LEGO Pop-Up Bars Let You Build While You Drink

Do you like LEGO bricks? Do you like making the task of assembling hundreds of tiny plastic pieces harder by becoming inebriated?

If so, nothing you read today could be more relevant to your interests than the news that a series of LEGO-inspired pop-up bars are headed for Houston, Denver, and other U.S. cities.

ABC13 reports that some block-headed entrepreneurs have devised the Brick Bar, a high-concept watering hole that allows visitors to play with over a million LEGO bricks and enjoy LEGO displays while drinking and socializing. The idea, according to the Brick Bar website, is to appeal to someone with nostalgia or affinity for LEGO sets who is also of legal drinking age.

The bars have already debuted in Australia and will be coming to London and Manchester, England, this spring. It’s likely the stateside bars will reproduce some of the more popular attractions, including building contests, hamburgers with buns shaped like LEGO bricks, and a gauntlet for brave souls who are willing to attempt to walk across a line of bricks in their bare feet.

The company behind the pop-up, Viral Ventures, specializes in unique attractions. In the past, they’ve promoted Hot Tub Cinema Club, where patrons watched films while soaking in portable hot tubs. But their LEGO-themed idea hasn’t been without complications.

While LEGO itself offers alcohol at some of the company's official resorts, including California’s LEGOLAND, the company isn’t thrilled about being associated with a third-party bar or with people trafficking in their trademarks: Their legal overtures led Viral Ventures to change the name of the pop-up from LEGO Bar to Brick Bar. The only mention of LEGO on their website is in the disclaimer: “We are not associated with LEGO.”