http://www.jainsguide.com/history/1223352000utf-8The AFOL History Project @ Jain's Guide is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/us/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, 171 Second Street, Suite 300, San Francisco, California, 94105, USA.Jason Whittenburgjason@jainsguide.comCopyright 2008 Jason Whittenburg, Some Rights ReservedZend Framework - Zend_Feed 1.5.1en http://www.techweb.com/showPressRelease.jhtml?articleID=X670091A LEGO brick-inspired 'Doodle' appears today on the Google homepage to the mark the 50th anniversary of the world-famous creative building brick.2008-01-28 http://personales.ya.com/hispabrickThe 1st AFOL event in Spain, it was held in December 8 and 9. 2007-12-08 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/LEGO announced final decision to end manufacture of the 9 volt train system with electrified rails.2007-10-01 http://www.next-gendesign.comA TFOL building site goes up.2007-08-22 http://www.brickshelf.comAfter a week of furious activity in the community, Brickshelf is officially resurrected.2007-07-20 http://www.brickshelf.comThe AFOL community was thrown into confusion when Brickshelf, the most prominent community site for displaying images of MOCs, seemed to die. Upon accessing the site, the following message appeared: "Brickshelf has discontinued operation. We apologize for any inconvenience."2007-07-14 http://www.brickworld.usThe first Brickworld event took place in Wheeling, Illinois June 21-24. The head event coordinators were Bryan Bonahoom and Adam Tucker. Richard Stollery was the keynote speaker.2007-06-21 http://news.lugnet.com/off-topic/debate/?n=28497JLUG.com, the adult oriented LEGO site, went down due to a database failure.2007-06-20 http://news.lugnet.com/off-topic/debate/?n=28507Stajinaria, an adult-oriented LEGO forum, goes online. It was created as a response to JLUG.net going down. 2007-06-20 http://www.ericbrok.com/legomind/index.htmEric Brok, a Dutch AFOL active in De Bouwsteen, succumbed to the effects of cancer. Eric was an early pioneer in the on-line community with his site LEGO on my Mind, one of the first LEGO Ambassadors, and designer of the set 10190, Market Street.2007-06-11 http://brickfest.comBrickfest 2007 was held at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon from 03/30 to 04/01. This was originally slated as Brickfest PDX 2007, but relabled as simply Brickfest 2007 when the August convention was cancelled.2007-03-30 http://brickfest.comBrickfest 2006 was held at the Sheraton Premiere at Tyson's Corner, Virginia. The lead organizer was Joe Meno. There were approximately 420 people in attendance. The public expo drew about 3500 people. This was the first Brickfest since the launching of Lego Mindstorms NXT, and many of the MUP and MDP members were there to talk about it. Allan Bedford, author of The Unofficial LEGO Builder's Guide, was also there, signing copies of his book.2006-08-25 http://news.lugnet.com/build/mecha/?n=14520Bryce McGlone announces a new site dedicated to LEGO Mecha2006-06-14 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_SwanbergBill Swanberg was arrested after stealing more than $200,000 worth of LEGO from Target stores by replacing barcodes.2005-11-17 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Pennlug/PennLUG is formed, first meeting in York, Pennsylvania2005-09-15 http://brickfest.comBrickfest 2005 was held on the campus of George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia from 08/12/04 to 08/14/004. The lead organizer was Christina Hitchcock. Approximately 330 people attended. The public expo drew about 3000 people. Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen owner of the LEGO Group and grandson of the founder, attended. Jake McKee and Mark Hansen announced the release of LEGO Digital Designer. With Lego Digital Designer, customers can design custom sets online, and LEGO will pack it up and send it them. 2005-08-12 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/LEGO announces its sale of majority ownership of the Legoland theme parks to the Blackstone group.2005-07-13 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/?n=2964Joe Meno releases the first ever BrickJournal issue in a free, downloadable format.2005-06-22 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/At Star Wars Celebration III in Indianapolis, Indiana, a team of 8 AFOL's and 2 kids win first place in a single elimination tournament. The objective is to build the 10030 Imperial Star Destroyer faster than the competing team. Eight teams start on April 22. The "Indy AFOL Knights" finish their 3rd ISD the next day to take first place.2005-04-23 http://news.lugnet.com/lego/?n=3116Jake Mckee heralds the creation of the LEGO Ambassadors, as a group to help foster communication between the fan community and the LEGO company.2005-01-06 http://news.lugnet.com/space/?n=37547Classic-Space Forum goes online2004-12-19 http://www.doublebrick.ruThat was a day, then the first Russian AFOL community DoubleBrick.ru goes online. 