I travelled a little further afield for this month’s pick-a-brick cup. I was visiting some friends in Seattle last weekend, so I took the bus out to the Bellevue store to see what treasures they had to offer. Though much of their wall was the type of thing that I’ve seen before, it was the 1×2 tan plates that stood out.

So, I filled a large cup with those little tan plates. I almost filled a second cup with 1×2 reddish-brown plates, but the addition of sales tax made it less than appetizing. The woman who rang me up asked what I wanted them for, but seemed a little less than interested in my answer.

I’ve been enamored with the idea of micro-scale fantasy for a while. I want to make extravagant fortresses and landscapes. All of those tan plates will be perfect for the sandstone blocks of a desert castle. Add some accents in complementary colors and I’m good to go.

When I got back to my friends’ apartment, I sat down to the task of carefully counting. The process of stacking plates into groups of ten is pleasantly meditative, if a bit hard on the fingers. My friends found it alluring too, and one of them found himself hearing the siren call of bricks. It wasn’t long before he was musing about whether he had room in the apartment to get into Lego himself.

The final count was 1169 1×2 tan plates. Since the cup cost $15.99 (prices went up recently) and Washington has sales tax, the price per piece comes in around 1.5¢. That’s a pretty darned good deal, considering that they often go for 5¢ or so from the secondary market.

Now I just need to find a good deal on some used tan plates so that I can mix in some subtle color variations…