TOWERS GAME GOES DOWN A STORM AT LEGO SHOW

​Posted By Simon Montford on Dec 12, 2015

This weekend over 50,000 people are attending Brick2015, an annual Lego convention taking place at ExCel in London. I have been invited by a Hungarian-based company called Vengit that's exhibiting a prototype of their latest product, "Towers Game". The eventual aim is that the game will enable up to sixteen opponents to construct Lego towers armed with catapults. You can probably guess the rest...

Ammunition, in the form of ping pong balls, is placed inside a powerful little slingshot and the idea of the game is to aim, fire, and "destroy" your opponent's tower by hitting their target. The most exciting feature, judging by the kids' faces at the show, is the ability to control the catapult with a smartphone or tablet. This is made possible by a smart little connected device, built into each Lego tower, called a Smartblock, or SBlock (disclaimer, we are an official UK reseller) for short. Unlike Lego Mindstorms, that uses infra-red to connect, SBrick uses Low Energy Bluetooth which means it does not need to be within direct line of sight, can operate in direct sunlight, and has a far longer range - 100 metres compared to around 10 metres. It can also be used outdoors. All this makes it ideal as a remote control for Lego cars, trucks, and trains.

The SBrick was put into production after the company raised over £80k via a successful Kickstarter campaign. The clever little brick's companion app is compatible with Android, iOS and Windows-powered devices. 

The SBRICK by Vengit has three connector sockets on the back of their unit, and four on top. Three for power, and four connectors for things like motors and LED lights. The videos below show how easy it is to connect.

As an official UK reseller WEB3//IOT is offering a 10% discount for purchases made online during the show. To get your SBrick, just head over to the WEB3//IOT store, add as many SBricks to your shopping cart as you like, and enter the discount code "Brick2015". Shipping is £5, however this offer only applies to UK-registered addresses.