2004-11-07 http://brickfest.comBrickfest 2004 was held on the campus of George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia from 08/12/04 to 08/14/004. The lead organizer was Christina Hitchcock. Approximately 250 people attended. The public expo drew about 2000 people.2004-08-13 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/?n=2606Tim Courtney, Contest Director of the L Prize, announced the "L PRIZE ": a new and exciting open competition that was to be officially launched at SIGGRAPH 2004, and concluded in February 2005. The L PRIZE was to foster advances in LEGO CAD technologies by stimulating competition and bringing the contestants and the user communities together.2004-06-28 http://www.malug.hu/tiwaka/tiki-index.php?page_ref_id=281First MALUG meeting with 4 attendees.2004-05-08 http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=47149After much debate and many AFOL objections, the changing of three of Lego's colors becomes final according to Jake McKee. They are light gray, dark gray and brown. The term 'Bley' becomes almost universally recognized to indicate this changing of the greys.2004-05-05 http://www.malug.hu/forum/index.phpThe website for Hungarian AFOLs goes on line.2004-03-03 http://brickfest.comBrickfestPDX was held in February 2004 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. It was the first Brickfest to be held outside Virginia. Approximately 200 people attended. The public expo drew about 1200 people.2004-02-20 http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=44534Space loses Travis Kunce, one of our best and brightest.2003-12-23 http://news.lugnet.com/lego/?n=533Jake McKee confirms the change in colors that Lego enthusiasts had just discovered days earlier. He states that products from 2004 onward will use the new color palette, including new grays, as well as some other colors (the other major one not announced at this point being brown).2003-11-18 http://news.lugnet.com/space/?n=282013vil Emerges from Deep Space2003-09-21 http://news.lugnet.com/castle/?n=18015Classic-Castle, a LEGO Castle resource and fan site, goes online.2003-09-15 http://brickfest.comBrickfest 2003 was held in August 2003 on the campus of George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. The lead organizer was Christina Hitchcock. Approximately 220 people attended. The first public expo drew about 1000 people.2003-08-08 http://www.suave.net/~dave/pre_roadshow.cgiThe 2003 LEGO Road Show kicked off with a practice run in Enfield, CT, before touring North America. AFOL representatives from NELUG were present (rather last minute) to help demonstrate to the company what might be expected from participating enthusiasts.2003-06-20 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/brickmedia/?n=4Tim Courtney, posting on behalf of BrickMedia, LLC announced that there were delays in the production of the preview issue of Bricks Magazine, and that the first full issue was to have been available mid-summer 2003.2003-05-20 http://www.jainsguide.com/report/report/id/95The Eastern Block sub theme is born when Chris Giddens creates the ZOG-312003-05-03 http://www.mocpages.comMOCpages web site goes online 2003-04-01 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/brickmedia/?n=3Bricks Magazine Charter Subscription - USD12 for 6 issues was offered. Matt Gerber made the announcement as Editor-in-Chief of Bricks Magazine.2003-03-17 http://www.iltco.orgA briefing was presented at BricksWest which outlined the charter of ILTCO.2003-02-17 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/A team of 13 AFOLs at BricksWest built the 10030 ISD in 103 minutes, starting a trend at LEGO events trying to break the existing record for fastest team build.2003-02-14 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/BricksWest 2003 is held in Carlsbad California, organized by Matthew Gerber.2003-02-14 http://www.coltc.orgThe Central Ohio Lego Train Club was founded on this day by Paul Janssen, John Bucy and others.2003-02-09 http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=40446Bricks