There has been a bit of talk today about the new Nostalgia+ Business Unit at the LEGO group, and I have just received notice of their boldest initiative yet: a return to the classic format of LEGO instructions.

Earlier today I had the pleasure of talking to Atilla Jogtuyu, from the new Nostalgia+ workgroup. This group is seeking to enhance the quality of nostalgic experiences

Atilla Jogtuyu proceeded to tell me about the me about the development of the final pillar of Nostalgia+, the new instruction format…

“Many AFOLs have criticised the development of LEGO Instructions in recent years – too much paper, too many trees and not enough elements placed on each step. All in all, they have not been getting the same joy from their LEGO set construction as we at the LEGO Group would hope.

“Earlier this year, we rolled out Instructions Plus through the LEGO Life App – making the step by step instructions available in a digital form, where the model can be manipulated to confirm the location of each part. We have been absolutely blown away by the response to date. So far over seventy eight million sets have been scanned into people’s collections, and two thirds of those have Instructions Plus available.

“Many adult fans miss the single sheet of instructions for constructing a 300 part set. There is nothing they like more than to play a game of ‘spot the difference’ between one step and the next, with up to 40 elements being placed in each step. We have been working with the Instructions Development and Playability Team to return the included instructions to the form that was seen back in the early 80’s. With this style of instructions, the majority of sets are able to have the instructions printed on two double sided pieces of A3 paper. A typical Creator Expert Modular Building may only be able to be reduced to 6 sheets in this form. The current, simplified but environmentally destructive, format of instructions will continue to be accessible through the LEGO Life App, either as a pdf file or Instructions Plus. We intend to continue the instructions as you already know them in LEGO Life, being able to manipulate the 3-D Structure of the build on your tablet or phone. We anticipate that the major difficulty will be with the ageing AFOLs visual acuity.

“The instructions will be rolled out in Minecraft sets initially, as they most resemble the aesthetic that these fans are longing for. For example, 21152 – The Minecraft pirate ship is be reduced from 70 to just 16 steps. ”

A copy was supplied exclusively for readers of the Rambling Brick.

“We are had been planning to roll out the new instruction format next year, but the enthusiastic uptake of Instructions Plus seems to indicate that our customers might be ready sooner.”

“For those of you who like to build with the aid of Digital Instructions, we plan to add a ‘Challenge’ setting to LEGO Life’s Instructions Plus. This will allow the builder to determine the level of difficulty that you set for the instructions – from LEVEL1 Most Basic Hand Holding, where each element is presented one at a time through to LEVEL100 – Highest Expectations where you are presented with a 3-D image of the finished model. Ideally, you will be able to adjust the difficulty as the build progresses, depending on the complexity of a given section.The algorithm has a few little tweaks remaining, but in the meantime, I am sure our long term fans will enjoy a return to the style of instructions that they grew up with.”

I am excited to see a return to the Classic Instruction format: if you need more detail, you can refer to the online instructions, or Instructions Plus, otherwise, the single side tells you all you need to know…so long as your eyes are up for it. What do you think? leave your comments below, share this article with your friends, and until next time,

Play Well!