LEGO today has a distinct place in pop culture. Naturally, the top dog is a Star Wars set: The Millennium Falcon set costs $800, the price of a new mid-range smartphone, and comes with over 7500 pieces.) (That’s still not even as expensive as you can get.

You can certainly go big–the Liebherr R 9800 Excavator Technic set runs nearly $500 for over 4100 pieces. They’re expensive these days, with “adult” Architecture sets running $50 or more a pop for 500+ pieces that build a teensy diorama of a city skyline.

That said, it’s been about a decade or two since I have really sat down and played with a LEGO set. Looking back, I’m honestly surprised we didn’t a) choke on them or b) straight-up learn engineering and architecture as a result of playing with them. My parents – god rest their feet – bought my brother and me one of those giant “do what you want” bins of LEGO bricks when we were really little and told us to go buck wild with them. I have a distinct memory of playing with elaborate LEGO sets as a kid. Setup: iPhone XS Max (iOS 13), iPad Pro (iPad OS)

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