was to be the first LEGO fan magazine ever published... created by the LEGO fan community for the LEGO fan community. The announcement was made by Matt Gerber on behalf of BrickMedia, LLC.2003-01-04 http://news.lugnet.com/lego/direct/?n=5028&t=i&v=aTroy Cefaratti posed a fake LEGO set by Ken Koleda entitled Yoda Eyes and fooled quite a few people with this silly prank2002-08-08 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/?n=1704The moonbase project created an easy to follow standard that would allow builders from around the world to build separate "modules" that could be connected seamlessly in a large Moonbase layout. The idea was an instant hit. Moonbase modules were being created within days and after only 2 months the first massive Moonbase layout was put together across the country at a LEGO fan convention in Seattle.2002-07-26 http://brickfest.comBrickfest 2002 was held in August 2002 on the campus of George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. The lead organizer was Christina Hitchcock. Approximately 180 people attended.2002-07-19 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/moc/?n=67Jon Palmer's Alphabet Project displays that small can also mean elegant. Fighters can take the same design and planning as large capital ships.2002-02-08 http://www.bricklink.comBrickBay changes its name to BrickLink after a dispute with online auction site eBay.2002-01-28 http://thebricktestament.comBrendan Powell Smith announces the start of his Brick Testament project. The BT has received extensive media attention beyond the AFOL community and has resulted in three published books.2001-10-03 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/?n=1251The Fibblesnork domain name expires and is purchased by web squatters, who link the URL to adult content.2001-08-26 http://news.lugnet.com/lego/direct/?n=3219As part of Lego's Studios campaign, Brad Justus announces the professionally done animation of Monty Python's "Camelot" song.2001-08-22 http://brickfest.comBrickfest 2001 was held in August on the campus of George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. The lead organizer was Christina Hitchcock. Approximately 150 people attended.2001-08-15 http://news.lugnet.com/trains/?n=9509In 2001 a small group of Train AFOLs from around the United States where invited to meet with some folks from Lego Direct ( Brad Justus, Peter Andersen, Jorn Kristian Thomsen, Jake McKee and Steven Hawco ) in New York city and talk about the future of LEGO trains. The attendees included John Neal GMLTC Steve Barile PNLTC Conan Collopy - GMLTC John Gerlach GMLTC James Mathis - PNLTC Dan Parker PNLTC Larry Pieniazek poly-LTC Mike Poindexter - BAYLTC James Trobaugh - NGLTC 2001-02-03 http://news.lugnet.com/people/?n=1461Mark Sandlin introduces the world to Fleebnorks2001-01-10 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/?n=880LEGO announces its nondescript plans for what would eventually become bulk ordering and LEGO Factory. Fans rejoice at the prospect.2000-12-06 http://shop.lego.comLEGO begins online purchasing through Shop@Home.2000-10-17 http://guide.lugnet.com/shop/Brickwise Shopping Report goes online @ LUGNET2000-09-04 http://zemi.net/shipyardJon Palmer launches the Galactic Shipyard for profiling hugh ships2000-08-05 http://www.bricklink.comBrickBay launches as an online marketplace dealing exclusivly in LEGO.2000-06-19 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/?n=623Brickfest 2000 was held on June 9 to June 11 on the campus of George Mason University in Arlington, Virginia. The lead organizer was Christina Hitchcock. Approximately 60 people attended.2000-06-09 http://news.lugnet.com/space/?n=2396Mark Sandlin gives us one more little update that becomes one of the most recognizable crafts in the history of .space.2000-06-09 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/?n=537The Guild of Bricksmiths is announced-- a select group of hobbyists designing custom LEGO model kits.2000-03-31 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/brickshelf/?n=44Kevin Loch announces that BrickShelf will host people's images for free!2000-02-10 http://www.dixielug.orgDixieLUG is founded, first meeting in in Macon, GA2000-01-22 http://news.lugnet.com/castle/?n=1670Pawel Nazarewicz posits the idea of having a large LEGO-castle themed site, which received its name some 3 days later on Jan 22nd by co-creator Craig Hamilton.2000-01-19 http://news.lugnet.com/lego/announce/?n=14LEGO Direct is pleased to announce that