PAB Cups: What Did You Get?

[SilentMode]

You guys have some really sweet parts in your PAB walls. Over here we don't have nearly as many plates and tiles, and the bricks are usually odd colours.

[meyerc13]

Does anyone know approximately how often the stores change the parts available at the PAB wall?

As I mentioned above, I don't get there often, but I was at the Mall of America store back in November. On Monday of that week, I visited the store and they had gray 1x2 bricks. On Friday of that week, I went back and those had been replaced by another part (which I know because I went back to get more). Yet I saw them on that Friday restocking other parts on the wall from shipping boxes. So I think it is hard to say. They definitely have some parts that stay on the wall a long time, but other popular parts can disappear quite quickly. I think with the free boxes shown above that are good from 12/26 through March, that you'll see the wall changing more often in the next few months. Probably the best thing to do is call the stores during a slow time (weekday morning for example). I've found the employees to be very friendly and helpful (as long as they aren't too busy). If you are looking for a certain part or parts, or just interested in knowing what good parts they have, maybe they can give you some idea over the phone.

Can anyone give me tips on how to stack with car chassis and tires?

Tires are tricky. Obviously you'll want to put the wheels in the tires to save some space. Beyond that I'd just grab a handful and drop them in my cup, filling in the space around them with small 1x1 slopes, studs, plates, etc. I haven't seen a car chasis on the wall when I've been, but that's another tricky part. If the chasis has indentations that can be filled by plates, I'd fill them with plates. I have seen the old 2x4 mud guards, I stacked those alternating, not sure if that is the best method or not. With some of these tricky parts it's difficult to pack the cup, but add lots of small pieces as you go to fill any air gaps and you'll end up with a good piece count on the cup.

Edited January 3, 2011 by meyerc13

[pompommini]

Since this topic is called 'PAB Cups: What Did You Get?' It reminds of a funny PAB story...

Once upon a time in a lego store I was going to make a Go Kart MOC. I went to PAB and got a ton of pieces,tiles,wheels,bricks,helmets,visors,flags and poles! When I got home I realised I had forggeten the wheel connecter pieces!!!

The End

Edited January 3, 2011 by pompommini

[BrickArtist]

This makes me wonder, is 2 small cups the way to get more bricks, or one big one? I'm very mythodical when packing cups at PAB walls, such a great way to get legos.

[freakwave]

Does anyone know approximately how often the stores change the parts available at the PAB wall?

I hit the PABs at our two local (NorCal) stores before Xmas. But probably won't go back until they rotate some new parts in. I realize they probably just change the parts bin by bin as they run out. Does anyone know how long it takes before a bin is changed?

The best thing to check the PAB walls is Brickbuildr

German stores get updated quite frequently, US stores not that frequently, you need to recruit some fellow PAB addicts to keep them actual .

fW

Edited January 3, 2011 by freakwave

[Eilif]

This makes me wonder, is 2 small cups the way to get more bricks, or one big one? I'm very mythodical when packing cups at PAB walls, such a great way to get legos.

Definitely not. A small cup is almsot exaxtly half the capacity of a large cup but more than half the cost. I fill a small cup occasionaly when there's only a few things I want, but not when I'm stocking up. One good thing about small cups is that when using them to sort or build out of, they are much easier to use, so if you plan to use the cups for those purposes it might be worth it to go with small cups.

Large cups are definitely the way to go for bulk buying.

[KristofBD]

I live in the Netherlands so occasionally I'll go to the LEGO store in Cologne. The German cups are 16 or so; the smaller ones are 8.50. I'll go next Saturday (already excited ). The only problem is that the range of pieces is fairly limited. Luckily there's always the green and roof parts. Last time I went there, they also had dogs you could but in the cups . Well, just hope this time will also have exciting stuff. I'm also hoping to pick up a HP Diagon Alley set, but I guess that is not realistic as they are likely to be sold out.

[Iysk]

If I were to go for chassis parts, should it be for a small or large cups? Also getting wheels.

[meyerc13]

Made it to the Mall of America store this week. The Pick a Brick wall is much improved, but had a lot of repeated parts on the night I visited.

