Review: LEGO Ideas 21337 Table Football

Today we take a quick tour of the content of the LEGO Ideas set 21337 Soccer table, a box of 2339 pieces which will be available at the retail price of €249.99 from November 1, 2022. As you probably already know, this product is vaguely inspired by the winning creation of a competition organized in 2021 on the platform that is used to collect ideas from fans. From the initial idea, there is not much left besides the not really obvious desire to try to reproduce a table football.

Yet that was the concept: to offer fans a playable football table based on LEGO bricks. The manufacturer has had plenty of time to assess the possibility of getting something convincing since the announcement of the winner of this contest and there are sometimes ideas that are better to reject than to insist on finally proposing an official product that no longer has much to do with the reference concept. The creation in question was only a digital rendering which did not take into account the inevitable constraints linked to the construction of an object intended to be handled roughly by four players, its adaptation into a physical product in accordance with the manufacturer's requirements could therefore reserve a few surprises and complicate the work of the designers in charge of the file.

During the Fan Media Days which took place in Billund a few weeks ago, LEGO had presented us with some prototypes respectful of the scale of the original creation and had admitted to having found no satisfactory solution to obtain a sufficiently solid football table. Various and varied Technic beams, axes connected to each other to cross the game board, the designers tried many solutions which all proved to be disappointing and too fragile.

Clinging to the idea of ​​offering a football table without investing in the design of bars that are both long and sufficiently rigid, the manufacturer has therefore decided to reduce the format of the object at the risk of disappointing all those who expected to be able to enjoy a game experience similar to that offered by a classic table football.

The micro foosball table to be built here is designed to withstand the onslaught of two players who can compete against each other: it weighs almost two kilos and it is strong enough not to disintegrate each time the four bars are manipulated. You can see it in the photos that I propose to you, the internal structure of the construction is made up of large elements and it is reinforced by some beams and other Technic pins which make it possible to avoid any deformation or dislocation. The solution used to fix the players on their respective bars is also designed to avoid losing a figurine during the game. It's rough but strong enough not to have to pull out the instruction booklet at halftime.

Of the four rows of players per team usually present on a standard football table, there are only two left here and the goalkeeper finds himself surrounded by two defenders. It's not really in the spirit of the game we know anymore and even if this shortcut won't harm the pleasure of being able to play a few games on this toy, it's far from being like traditional foosball. . The game board having been reduced in length and width, the range of movement of the bars is also greatly limited and there will therefore remain only the vague impression of playing with a foosball table without being able to take advantage of all the subtleties. usual.

One might think that it is possible to count the points easily thanks to the two rulers placed on the goals, but you have to force frankly to move the balls on the Technic axis to which they are fixed. We therefore quickly come to the conclusion that these counters are more there to imitate those of a real table football than to allow a real follow-up of the score of the current meeting. There are no stickers in this box but the only pad-printed elements are anyway the four green plates which serve as the terrain as well as the board and the Tile  Friends"I Love Heartlake City"hidden in the bowels of table football.

Very quickly, the marketing speech that was served to us in Billund around the product had also slipped towards what this box has to offer on the sidelines of this micro foosball: a very large handful of minifigs divided into two teams of eleven players with endless customization possibilities to celebrate "living together", diversity, etc. Not all the players can take their place on the ramps of the table football and it was necessary to find something to display them next to the object, the manufacturer therefore adds a display unit which allows the figurines to be installed and stored in the base heads and other additional hair provided.

LEGO is trying to distract some attention and make up for the possible disappointment of anyone expecting otherwise by building a big layer of diversity and inclusivity into this box. We therefore obtain 22 minifigs in outfit, 44 heads and 43 hair with all skin tones, some handicaps or conditions represented and the promise that everyone must find their way around. Why not, the customization possibilities are there. It is theoretically possible to use any head on a torso, the neck of the character not being stamped in a precise shade, but the most demanding will still have to take into account the color of the hands to create coherent miniatures . Or not, it's as you wish, everyone is awesome even with hands of another color.

Knowing that there are only five players per team on the board, I would have preferred LEGO to rely on actual teams per five-player batch to add some spice to the experience. After all, LEGO has already worked with Real Madrid, FC Barcelona or Manchester United and getting some nice official outfits would have been a plus. I indeed find the generic outfits provided here a little disappointing, even a fictitious sponsor on the chest would have been welcome in my opinion. Regulars of game rooms will object that the players are just as neutral on a real table football, but we are in any case already very far from a credible representation of the thing and an aesthetic digression more or less changed much more.

In short, this product, which is too expensive for what it has to offer, will undoubtedly be quickly forgotten, especially during a period during which LEGO is asking us each month with much more attractive sets, always bigger and always more expensive. It's not a playable, friendly and fun table football like many of us knew in our youth, and Thierry Henry and Marcus Rashford, called in to help promote the product in exchange a big check, pretending to have fun in the advertisements for this box, there is in my opinion nothing to marvel at this big package of minifigs at 250 € accompanied by a few parts. Next.

Note: The set presented here, provided by LEGO, is as usual involved. Deadline fixed at 28th October, 2022 next at 23:59 p.m. Just post a comment under the article to participate. Your participation is taken into account regardless of your opinion.

Update : The winner was drawn and notified by email, his nickname is indicated below.