bulk sales from LEGO2000-01-14 http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=11596Brad Justus introduces himself and the newest venture from LEGO to reach out to the LEGO community and open dialog between the company and it's fans.1999-12-09 http://www.1000steine.deGerman website 1000steine.de goes online, though the domain name was registered January, 6th in 2000.1999-11-28 http://www.fbtb.netFrom Bricks to Bothans, a Star Wars LEGO fansite, goes online.1999-10-27 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/One of the first national gatherings for AFOLs in the USA, the MIT MindFest was the inspiration for the first BrickFest event in 2000. The event was held at the MIT Media Lab in Cambridge, MA. MindFest's primary goal was to serve educators working with LEGO, but a high degree of AFOL participation gave the event an additional LEGO hobbyist focus.1999-10-22 http://news.lugnet.com/space/?n=55Tom McDonald discovers spamcake. Its importance was unrealized... until later.1999-09-24 http://news.lugnet.com/cad/dat/models/?n=268Following the desire for a community DAT project, John VanZwieten launches the Datsville project, first known as LCadville.1999-09-01 http://www.nelug.orgNELUG has its first meeting in Melrose, MA with 5 members attending.1999-08-10 http://www.ldraw.orgLDraw website goes online1999-07-07 http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=5215Todd Lehman pitches the idea of a traveling box of Lego where people can trade their less desirable pieces, resulting ultimately in the Jambalaya boxes.1999-07-05 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/The first Legoland outside of Europe opens in Carlsbad, California.1999-03-20 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/German LEGO Fan Forum goes online, founded by Michael Schian (became part of 1000steine.de in 2000)1999-02-05 http://news.lugnet.com/space/?n=1LUGNET, a Lego community site is launched, featuring a heirarchy of newsgroups, and allowing email subscriptions and a web interface.1998-09-18 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/Kevin Loch opens his personal website up to hosting scans of LEGO instructions and catalogs from the past.1998-04-19 http://www.ldraw.org/Article222.htmlThe worldwide community of LEGO fans lost a bright light in the passing of James Jessiman, creator of the LDraw file format and original LDraw program1997-07-25 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/Before becoming an annual event, people are encouraged to bring their favorite minifigs to work (or school) all on the same day.1996-12-13 http://groups.google.com/group/rec.toys.lego/browse_thread/thread/04c106513528bd1c?hl=en#e6eb68cc2f5c38eaMatthew Verdier first coins the acronym AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO), noting that it sounds like "A FOOL".1995-06-14 http://www.faqs.org/ftp/usenet/news.announce.newgroups/rec/rec.toysThe voting ended on December 21st 1993 for the creation of the new newsgroup rec.toys.lego. rec.toys.lego charter: To provide a forum for the discussion of all things and experiences relating to the Lego(tm), Duplo(tm) and compatible construction toys. Including interesting models that one has built, experiences one has had using legos, or questions about how to build particular components. 1993-12-21 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/Legoland Park in Billund is opened, in which 3,000 people visit on the opening day1968-06-07 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Kirk_ChristiansenOle Kirk Christiansen dies1958-03-11 http://v3.espacenet.com/origdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US3005282&F=0&QPN=US3005282The original LEGO brick with its stud-and-tube coupling system is born1958-01-28 http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllego.htmThe word LEGO was officially registered as a trademark in Denmark1954-05-01 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen is born1947-12-27 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/When a factory fire destroyed the LEGO factory and it's content in 1942, Ole rebuilt all the production models himself to get the company back up and running.1942-04-03 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/The company Ole Kirk Christiensen founded in 1932 becomes LEGO.1934-12-01 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/The LEGO company is founded by Ole Kirk christiensen. The LEGO name came two years later.1932-09-10 http://www.jainsguide.com/history/Godfred Kirk Christiansen is