You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who’s never played with Lego. The iconic plastic bricks have spawned theme parks, megastores, movies and TV shows, screams of pain when trod upon barefoot…oh, and, of course, incredible sculptures made up of many thousands of them. You can pair Lego with just about anything and walk away with a hit. So it was no surprise when a boutique keyboard maker, MelGeek, launched the $269 Pixel, the world’s first Lego-compatible mechanical keyboard.

Announced in a successful Kickstarter campaign(Opens in a new window), this new mechanical keyboard captures the essence of the popular toy, studded in playful primary colors that act as the foundation of whatever your mind can imagine. But what’s so great is that the Pixel is actually a working keyboard, featuring Bluetooth connections with up to eight devices, a 2.4GHz wireless USB dongle, and hot-swappable key switches. While not an official Lego product, the Pixel wears the Lego motif with style, merging functionality with the beloved brick aesthetic to craft one of the most distinct, and customizable, keyboards we’ve seen in ages.

All in All, You’re Just Another Brick in the…Board?

At first sight of a novelty keyboard like this, you might dismiss it as a gimmick. But the Pixel is surprisingly sophisticated for a board made of Lego-like bricks. In truth, it’s a tenkeyless keyboard with a build surface of bricks around its front and back, sharing similar measurements to a full-size keyboard—and a similar weight, of about 2.6 pounds. It’s impressive how MelGeek committed to the bit (to the brick?), making just about every part of the board Lego-compatible.

I’m not just talking about the front and back of the board, mind you. The included USB-C cord is a brick, and the 2.4GHz dongle is a brick. Even the keys are bricks, but don’t worry about slamming your fingertips against them. (We all know the pain of a Lego meeting a bare foot.) Instead, each brick key is encased in a clear cap that identifies the key.

Pop off a keycap by hand or with the included puller, and you’ll see that each keycap base over each switch is a brick, too, laid bare. Dig under that to expose the hot-swappable key switches, and you’ll realize that this is well beyond child’s play.

Our Pixel keyboard features custom Pixel L switches, meant to simulate a linear red, but the company promises a choice of Pixel T switches that simulate a tactile blue switch. You’ll also be able to opt for Silver or Yellow Pro switches from Gateron, or Kailh Box Whites. The board itself is offered in three different color schemes, the primary-colors Palette version, the muted (and mysteriously named) Christian version, and the plain Canvas model.

The keyboard is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms and can support up to eight devices via Bluetooth 5.2, including laptops, tablets, and phones. Four light indicators above the directional keys alert you to the board’s battery life, current operating mode, and whether you have Scroll Lock or Caps Lock active. Additional RGB lights flank the keyboard’s sides—and yes, you can add bricks to them, too. A customization utility called KBApp lets you tweak shortcuts and functions.

Finding the Right Pieces

While I’m openly impressed with the Pixel keyboard’s aesthetic and connectivity options, none of that matters if you can’t use it, and my feelings about that are more mixed. The Pixel L switches felt a little mushy, akin to the membrane keyboards of budget laptops. MelGeek uses a gasket mount, a keyboard mounting design in which pieces of rubber are placed between the plate and the top and bottom frames. The result is chunky but sturdy.

In the Pixel’s case, silicone and Poron (a kind of compressible foam) were used to dampen the sound of the keys. It works—typing is virtually silent—but while the clear keycaps are slightly curved to give your fingertips some guidance, I find myself accidentally hitting the wrong key more often than I’d like. The jury’s still out on how the Pixel will compare to a traditional gaming keyboard. As for ergonomics, the keyboard has no adjustable feet, though you can add some tilt height by combining the included silicone pads with some Lego-brick ingenuity.

You won’t need to dig through your closet to retrieve a long-lost bucket of Legos (though you totally can)—the Pixel comes with three boxes of bricks of various colors and sizes that let you customize the board to your liking.

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Our test unit also came with a skin of Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night to apply to the keys, classing up our less-than-artful brick designs…

In addition, less dexterous buyers can use the company’s Geekmade.com(Opens in a new window) website to craft their keyboard designs ahead of time. As you can see, Geekmade lays out the possible positions in which you can place bricks…

Fueled by Imagination

After some time with the Pixel keyboard, I walked away mostly impressed. While still a novelty at heart, this keyboard has plenty of bells and whistles apart from its Lego-compatible gimmick. Its compatibility and customization options could make the Pixel a hit with keyboard aficionados or parents of Lego-crazed kids, though its near-$300 price is hard to swallow. (Kickstarter backers receive a significant discount.)

The keyboard is expected to ship early next year, so we hope to schedule a full review once we get a retail model in hand. If you want to keep up with the Pixel’s development and release, you can sign up for MelGeek’s newsletter on the company’s website(Opens in a new window).