods should deploy in stores, or products that have an heavy education or support cost and can’t deploy in house sales or service folks. Augmented Reality Not Ready For Primetime –Yet Promises Real World Engagement The above matrix is just a breakdown of ‘Kiosk” style of Augmented reality, however let’s look at this space as a whole. This technology is in its infancy, the animations are still simple, don’t have a lot of interaction beyond rotation, and require moderate ability to line the product up directly with the web cam. Furthermore, there are barriers to entry as most people didn’t even know about this feature in the store till I showed them, and not every product was outfitted with the ability to display the interactions.

Despite the fact that this is an emerging technology with years ’till maturity, there are three major business opportunities: Extending the web to the real world. Reusing existing digital marketing and support content (from the web) in the physical world will add mileage to marketing assets.  Consumers can access related existing content such as brochure facts, customer reviews, or web based demos that already exist wherever they are, without looking for a URL.  The camera lens will identify the product, then serve up the context information with a click of a button. Greasing marketing and sales process. Creating an engaging experience with customers near point of sale reducing sales costs through sales aids or increasing interest. Animations and virtual experiences can be connected with any device from anywhere, triggering demos, how-to videos, or even 3D media that would entice a prospect to spend more time, or purchase the product.   Essentially, this means a virtual sales person or guide could assist any consumer from anywhere at anytime.