This list reflects the most common LEGO Parts as of January 2021. Do you know what you would categorize the plate with the grate in it? For people that want to part out a 100% authentic Cafe Corner, it will be necessary to track down 1x2x3 wall panel 2362b in white (20 are needed). There’s 90,000 different permutations of a five digit number, at best informed guess (can never be too sure with older LEGO and odd prints that turn up) there’s 140k parts since the fifties. In addition, a smaller brick can be connected to a larger technic brick side ways to change the direction of the holes; (in other words, the studs of one fit well into the holes of another, as long as ALL of the studs have a hole to fit into.) They benefited greatly from a solid community of AFOLs right as LEGO were experiencing their dark days. So, like the Rosetta Stone, these resources were not developed to preserve knowledge for future generations so much as they were to make it available for the present. From the outside we can only guess what is going on at LEGO HQ, but very interesting to see that there has been an attempt at a cohesive design+color scheme, at least early on. Pity that they stopped updating it years ago. Nowadays there appears to be no obvious logic to their allotment, with numbers ranging from 12029 to 79371 being assigned to the 1400 new designs have surfaced in sets so far this year. At some stage someone got confused between mould numbers and parts numbers. How's our service? Time limit is exhausted. LDraw Part Number are base on the LEGO Design IDs. As mentioned in the related article 2019 Most Common LEGO Parts, my original goal in preparing this list was to determine which parts are actually most common for an upcoming 2019 refresh to the popular 2018 article Hard-to-Find LEGO Colors (and what to do about it). The mold and the color are the critical bits of knowledge on the production floor, as they have no idea, in some of these cases, what the eventual element will look like (if it's printed or not, or which parts it will be combined with if it's an assembly). 4. Elements have names, not designs. All models available under libre Creative Commons Attribution license. It has gone through several mold changes over the years, but as long as a red 2x4 stays in production it will never be assigned a new EID. I use this list to identify missing parts to add to the LEGO Brick Labels collection. Fantastic article @Huw! I am talking mainly about small 1X1 pieces in old grey and light blue grey for example. You can also filter LEGO® pieces by category, color and / or size. Rebrickable and Peeron use the same numbers for those parts, which is further evidence that he didn't screw up. I can't claim to be an expert, but I thought it would be useful to others to write down what I've learned about them over the years. @BeO:I opened a copy of the car (non-coffin) polybag from Monster Fighters. I learned a lot! This is a number that corresponds to the shape only, as many colors can be cast in the same mold. I never really cared to learn what the codes meant though. Common undecorated parts were given 4-digit design numbers until the mid 1990s when 5-digit ones starting at 30000 were used. These files are automatically updated daily. A number that signifies both the part shape and color. This simple scheme worked at first, when design numbers were 4 digit and colour numbers only two but it started to break down once they were exceeded. There is no plural. That's an absolutely impressive photograph of that blue 3032 plate, Huw! Luckily, as I was still collecting the elements for my Town Hall LEGO reintroduced this element with a new number (6263221) so I was able to get the newer numbered ones directly from LEGO's Bricks & Pieces for a fraction of what the older numbered ones were going for on BrickLink. .hide-if-no-js {
It appears those sets still used the number 76382 internally because the parts were always in production due to other sets using the same torsos going into production earlier or simultaneously and the new number only came in effect once China produced exclusive torsos. (Not including printed parts, minifigures, stickers, and fabric components. "Nope, no number on the part will tell you it’s color. "Bricklinks (and almost all other fan sites) numbers came from Peeron (before that stopped being updated). âTom. I have been doing Legos for 7 years. timeout
So, a white (colour 1) 2x4 brick (design 3001) has an element number 300101 and a green (colour 28) spruce tree (design 3471) has an element number 347128. Prior to 2010, a three-digit part number was used. A few elements with 5-digit design numbers continued to be numbered in this way in the early 1990s, e.g. Will be interesting to see what Lego decide's to do. Are there collectors out there who are that detail oriented that my using the newly numbered element would impact the resale value of my set? Although we’re receiving a very high number of requests from our customers right now, we’re working hard to respond quickly. This 1x6x5 slope, for example, was numbered 4117031 when it first appeared in 1999, but was renumbered 4215714 in 2004 and 6223277 in 2018. Later generations may see decreasing benefit over the years to come, but the most immediate benefit comes to the seller who generates the catalog entry, and the greatest benefit comes to those other sellers who are able to list their own sets and parts until shortly after the set is retired. There was initially some logic to their allocation, with blocks of numbers assigned to the different types of parts being produced in 1968: However, as the parts palette started to grow, numbers were allocated more haphazardly, most probably sequentially as new designs were introduced. Just scrolling through the two lists of torsos, one thing is very clear to me. Generally speaking, every printed part has its own unique design number and element number. LEGO is a company name and used as an adjective to describe something.It is one LEGO brick, two LEGO bricks,... Not one LEGO, two LEGO or two LEGOs. Or anything that treats the world "LEGO" as an adjective:"Proper Use of the LEGO Trademark on a Web SiteIf the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun. @LuvsLEGO_Cool_J said:"I don’t see bright bluish green (what fans call ‘teal’). A H I J K L M N R S T O P Q B C D E F G TABLE S-4 the LEGO plates LABEL NAME COLOR A plate 1x1 dark azure B plate 1x2 dark azure, dark grey
(An outline of the methodology is included at the end of this page.). Type the number into a computer, and it will tell you where in the warehouse those elements are located. They first appeared on the underside of parts around 1985 but it's believed that they started to be used internally from 1968. This type of data analysis is absolutely fascinating to me!
