Pixel Blocks

[Dogmeat]

I was in a "weird" toy store today and they had this toy from japan that slightly resembled pixel blocks. The toy allowed you to re-create a super mario brothers mockup using a limited pallette.

Anyway, check out pixel blocks:

http://www.pixelblocks.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/pbonline
http://stewarttoys.zoovy.com/c=qzoIYnrOch8FJPcR7ZAiwHhkY/category/constructiontoys.pixelblocks/
http://www.constructiontoys.com/store/pixelblocks.php

some images:



I've only really seen very simplistic stuff made with these, anything more complex then a japanese looking bunny seems to look like a low-res picture.

Have any of you played with these?

[Panda]

The Japanese ones are called dot-s (or something like that, and they are from TOMY) and I have an unopened box of the super mario one :0
They are neat.
Never had the chance to get pixel blocks though.

[Dogmeat]

I noticed the japanese ones have a circular plug that goes into a circular hole. You would think they would want a square peg that goes into a square hole so the pixel doesn't move.

Do you know if the TOMY ones are only super mario or can you buy packs of just blocks?

[Panda]

As far as I know, they only sell them in boxes.
Though they have other packs than SuperMario, (ice climbers, zelda, and balloon fight, and I guess some other NES stuff, along with space invaders, pacman etc, and even some disney ones I recall.)

[Edit] Here is the site for the Dot's http://www.dot-s.net/index.php

[pkmays]

Whoa, these are actually voxel blocks; 3 dimensional pixels. If I can get my hands on some one of those kits I'll try to make something cool and post it. I just wish they weren’t so transparent and didn’t have such large protrusions on top.

[Rynen10K]

I got some of these last christmas. They don't hold together so well...

I must be doing it wrong.

[snake]

Interesting find.

Don't think it will replace Lego in the "small pixels with large blocks" category though.

None the less, I do like the look of that Nintendo collection.

[Dogmeat]

I went and pre-ordered a pack of dots which includes 3 small bases and a whole bunch of dots to create the original lin and mario and a higher contrast mario. I'm very excited to play when it gets here

[Rynen10K]

I have both the japanese "dot-s" things (luigi set) and a set of pixelblocks.

Although the dot-s is limited to the 16x16 pegboard, you can always add on more.

Pixelblocks are a cool idea in concept, but the way the blocks link together just doesn't work out too well.

Let me know if you guys have any better experiences with these - I'd like to know how to use them or if I got a bad batch or something

[Dogmeat]

THe ones I saw in the store had circular pegs and circular holes, one would think that something intending to be square'ish would perhaps want a square'ish peg to keep it from twisting about.