My first LEGO Pick A Brick experience

My first large and small Pick A Brick purchases. The brick separator is from 10703 Creative Builder Box and is not included with Pick A Brick purchases.

The Pick A Brick wall is one of the most striking features, if not the definitive feature, of LEGO Brand Stores and LEGO Certified Stores, and it is every LEGO fan's dream come true to be able to choose any number of any brick in nearly whatever color you want.

Pick A Brick walls contain selections of LEGO elements that can be purchased using large or small Pick A Brick cups. These selections change over time as stocks of one element run out and it gets replaced with a random other element. They tend to favor basic bricks and plates as they are the most common types of element available, but occasionally some specialized and highly sought after parts will appear which can be depleted sometimes in a matter of days!

My first ever Pick A Brick experience is actually split across two separate hauls: the large cup being part of my first ever LEGO Certified Store haul, and the small cup being a separate purchase all on its own a couple of months after. However, since it's my first time with each size of cup, I figured I'd combine both experiences into one comprehensive review.

Most LEGO stores price Pick A Brick purchases by cup (except those in some LEGOLAND Parks, which charge by weight, and are not covered in this article). Regardless of what you fill the cup with, and how much, you're charged a constant price for the small cup ($20.90 in Singapore) and for the large cup ($36.50 in Singapore). This means that in order to get the most bang for your buck, it's worth taking the time (if you're not in a hurry!) to pack bricks in a way that makes the most efficient use of space.

Thankfully, I was armed with this knowledge going into my first Pick A Brick purchase, so I can now share what I've learned and what I could do better. Maybe you'll learn something too!

Large Pick A Brick cup

Every Pick A Brick cup is made of a soft and flexible plastic and features a tight-fitting lid that is the same size for both the large and small cups. This lid contains a fun-sized LEGO stud on top, which is actually the exact same size as the studs on the cover of LEGO Creator buckets produced in 2002 (the copyright year listed on the Pick A Brick cups). The bottom of these cups is inset with an equally fun-sized stud receiver or antistud making it possible to stack Pick A Brick cups with one another and/or LEGO Creator buckets.

The stud is hollow on the inside and can actually fit a handful of bricks without incurring any additional costs, which is a good last tip to keep in mind when you're wrapping up.

In the case of the large cup, I filled this space with 16x orange 1x2 bricks! Notice also the large circular label sitting right underneath the bricks — this is to keep them in the hollow area as you attach the lid onto the cup. I'm not sure if all LEGO stores have these, but if they do, ask for one!

The lid of the large cup.

Packing in layers

Most Pick A Brick packing techniques involve stacking layers of bricks of gradually increasing sizes to match the increasing radius of both the large and small cups as you work your way up. Any gaps left can then be filled with thin or small parts such as tiles and 1x1 round plates. Remember that any space left empty is wasted space!

Here are photos of each layer that I've packed into the large cup. Notice the white 1x1 round plates and dark purple 1x2 tiles that I've sprinkled liberally throughout the cup as I go.

In this layer: 4x black 2x6 bricks surrounding 4x white 1x4 arches, with 4x more below flanking 6x left and 6x right light grey 3x6 wedge plates, a tan 2x4 plate, 6x orange 1x2 bricks and a medium azure 1x4 brick.
Everything I packed into the large Pick A Brick cup.

Small Pick A Brick cup

The small cup is roughly half the size of the large cup, but costs slightly more than half. Packing bricks into the small cup works the same way as with the large cup, but depending on what you pack and how many you're able to fit inside, this can either represent slightly better, equal, or slightly poorer, value. In other words, YMMV.

I focused this purchase of the small cup entirely on medium blue 1x2 bricks, trans-clear panels and dark pink 1x4 bricks. Since there were more black 1x2 cheese slopes and dark purple 1x2 tiles in stock, I figured I'd throw in some more.

The lid of the small cup.
Everything I packed into the small Pick A Brick cup.

Conclusion

Here are the part counts for the large cup:

548 parts in total for $36.50 works out to 6.7 cents per part, which is pretty good! However I could have squeezed in way, way more 1x1 round plates and 1x2 tiles had I tried harder to work the ones I had into all the gaps that ended up being left throughout the large cup. But, again, under 7 cents per part is still decent!

And here are the part counts for the small cup:

332 parts in total for $20.90 works out to 6.3 cents per part, which is somewhat better, especially considering over two-thirds of the part count consists of bricks in this case!

Overall I'm very stoked about my first Pick A Brick purchase, and I still can't believe that Pick A Brick walls even exist in Singapore now — as limited as their selections are due to their smaller sizes compared to ones you see overseas, the fact that they exist at all is a dream come true for me.

In fact, not only will I be continuing to make trips to the Pick A Brick wall, each time I do I will note its contents and update my Pick A Brick resource, so others living in Singapore can benefit too!