Pleygo – Does This “Netflix-like” LEGO Rental Service Stifle Creativity?

If you or your kids (or both, ideally) are into LEGOs, you might have encountered the same problem as Elina, the mother of a LEGO fan and co-founder of Pleygo.

Pleygo pledges to be the Netflix of LEGO, with their monthly rental service mirroring that of its inspiration. For anywhere from $15 to $39 you can have various LEGO sets show up in your mail, play with them for as long as you like, and then send them back in exchange for a different set.

Before you ask, the sets are sanitized between each rental, and yes, it’s OK if you lose a piece or two. Sets are checked for missing parts and a spare part bag is sent with each rental.

Pleygo has a pretty vast collection of sets to choose from, and it’s growing- new subscribers can send in some of their old, dust-collecting sets in exchange for credits.

The service is meant to foster creativity among children, as the co-founder states in the About page:

As a mother, I always try to reduce screen time for my son, which is why I love Legos. Not only do Legos enhance my son’s cognitive development and motor skills, they allow us to bond as a family.

I agree with this sentiment, and it can get expensive to keep buying new sets. However, isn’t the unique charm of LEGO the fact that once you own a set you can break it down and rebuild countless other things with the parts?

It reminds me of a humorous conversation I overheard in a Toys R Us LEGO aisle once. A boy was asking his grandmother to buy him a new LEGO set, to which she replied “I’m done buying you LEGOs, you just build what’s on the box and then set it aside forever. You’re supposed to use the block to build other things! Use your imagination!” My guess is that the exchange was much more amusing to me than the boy.

It was at that point though that I realized my 3 year old was doing something I should be more proud of. It hit me that every new set I brought home and helped him assemble (ie. assembled myself while he Bogarted all the minifigures), he would soon disassemble and use the parts to build his own little creations.

It never struck me as a good thing, until I heard that Toys R Us conversation.

So does Pleygo’s mission contradict the essence of LEGO? Should we encourage our kids to “build what’s on the box”, following the manual to a ‘T’ and sending them back?

I don’t think we can be that rigid with our assessment of Pleygo. If you look a little further, it says any set that a customer likes can be bought for regular retail price. This means there are no “build the set and send it back right away” rules. You can do what you like with the set, and if you happen to integrate its parts into your larger collection, you can make them your own forever.

To me Pleygo seems like a great idea, and a wonderful alternative to buying every set your kid expresses interest in.

Check out Pleygo.com for more details.