Here's a helpful tip for anyone who has one of the free boxes they gave out prior to Christmas - the box is 11x11 studs, 9 high. I spent way too much time filling mine... the easy way is to stack your 1x2, 1x4, 2x4, etc 9 high, and tilt the box on its side and start making rows of those brick stacks. You can probably squeeze some tiles on top too.

To give you an idea of what those boxes are worth, I believe they gave them out with a $75 purchase. I was able to get $63 worth of bricks (using pick-a-brick online prices) in my box. While at the store, I also filled a small cup and a large cup (I don't get here often). I got slightly more value out of the free box than I did out of the large cup (to be fair, the large cup was filled with odd shape pieces like roof tiles and tires).

So next year if you are shopping at a LEGO store before Christmas, definitely spend the $75 it will take to get one of the free boxes, and don't let the small size of the box fool you. You can fit a lot of standard bricks inside, and you can use the wall like I did to pick up gray, orange, brown, and black bricks that aren't as common in other sets.

[The Player Nº1]

I want a LEGO Shop here in Portugal. Here we have LEGO Wear, but they don't have PAB.

Regards

[Lego Otaku]

Went to Lego store to pick up the new train sets and checked other stuff. I got:

set 10198 Tantive IV 20% off; some Star Wars sets are 20% off today and tomorrow (May 3 & 4) only. Plus I got a free shadow trooper with it

1 large cup stuffed full of 1x4 brown "log" bricks. When I repacked the cup, I was able to squeeze another 50 of them before I resorted to filling the little remaining spaces with bunch of 1x1 round plates. Total 284 brown log bricks. Average price on BL: 11 cents used and 15 cents new so I would have paid $31.24 for used or 42.60 for new plus shipping. Lego online store charges 26 cents each. :D

Oh yeah almost 100 trans-light blue 1x1 round plates that filled in the little gaps.

PS the store in Troy, MI had 6 PAB displays full of Hero Factory chest parts in red, orange, white, blue, yellow, and black color. 3 different pieces of each color: chest armor, badge, and I think head. They may have other armor pieces not on display but I didn't ask since Hero Factory isn't my thing.

[Zeya]

*snip* (Sorry.)

Edited May 3, 2011 by Zeya

[Darth Yogi]

Thanks for this demo. I have never got PAP at a store that has cups, but they did have PAB when I went to LEGOland Shamburg, near Chicago. It was still an excellent price.

[MinifigFreak2010]

Here's my haul from the large cup I got mid last month(just now stopped to do it w/ mom).

2 - Angle Plate 1X2/1X4 white

4 - 2X2 white brick

5 - 1X4 orange brick

1 - 2X4 red brick

7 - 1X6 red brick

4 - 2X2 axles

8 - 1X1X5 white bricks

15 - 1X1X2 yellow bricks

29 - 1X1 Orange stud

3 - 2X6 Dark gray brick

1 - Clear white stud

2 - 1X1 Clear slope

1 - 2X6 light gray brick

9 - 1X1 white brick w/ eye print

101 - 1X1 blue aqua stud(Don't know how I got that many!)

1 - 1X1 red tile

9 - 1X1 red stud

8 each - rims and tires

19 - 1X1 orange clear slope

33 - Yellow 1X1 stud

8 - 2X6 brown plate

17 - 1X4 green

81 - 1X1 green plate

14 - 1X2 pink slop brick

8 - 2X4 orange

23 - 1X2 light blue

7 - 1X2 yellow

3 - 2X2 lime green brick

34 - 1X2 grey w/ grooves

11 - 2X4 lime green brick

22 - 2X4 tan

if the math is right, that's a total of 498 pieces at .03 cents per piece. I could of fit a little more in, but taking into account mom and I weren't feeling 100% on the trip(long story short, lost a relative). However, it's a lot better then I thought plus I stacked most of the 2X4's into a kinda circle shape w/ some of the 1X2's and pink slope to make a circle to go last in the bottom of the container so i'm improving my stacking skills.

[fred67]

PAB 2011-05-07 by FredJH, on Flickr

32 brick red 2x4 bricks

16 white hinge assembly

195 medium blue 1x2 bricks

4 technic turntables

15 black scorpions

95 dbg clips

105 white lamp holders

35 plants

-----------------------

497 items total

The most remarkable pick-a-brick item I've ever seen: technic turntables! LEGO Education sells these 2 for $12!

