The Onyx Brick Builder Contest

James Banks is an Adult Fan of LEGO® - an AFOL - and lives in Long Beach, CA. On Saturday, he shared his love of the LEGO(r) brick at a brand new event in celebration of Library Month. A collaboration between the Long Beach LEGO® User Group and the Long Beach Public Library.

Who needs rules? Let the Lemonade Game Begin.

Before I begin, I would like to share that I attended the NASA/JPL Women in Data Bootcamp on Friday. It was an awesome day of sharing, and I have much to tell about that experience, but what I share with you here is near and dear to me, so it comes first.

About James Banks and the Long Beach LEGO User Group

I found James Banks in the LEGO® User Group of Los Angeles (LUGOLA). It was 2014 and I was picking up some display cases from the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, where LUGOLA had done a pretty cool, collaborative exhibit to promote the center's theatrical season. James had done a piece for that exhibit.

Someone casually mentioned James Banks and Long Beach, and my ears perked up.

Since then, we have collaborated on a few projects and events, particularly the window display at the LEGO(r) store in the South Coast Plaza and the Long Beach Comic Con 2015.

About the Onyx Brick Builder Contest

It was at the Long Beach Comic Con in 2015 that the Onyx Brick Builder Contest was born. I knew I would be busy with the World Robot Olympiad qualifier, which I'd planned and which was held on the same day as the Long Beach Comic Con. James pitched in in a most awesome way. He had an opportunity and he made the Onyx Brick Builder Contest.

The Onyx Brick Builder contest is modeled after the popular Iron Builder contest and is run with permission of AFOL Guy Himber, who created the Iron Builder contest and runs it on Flickr.

The rules are simple. The contest leader, James, sources a large number of unusual parts, and declares a theme for the year's contest. He designs an awesome trophy, the LBLUG adds boxes of mixed play brick, and we all work to gather folks together on a single day. Show up on the day of the event and 5 hours later, we judge!

About The 2016 Contest

When the day started, we weren't sure if anyone would show up. We'd done our best and posted about the event on a multitude of social media sites. Still, you never know if a social media RSVP is going to turn into an actual attendee. And then they came. A couple from Meetup, one from the Makersville email list, a couple from Nextdoor, one from the Long Beach RoboTech, several from the many flyers that had been handed out at a variety of local events, in schools and at the library's Studio makerspace.

Some spent the entire afternoon building. AFOL Jesse Miller showed up to work with our huge tub of green bricks. TFOL Mom Kerry OConnell showed up to help - all day long. Of course, James Banks, Xenia Arriola and I, Trish Tsoiasue were there.

Some Very Good and Interesting Things Came Out Of This Year's Contest

Artist Jesse Miller, LBLUG member and Makersville Maker showed his brick building abilities in public for the first time.

TFOL Jack O'Connell made his display debut. For this, he created three amazing transforming LEGO models.

KFOL Enzio made his display debut with an amazing series of Batman and Joker themed vehicles in LEGO Bricks.

We held an event in collaboration with the library. It has long been a personal goal to do something with the library. This was it, and it was very good.

James Banks' Onyx Brick Builder contest proved it could draw folks in... on the merit of the contest (and the brick) alone!

During the last 1/2 hour, the winner, just off from work, rolled in, made the winning exhibit, and took home the trophy!

See for yourself, all the fun that was had! The displays and winning models will remain on display at the Long Beach Main Library through Friday at 3:00 PM.

About the Long Beach LEGO User Group

The LBLUG is a teen friendly LUG dedicated to education with and through the LEGO® brick.

Trish Tsoi-A-Sue is a creative facilitator in the Long Beach area. Certified in LEGO® Serious Play, she is the President of ETES Inc, and creator of Makersville, a community of makers. Trish is the Ambassador for the Long Beach LEGO® User Group, a group of AFOLs and Teen Fans of LEGO® (TFOLs). Join our facebook group! Some of her random experiences are recorded on her You Tube channel, Squigglemom! Please subscribe! She often writes about LEGO® , her birth country of Trinidad and about Makers and Making things. Sometimes she entertains herself by making up and playing games.