The 1x2 jumper plate, on the other hand, has gone through two mold changes in quick succession (introducing the tile-style lip to the edge, and completely redesigning the underside so it'll attach to a single solid stud in the center). I believe they were largely created by one man in the 90’s (I forget his name but I think it’s Bill something) who decides he wanted to catalogue all lego parts. But using letters (which The LEGO Company does _not_ use) means there should never be any conflict between the two systems going forward. I was just simplifying it for people who call it ‘Legos’. When subparts are shown, move your cursor over a rim to see the tires it fits, or over a tire to see the rims it fits. The first time I spotted square marked arms was in January 2009, 852554 Magnet Set Vader/Chewbacca/Obi-Wan. I'm wondering what was the system of assigning such numbers during the initial wave of particular classic theme. (Identical parts with different Part ID’s, and nearly identical parts were merged as one part for the purposes of this analysis. During 88585s introduction in 2010 the arms had square markings molded on the inside, somewhat visible but not really apparent until you disconnected the arms. Rather than guess, I simply assumed that each set is produced in equal quantities. @shaase said:"similar to 2012/13 when Lego ran out of numbers for sets and had to upgrade to 5 digit sets; given the number of new Designs and all the Patterns (printed parts) in the last decade, Lego must be running out of 5 digit numbers. A significant amount of processing was needed to normalize the data, and crunch the numbers. Thanks to Tim at New Elementary, dulcaoin and Laz for their help with preparing this article. I was just simplifying it for people who call it ‘Legos’. if ( notice )
Take, for instance, the 2x4 brick. @Librarian1976 said:"This article is filled with great information. Thanks!I've been wondering for the past few years how much small variations in elements matter to people, specifically to collectors. LEGO Missing Parts/LEGO Replacement Parts We all Know that when a piece of LEGO drops on the floor or behind the sofa, it disappears into a black hole somewhere out in LEGO Space. These are numbers molded into parts and are usually 4digits with a dash in the middle (eg 40-67). The plural of Lego is Lego, not Legos or Lego’s!! Without Peeron bricklinks growth would have been significantly slower. Get started by using the categories on the left to find the individual Lego parts you need. Lastly, I created a table where I can compare quantity of each part across different 5-year spans, and output the results in HTML. For example, for printed 2x2 bricks they’ll use the number molded on the part plus a ‘pb’ to signify a printed part, followed by a number which is sequential from the first printed version. Articles like these are my favorite. Or Maybe you've gone to rebuild a set you've had stashed away in a drawer, and you find that your ⦠@Zatth said:"It's been mentioned above by the perceptive joshcvt, but I too highly doubt that "links" is a typo. Head to printabrick.org, search you favorite LEGO® set and print it on your 3D printer! I just pulled a dark-purple 2x4 brick that I used to build a transport puck for a MOC I built in 2014 (so it's at least 6.5 years old), and the mold/cavity number is 4-246. Fascinating! @Huw said:"^ I've asked many times over the years to talk to the department that issues set numbers but to no avail, sadly..."Hey @huw I have worked several years in the plastic industry and while I have never worked for Lego themselves, I can give you a little more insight into how companies come up with these numbers if you are interested. In this case it could be important that the correct variation is used or things will not work out during the build process.Alternatively, other differences are more structural. In 2012, we are seeing a range of Lego Superheroes released, and these have item numbers in the 6000âs. x", while others don't include the double-quotes. Bricklink part numbers that start with a lower-case "x" are used to catalog parts with unknown design numbers. For example, a 1x2 jumper with bottom type A vs. bottom type B vs. bottom type C? There was some sort of agreement for a time that, if someone else had already added a part to their catalog where the design number was unknown, the other two sites would use that same catalog number to maintain some degree of consistency between the three catalogs. As part of that change, they required any previous contributors to release the rights to their images so they would fit the new norm. EIDs almost exclusively begin with a 4 or a 6 (new EIDs have been 6’s for a couple of years now). And for