Edited May 7, 2011 by fred67

[SilentMode]

Is that all from one cup? If so that's pretty good!

[Pingles]

Was so tempted last time I was there just to do one for fun but felt guilty since I have a giant case of Legos waiting for an MOC project at home. Promised myself I'll start a project first and THEN go buy a cup for fun so maybe I can fill in some gaps.

[malleable]

I loved the promotion last month with the free small cup w/$75 purchase. I picked up the MMV and packed my small cup to the brim. Still haven't sorted it fully, but so far I've counted 48 white lamp holders and 50 black headlight bricks that I used as filler, plus tons of tan brick for some upcoming projects.

[fred67]

Is that all from one cup? If so that's pretty good!

If you're referring to mine, yes, it's one cup... I normally don't have the patience for that much, especially since I get there right after the store opens when I go on Saturdays... and it's nice and quiet for about 20 to 30 minutes, then it's a zoo. I'm very patient with my kids, but when it's a bunch of unrestrained monkeys with no discipline I get annoyed (no, I'm not implying all kids but mine are like that, but enough to drive me nuts).

[meyerc13]

Wow, that's a great haul! With the exception of the brown and blue bricks and the plants, I've never seen any of those parts on the wall at the store closest to me (although I only get there 5-6 times a year since it's 5+ hours away). Those are such useful parts, and parts that I have in such low quantities, that if I ever saw them I'd probably buy a cup of each (especially the lamp holders, the hinges, and the clips!).

[fred67]

Wow, that's a great haul! With the exception of the brown and blue bricks and the plants, I've never seen any of those parts on the wall at the store closest to me (although I only get there 5-6 times a year since it's 5+ hours away). Those are such useful parts, and parts that I have in such low quantities, that if I ever saw them I'd probably buy a cup of each (especially the lamp holders, the hinges, and the clips!).

They're not brown... sorry for the bad (I guess) picture... they are dark red, which is what made them interesting to me.

I've NEVER seen anything like technic turntables on PAB wall, though... as I mentioned, LEGO Education sells them 2 for $12 (although they can be had a lot cheaper on BL).

[Aanchir]

They're not brown... sorry for the bad (I guess) picture... they are dark red, which is what made them interesting to me.

I've NEVER seen anything like technic turntables on PAB wall, though... as I mentioned, LEGO Education sells them 2 for $12 (although they can be had a lot cheaper on BL).

The online LEGO Pick-A-Brick has those turntables for 45 cents apiece (US). That's better than any of the Bricklink prices!

[Stardusty]

Can someone explain me what are those PAB cups?

There's no PAB, nor LEGO store in Croatia, but I see people are getting some great pieces in those cups, so I'm a bit

curious.

What's the price of those cups? What do you get in them? etc.

[meyerc13]

At the LEGO stores, they have cups you can fill in two sizes. The small is about $8US, the large is $15US. Then they have a wall with bins full of parts. You pick parts from the bins and fill up your cup. The parts that are in the bins change frequently, and they are different from one store to the next. Every time I visit the LEGO store 5 hours from my home I fill a cup because there is always some interesting piece that I want and don't have enough of.

They also have bricks in colors that aren't as common, such as the two colors in the post above, or orange, gray, black, brown. I generally stay away from thew red/yellow/green/blue/white bricks since I can get those in brick boxes at a good price, but they almost always have a selection of those colors on the wall.

Some of my best finds are various sizes/types of wheels and tires, red cabinets with white doors, 6 wide windshields, and staircases. I've found lots of other great parts over the last few years, but those are the ones that I really needed and hence are the most memorable. Lately I've been hoping to find clip and hinge pieces, but I never see them, although apparently others have.

One more thing... several times when I've filled a pick a brick cup, I've gone to the shop.lego.com online pick-a-brick to check what it would have cost me to order the same parts from LEGO. Generally I can get $60-$80 of parts in a $15 cup, so it is an incredible value. Granted, Bricklink prices may be less, but it takes more work and you have all of the various shipping charges to figure in.

Edited May 8, 2011 by meyerc13

[Stardusty]

What?!!?

You guys who live in countries with LEGO store are so lucky.

15 bucks for a huge bunch of bricks...

That's like a dream.

Thank you for explaining.