Like the city it calls home, Lego’s 9,036-piece Roman Colosseum has already fallen as the largest set ever released by the toymaker. Half a year after the landmark’s reveal, Lego’s new World Map set has stolen the record with 11,695 pieces that mostly consist of tiny single-stud dots that will test even the most seasoned builder’s patience.
The World Map is a continuation of Lego’s art sets that leverage the smallest pieces available to create elaborate plastic brick mosaics. To date, these have included pop culture icons like Marvel characters, Disney mascots, and even The Beatles, but the art sets have now been supersized to create a map of the entire world that offers some level of customizability.
Despite being the largest Lego set to date, according to The Brothers Brick, who already had a chance to go hands-on with it, the set’s 11,695 pieces are made up of only 32 different Lego elements, so anyone buying official sets just for the parts will want to steer clear of this one.
Those elements include black base plates, white pieces that are used to assemble a frame afterward, and thousands of tiny coloured dots. To make the build process more manageable, which essentially has builders matching an image, dot-by-dot, from the instruction manual, the map is broken up into 12 smaller sections that, when complete, are assembled into the larger piece.
The modularity of the build also means there’s some room for customisability. Depending on how you assemble the 12 smaller sections, you can put your part of the world front and centre. Lego also encourages builders to take some creative liberties with the oceans. You can follow the instructions to the tee, which recreates the world’s oceans with accurate depth maps, make your own far-out designs, or just leave them out completely for a stark, black and white recreation of the world.
The Lego World Map will be available starting on June 1 for $399.99, giving you about a week’s time to get into a headspace where attaching over 11,000 tiny dots isn’t going to drive you completely mad.