your example, if the part was in production when the set was released I'd say it's fair game whichever you choose. LEGO Technic Sets I Recommend (December, 2010) Honestly, it is hard to find LEGO Technic sets which include a good variety of parts. Luckily we have sites like bricklink that use more systematic and sensible naming for parts. There are some homemaker parts with numbers below 10. Large Figure Part (322) Magnet (19) Micro Doll, Body Part (18) Mini Doll, Body Part (14) Mini Doll, Body Wear (53) Mini Doll, Hair (65) Mini Doll, Head (151) Mini Doll, Headgear (7) Mini Doll, Legs (226) Mini Doll, Torso (352) Minifigure, Body Part (1030) Minifigure, Body Wear (531) Minifigure, Hair (405) Minifigure, Head (3252) Minifigure, Head, Modified (449) The one I noticed was that the Lou Ferrigno Hulk had dark-green muscle print on the polybag minifig, but black muscle print on the keychain. a regular LEGO brick. It is in the same category as large plates in my LEGO Brick Labels collection. Any catalogued parts pre 1995 are largely thanks to one mans effort. This is good feedback, so I’ve updated both the master page you linked, and the archives to include column headers. I often took all of them apart back in those days to build a mega-castle (which I always based on the drawings from David Macaulay's Caldecott winning book, "Castle"). This exception to the general rule is because torsos and legs are composite parts, made with up to 5 separate pieces in the case of minifig torsos, and each individual component has its own element ID, which is not exposed publicly. A good way to identify new and recoloured parts in sets before LEGO has published the inventory online is to look for the highest numbered elements in the set's inventory at the back of the instructions. For example the design of this SNOT plate, one of the first, was initially numbered 2436. If you're looking for missing Lego pieces for an existing Lego set, or you need replacement Lego parts, we have a very large range available. In addition to their actual shape, parts have another attribute used to identify them: their colour and, sometimes, the material(s) they are made from or process used to colour them. There are exceptions to the 4&6 rule for really early EIDs, these usually break the 7 digit rule too. For example, a 1x2 jumper with bottom type A vs. bottom type B vs. bottom type C? *
Category page. Parts. Identifying part numbers Just like sets, each LEGO® piece has a unique element number. As you may know, we sort LEGO bricks for another eBay seller and in return, he pays us in LEGO bricks. Luckily, as I was still collecting the elements for my Town Hall LEGO reintroduced this element with a new number (6263221) so I was able to get the newer numbered ones directly from LEGO's Bricks & Pieces for a fraction of what the older numbered ones were going for on BrickLink. Fandom Apps Take your favorite fandoms with you and never miss a beat. Design numbers identify the shape of the part. I now have a better understanding of the subject. For order and payment issues, it's best to call us as we can't take payment info over chat. Thanks! Yes, older sets going all the way back to the development of the LEGO System have been cataloged, but one of the main benefits of a site like Peeron is that it made current set inventories available to the public. Brick; Hair; Part 2526; Prototype; The Moon Stones; Part 58247; ... Category:LEGO Digital Designer parts; Part 4066pb314; Lightning (Disambiguation) M Category:Mini doll parts; Mini Upper Part "No 1451" Category:Minifigure Dress; So, the former is probably the Chinese mold, and the latter is probably a European one.The reason why the elements are named rather than the designs is probably due to picking systems. This specific variant has skyrocketed in price on Bricklink, but the current version with reinforced sides is not overly expensive, having appeared in 62 sets to date. 8
This data is imported into Excel, where I have tables containing element quantities for each 5-year span starting from 2010. For newer sets, element numbers are listed in the back of your set's building instructions: In addition to the element number, many parts have a 4- or 5-digit design number molded on the inside of the piece. If you need more details, you can use the API which provides real-time data, but has rate limits that prevent bulk downloading of data. Almost every piece has a part number molded into the part, usually in the bottom "female" side cavity, and usually consists of 4 to 6 digits (go ahead, look at your own bricks). Time limit is exhausted. This was before lego made any information available to the public, not design IDs or even element IDs. "EIDs never have letters