We know that adults love to play. The question is: "For what reason?"
Perhaps it's to turn our brains away, if only for a few minutes, from work and a relentlessly hectic world. If you think about it, jigsaw puzzles have long been a place of refuge for moms who need to step away from the family while not leaving the room.
- A cardboard puzzle provides the silent sense of mastery that derives from making sense out of a box of oddly shaped cardboard pieces.
- A crossword puzzle offers the distraction that comes from figuring out the name of a river in Nigeria that contains the letters k and f.
- A simple deck of cards keeps you focused as you attempt to win a game of Solitaire as you wait for your plane to take off.
And now its Lego's turn to bring peace at the end of a challenging day at the office. That is some of what I learned from a Washington Post article by Abha Bhattarai entitled: "Lego sets its sights on a growing market: Stressed-out adults."
Here is how Ms. Bhattarai puts it: "Lego, the world’s largest and most profitable toymaker, is zeroing in on a growing demographic: stressed-out adults. The 87-year-old Danish company increasingly bills its brightly colored bricks as a way to drown out the noise of the day and perhaps achieve a measure of mindfulness."
Lego, according to the article, is targeting adults (primarily Gen X'ers) with sets that allow you to create the coffee shop from Friends, build a Harry Potter castle, or construct a Star Wars space ship. Any of these can cost in the hundreds of dollars.
In an age in which the growth in the child population is slowing and when kids have so many alternatives to toys, it is a smart company that designs and markets to adults. Toys are a source of fun and apparently peace.