born1920-07-06 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ole_Kirk_ChristiansenOle Kirk Christiansen is born1891-04-07 http://news.lugnet.com/technic/bionicle/?n=1149Michael Edwards and Christian Gemunden announce a new Bionicle fan site, Kanohi-Power.com.2001-08-10 http://bzpower.com/story.php?ID=415The Bionicle fan sites Kanohi-Power and BZ Community join forces to become BZPower.com.2002-07-20 A new forum for Bionicle fans is launched.2001-07-21 http://news.lugnet.com/trains/?n=5208One of the most successful April Fools hoaxes, Ben Beneke releases a fake 2001 train catalog with many enticing models that got fans drooling.2000-03-31 http://news.lugnet.com/publish/?n=3461Thanks to some inappropriate content being posted, BrickShelf starts requiring content to be moderated before becoming public.2002-06-25 http://www.lugnet.com/cool/site-001.htmlEd Boxer's LEGO Castle wins the first Cool Lego Site of the Week.1996-06-02 http://www.brickfair.com/BrickFair 2008 begins, hosted at the Sharaton Premiere in Tysons Corner, VA.2008-08-29 http://www.brickcon.org/BrickCon is held at the Seattle Center in Seattle, WA.2008-10-02 http://www.brickworld.us/BrickWorld 2008 kicks off in Wheeling, IL.2008-06-19 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/?n=3251Administration of LUGNET formally passes from Todd Lehman to Rene Hoffmeister.2006-06-17 http://www.lego.com/eng/info/default.asp?page=pressdetail&contentid=12504&countrycode=2057LEGO announces that Kjeld Kristiansen is stepping down from his role in the management of the company, and Jorgen Vig Knudstorp is taking over as the new CEO.2004-10-21 http://www.brothers-brick.com/2005/07/The Brothers Brick, a new Lego blog starts commenting on all things LEGO.2005-07-25 http://radio.laml.org/lamlradio-1-nottingbley-castle/LAML Radio publishes its first interview.2007-11-24 http://groups.google.com/group/rec.toys.lego/browse_thread/thread/d9ff0e07f4c8732f/6f9f6fb0d489f6e7?hl=en&lnk=st&q=#6f9f6fb0d489f6e7Michael Lachmann releases a new LEGO CAD program, MLCAD, for creating and editing LEGO DAT models.1999-07-14 http://www.see-sciencecenter.org/visitors/millyard-project.aspxThe LEGO Millyard Project, a collaboration between AFOLs and LEGO, is officially completed and unveiled with sponsors Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen and Dean Kamen.2006-11-29 BayLTC is founded-- a club for LEGO train enthusiasts in the San Francisco Bay area.2000-03-12 http://news.lugnet.com/loc/us/ca/sf/?n=104AFOLs in the San Francisco Bay area agree on a new name for their club, and establish a website!1999-03-04 http://news.lugnet.com/announce/?n=3183LEGO Ambassador Eric Kingsley reveals some of LEGO's plans for 9V Trains to the community, starting what would later be named the Save 9V Trains movement among fans.2006-03-30 http://news.lugnet.com/mediawatch/?n=2164One of the few recalls in LEGO history, LEGO decides to recall the 3509 LEGO Explore Super Truck. The truck's wheels were found to detach more easily than expected, revealing a dangerous metal axle.2006-10-20 Jeff Byrd begins offering custom Star Wars guns through FBTB.net, beginning the Little Armory.2002-07-18 http://news.lugnet.com/lego/announce/?n=38Brad Justus announces the first Lego Legend, set 10000 Guarded Inn.2001-06-08 http://news.lugnet.com/lego/direct/?n=3848Lego formally announces a new line of sets designed by fans, starting with Daniel Siskind's Blacksmith Shop, #3739.2001-12-14 http://news.lugnet.com/general/?n=25465Jason Rowoldt announces a new site, BrickFilms, dedicated to keeping track of Lego movies across the internet.2000-12-20 http://www.classic-castle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=223&highlight=colossalClassic-Castle announces the first Colossal Castle Contest, encouraging castle MOCs both small and large.20031119 http://www.eurobricks.com/EuroBricks, a popular hobbyist forum starts.20040128 http://www.legokidsfest.com/The first LEGO KidsFest showcases in Hartford, CT, with the intent of being a travelling expo focused on LEGO and kids.20091120 http://www.brickfest.com/BrickFest 2007 was held in Portland Oregon, originally as "BrickFest PDX", but later became the official BrickFest for 2007.20070330 http://www.brickfest.com/BrickFest 2009 was again held in Portland, Oregon with about 240 registrants and approximately 4000 visitors on the public expo. http://brickworld.us/BrickWorld 2009 is held in Chicago, IL20090619 http://www.brickfair.com/BrickFair 2009 starts, held at the Sheraton Premiere in Tyson's Corner, VA20090821