in. The part will retain the u-prefixed number as long as the part's true number is unknown. Talk to our friendly LEGO experts online. These often confuse new LEGO fans. Never say “MODELS BUILT OF LEGOs”. If you have a lot to tell us, use this contact form. Sometimes there seem to be lowercase letters in the middle of what I am assuming is an element number. As the supply dries up, the content sees a pronounced drop-off in its usefulness. This includes a table listing the number of pieces of each element you would get if you bought every set in a given year. They also don't stamp the parts afterwards to record that information. Makes me more appreciative of the Brickset admins who spend time figuring this out so we don’t have to. Thanks, Huw! "Or Dutch. I do have a question on numbering on a piece. This was my first time seeking out and purchasing specific Lego pieces and this was the easiest, most painless purchasing process. It's impressive that you can keep all that clear enough in your head to write about it so cohesively. But no, the part molds are not modified whenever they do a color swap. It’s unlikely you’ll ever get two parts with identical batch numbers even in the same set. "They are no more wrong than anyone else. I do have a question on numbering on a piece. Interesting. My understanding is that those identify exactly where a part was molded. The second wave had 6234, 6259, 6267, 6273.These numbers were not assigned sequentially. I thought maybe it stands for the color, but for several same pieces with same color the numbers can differ, even from the same set. One on the 5-digit numbers might also be, and they are slightly easier to get to grips with.As you say, the numbers initially gave come indication of the size of the set. 4.85, Slope Curved 4 x 6 x 2/3 Triple Curved with 4 Studs, Weapon Throwing Star / Shuriken with Smooth Grips, Slope Inverted 45â¬â 2 x 2 Double Convex, Equipment, Weapon, Loudhailer / Blaster / Space Gun, Bar 3L, with Handle, Stop Ring and Side Stops (Minifig Ski Pole), Plate Special 4 x 6 with Trap Door Hinge [Long Pins], Plate Special 1 x 2 with Wheel Holder, Single Slit, I created supplementary tables containing preferred part names, current part colors, parts or part categories to remove from the analysis, and corrected part ID’s. );
You can use ctrl+F in your web browser to find specific part ID’s within the page. Brickset is the most established, accurate and up-to-date LEGO database on the Internet today: we've been collating our data since 1997. A good way to identify new and recoloured parts in sets before LEGO has published the inventory online is to look for the highest numbered ⦠They also ‘borrowed’ all Peerons part and set images which allowed Bricklink to immediately be a useful tool for AFOLs. What does 2) stand for? While these 600 parts reflect the vast majority of parts which are produced, It’s a fairly small subset of the thousands of unique parts you will find in currently available sets. This is partly because the community named them before the company's internal names were known. Talk to our friendly LEGO experts online. We then, turn around and piece together sets to sell on eBay as well. I'd like to ask, is there any way to know what particular numbers should I expect in a set from, for instance, the 90s? The question is, by how much does that reduce the value? ⦠If you denied them permission, they removed them and started replacing them immediately. "Yes, that would be interesting. Since the same design can end up being used across a range of elements, it makes more sense to name the elements over the designs. The site has an impressive number of sets inventoried: to date 6,634 are available, as well as scanned instructions for 3,452 sets. The double-digit numbers are used to identify the mold (multiple copies of a mold may exist because older molds wear out, because a particular design is in such high demand that they need to be able to run multiple colors at once, or because they have molds in different countries to save them having to ship the molds all over the world). Good! I selected a 5-year span because most LEGO sets are available in stores for multiple years. I suspect at some point Bricklink just started doing their own thing, but these days it's less of an issue as design numbers are readily available for any new molds.And I don't know what 90's you experienced, but that was really the birth of the AFOL community. As a database that actually tracks all of these details, Brickset is in the perfect position to bring a dose of insight to this side of the hobby, thank you for the effort and dedication to doing things by the book.