Foosball and Bowling Game LEGO Ideas Project Review

Overview
In this project, bigred0720 has combined the fun of LEGO with the entertainment of tabletop games. This build allows the user to switch between the games of foosball and bowling for endless hours of play. For more information, you can visit this project on LEGO Ideas by clicking here.

Appeals of this Project
This foosball and bowling design offers great playability and also nice aesthetic appeal as a display piece on a desk or coffee table or desk. Using the black and brown colors, it would go well on just about any surface, and the green playing surface (using a couple different shades of green with nice effect) adds a little bit of color to the model. I appreciate that there is a box included to hold the extra pieces for the alternative game, and I like how it attaches using the collectable minifigure plates, which I am sure many people have in excess.

The foosball setup has everything that you would expect with a normal foosball game. I like how the Technic pieces are used to create the bars for the players, and the use of the 2x2 round bricks for the foosball men adds a little bit of a challenge because their round shape makes positioning even more important. The scoring beads above each goal are nicely designed using wheel hub pieces and look very nice when arranged in this manner. The hinge function of the goals helps improve the playability as it makes it much easier to retrieve the ball whenever a goal is scored. You can see a video of a foosball game in action on the LEGO Ideas project page.

The 2in1 feature, with the option to have the foosball setup or the bowling setup, expands the playability even more. To switch to bowling, simply remove all of the foosball bars except the last one on one end and use the center 2x2 round brick on that bar to hit the ball towards the pins. This also looks like a lot of fun to play and offers a new way of bowling with LEGO compared to some of the other bowling themed LEGO Ideas projects. There are also a couple videos showing how the bowling works on the LEGO Ideas project page.

Areas for Improvement
These are both really minor things, but I would not mind seeing the light and dark bluish gray 2x2 round bricks replaced with blue and red 2x2 round bricks, and then the red goalies replaced by yellow ones. It is possible that this would add too much color to the build, but I would be interested in seeing what it looks like. The second thing is the color of the ball. To me, lime green just does not go well on the green field. I think a white ball would go better. Otherwise, I think this is a very well designed project.

Conclusion
Overall, this is a nice project that offers some great playability while looking good at the same time. I believe that this would make a very fun and engaging set if it reaches 10,000 supporters and passes the Official LEGO Ideas Review process. To see more pictures and offer you support to help this become a set, you can visit this project on LEGO Ideas here. Not sure how LEGO Ideas works? Click here to find out more.


Photos used and review completed with the permission of bigred0720.