Basic Blocks

Sometimes eBay can be a great source even if you don't win the auction.

Several months ago an interesting small set of moderately old German (or Czech?) blocks was listed on eBay. It closed without selling and was then relisted. I don't remember whether it was on more than twice, or whether it ever sold. Maybe the seller simply gave up. Maybe it will turn up again.

My problem was the cost of postage on top of the (reasonable) cost for the blocks. I almost bid and almost bid, but I somehow couldn't convince myself that I needed it badly enough.

Most of the appeal was in the box art, and the example builds pasted inside the lid. The blocks were simply colored cubes, and it wasn't clear that the blocks in the set were as nice as colored cubes I already had. The colors of the block pictures on the box are much nicer than either, of course. :)

Building small designs like this are my favorite therapy for rough patches. I often build several designs one after another. Then I decide I really ought to blog this, and go looking for my camera.

By the time I have set things up, taken the pictures, uploaded to my computer, tweaked the images, uploaded to the Internet, and written the supporting text, things are usually better.

The critical first step is usually being able to grab something and start building.

I think maybe I should have bought this set when I had the chance.