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Move over, Lego! Pixio building blocks click together with magnets

Legos are so yesterday. The building blocks of the future are here. Meet Pixio, a new set of magnetic blocks here to ensure that the only obstacle you have to overcome in your construction process is your own imagination.

Described as an “elegant magnetic construction set in which each cubic block can be attached to either side of another block,” Pixio allows architects, artists, and creatives as a whole to create pieces that look like pixelated art. Trust us, it’s trendy.

Each Pixio block can be connected however you want, thanks to its carefully engineered system of powerful magnets. Without any visible fixing elements, you can create just about any object your heart desires in the style of pure pixel art. Unlike Legos, you won’t have to worry about connecting at specific points. Just place it … well, anywhere.

“Many construction sets are available, but we wanted to have one that looked perfect: Without prominent connecting elements, no complicated parts of any kind, and that could be easily assembled and disassembled,” the Pixio team explains on its Kickstarter page. “For this purpose, we chose the ideal shape — a cube, like a pixel in the digital world.” And as for its connectors, Pixio depends on magnets instead of ridges and dents so that any one of the cubes’ sides can be connected with one another.

Each Pixio block measures 8 millimeters cubed and weighs just over a gram. Inside are six powerful magnets whose polarity has been arranged so that the cube can be connected in any sequence on any side. The Neodymium (Nd-Fe-B) magnets found in Pixio promise to lose no more than 2 percent of their magnetic force in five decades, so you and your children (and maybe even your grandchildren) can play with the same set. Pixio is available in 16 colors, and for $19, you can get 50 blocks in six of these colors. If you want all 16 colors, you can get a set of 800 blocks for $149. Blocks have an estimated delivery date of August 2017.

Lulu Chang
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