Category:Brickplayer

1940: "Bricklayer: The Bricks and Mortar Building Kit" [image info]

1958 Brickplayer advert, Meccano Magazine [image info]

1960: "So Real – So Modern!" Contemporary Brickplayer [image info]

Brickplayer, 1938, (and Contemporary Brickplayer, 1959) marked the entry of boardgame company Spears into the "artificial stone-based building construction set" market, the name being a combination of the words "bricklayer" and "play".

Spears' "angle" was to use smaller bricks that more closely approximated real building bricks, rather than the massively-proportioned blocks used by Lott's Bricks. The resulting painstakingly-assembled buildings were prone to being wrecked if they were knocked - Spears' answer being to have the user glue the bricks together using a special mortar, which could be removed later by immersing the entire building in water and leaving it to soak.

Although well-advertised, and presumably popular with parents working in the construction trade, Brickplayer (and Contemporary Brickplayer) probably suffered somewhat from parents' apprehension over the possible amount of mess involved, either in building the sets, or soaking away the mortar.

More adventurous Brickplayer fans were liable to try double-sided sticky tape for permanent models, and to experiment with alternative temporary "mortars" such as porridge, icing sugar and toothpaste.

1940 advertising text

Build a city of your own with BRICKPLAYER

The Bricks and Mortar Building Kit

Boys! Here's a new hobby! Build miniature houses, railway stations, platforms, bridges, signal boxes, castles, forts, villages and an endless array of other buildings with real bricks and mortar! Each model constructed sets solid – yet it can easily be dismantled by simply soaking in cold water and the bricks used again and again. BRICKPLAYER is no mere toy, it's a building kit of permanent value. Hours of excitement and interest. Get your kit to-day.

See also:

• Contemporary Brickplayer

Links

• Brickplayer, Tony O'Hagan (www.brickplayer.co.uk)
• Brickplayer and Brickplayer plans, images (binnsroad.co.uk)
• Brickplayer (architoys.net)
• Other systems: Brickplayer (meccanoindex.co.uk)