--Nathan"Exactly what he said. Excellent article and very helpful, thanks. Thank you! This element was retired in 2012 and sold for a pretty penny on BrickLink. Colour numbers are three-digits and begin at 1, which is white. Most enlightening! However, I learned a lot from this article. 3626A.DAT and 3626B.DAT, the solid stud and hollow stud versions of the minifig head). Ah, Peeron. Interesting read! ;-)"Panasonic G9, 30mm macro lens and plenty of light! The numbering series began at 3001, which is the 2x4 brick. I'm wondering what was the system of assigning such numbers during the initial wave of particular classic theme. @CCC:The founder of Bricklink added the parts numbered "1" and "2" to the catalog, so presumably he knew what he was doing. "They have a while yet. display: none !important;
(Not including printed parts, minifigures, stickers, and fabric components. Please log in to post comments on this article. I prefer daylight spectrum LED (previously used CFL), and you want bright light (so aim for 100w equivalent). The list is based on the Rebrickable database of parts, sets, and inventories. There was no equivalent to it when the site got started two years before Bricklink went live. similar to 2012/13 when Lego ran out of numbers for sets and had to upgrade to 5 digit sets; given the number of new Designs and all the Patterns (printed parts) in the last decade, Lego must be running out of 5 digit numbers. Sets. The Ninjago range of toys released in 2011 nearly all had the item numbers in the 2000âs. At some point under the second owner, Bricklink changed their ToS to claim ownership of any images used in the catalog entries. Mail us. Just the mention of the name brings back happy memories. Macro lens or microscope? Interesting LEGO Adverts - Part 1. @MasterT said:"Great article, very interesting stuff. ), This is not a perfect representation of the distribution of LEGO elements which are currently being produced, but offers a reasonable estimate. @mfg3000:That's usually part of an internal numbering system used by Bricklink. })(120000);
Based on the first years of Pirates sets we can discover that there is a relationship between the set number and it's box volume (I think). Those are sometimes very hard to tell the difference between them by just looking at the color like on bigger plates and bricks that are easier to see the difference in color. Am I missing it? In addition, a smaller brick can be connected to a larger technic brick side ways to change the direction of the holes; (in other words, the studs of one fit well into the holes of another, as long as ALL of the studs have a hole to fit … The majority of the numbers relate to the colour of the plastic the parts are moulded from but a few also define any additional finishes, e.g. Bricklink is by far the most successful of the trio, Peeron is no longer being updated (but is still available to browse), and LDraw was...a bit weird. Thanks! Another noticeable thing about the numbers is that they tend to run in sequence with new releases. While these 600 parts reflect the vast majority of parts which are produced, Itâs a fairly small subset of the thousands of unique parts you will find in currently available sets. As a toolmaker who deals with plastic moulding, this was a great read. ), I created queries which simplify the dataset for the purposes of this analysis. It's not actually attached to the physical part, so there's no way to tell which element ID number that element shipped as, unless it has gone through variations that match up precisely with those EID changes. @meesajarjar72 said:"^^yes I know. While it’s true LEGO make far more new design IDs, it’s unlikely they’ll run out in the next decade. "No it isn't. }. Part 19888; Part 38798; The Moon Stones; Part 71342; Part bb1170c01; All items (3815) # A; B; C; D; E; F; G; H; I; J; K; L; M; N; O; P; Q; R; S; T; U; V; W; X; Y; Z; Other * Our database contains information on 17712 LEGO sets and other items released over the last 71 years.. How to find sets Very interesting article, indeed! Macro lens or microscope? I’m using this to help me sort legos. 36 Items. I do have a question about what I think are element numbers that I see on Bricklink. Most likely a designer/tech slipped into his native language. LEGO Technic COMPLETE GEARBOX ASSEMBLY 2 x 4 x 3 1/3 Trans-Clear Wormbox gear motor REDUCER block Mindstorms robotics ev3 NXT transparent robot building power functions part 6588 4.4 out of 5 stars 113 LEGO Cone 1 x 1 Inverted with Handle (11610) From: US $0.03. To keep things simple here, all such parts are lumped together under a single colour, Multicombination. AFOLs today owe so much to those LEGO fans in the 90’s who were so dedicated to preserving the hobby even when so many people were getting less interested.