It's been many(!) years since I've played with a LEGO set.

While I won't date myself too much, I don't remember having any of the elaborate sets that kids play with now! What I do remember is stepping on some LEGOs that weren't put away properly. Ouch!

https://www.lego.com/en-us/categories/adults-welcome/article/vintage-lego-sets-from-childhood

With curiosity about how LEGOs have changed since I last played with them, I explored LEGO data across 50+ years to answer the following questions.

1) Has the number of LEGO sets released per year changed over time?

Lego sets have steadily increased with a total of over 18.4K sets over the last five decades.

2) When were the most expensive sets launched and what were they?

The most expensive LEGO sets were launched in 2013, 2017, and 2021.

AT-AT, Millennium Falcon, and the Identity and Landscape Kit are the top three most expensive sets.

3) Which set has the highest number of pieces?

The World Map is the top set for having the most number of pieces.

4) How does the price among the LEGO categories differ?

The "Collection" category has the highest average price and the "Gear" has the lowest average price. Price variation is the highest in the "Normal", "Collection", and "Gear" categories.

5) Does the price of a set depend on the number of pieces?

The price generally appears to correlate with an increase in the number of pieces. However, the World Map set has the highest number of pieces with a price tag of $250.

6) Does the number of minifigs included change depending on the minimum age recommendation? Are there certain themes that have the lowest and highest number of minifigs?

Lego sets with a minimum age recommendation of between 12 -16 years old have the highest average number of minifigs.

Lego sets in the "Technical" theme have the lowest average number of minifigs while the "Educational" theme has the highest.

About the Data:

This dataset was part of the Maven Analytics LEGO Challenge. 18,458 records (i.e. Lego set ID's) between 1970 and 2022 were explored. Data fields were:

set_id: Official LEGO item number; name: Name of the LEGO set; year: Release year; theme: LEGO theme the set belongs to; subtheme: Subtheme within the theme; themeGroup: Overall group the theme belongs to; category: Type of set; pieces: Number of pieces in the set; minifigs: Number of mini figures included in the set; agerange_min: Minimum age recommended; US_retailPrice: US retail price at launch; bricksetURL: URL for the set on brickset.com; thumbnailURL: Small image of the set; imageURL: Full size image of the set