The New LEGO Tile Studio – Hands-on & Is It Worth It?

On a recent trip to Birmingham and the LEGO store there, we noticed that the Tile Studio was up and running, so we decided to give it a go!

When first sharing news of this trail experience, it was stated that the only store it was available in was the LEGO Group’s flagship store in London, Leicester Square. Upon entering and wandering around the LEGO store located in the Bull Ring, Birmingham, I noticed signs for the experience. I got speaking to the staff member operating the printer and was told that both London and Birmingham stores were the only two to host the trial, and if went well would be rolled out to others.

So off I ran to the sales counter to grab my little Tile Studio box and try the new in-store only activity. Just like the Minifigure Factory, where you can design and print a torso, you need to pay upfront. The price for two tiles and a name tile is currently £10.99, which is steep in my opinion, for essentially three small tiles, but for the sake of the experience and of course the content, I sucked it up and went for it.

After paying and receiving your Tile Studio box, you are directed over to the Minifigure Factory, and now Tile Studio, area. Again it works just like before, place the box in front of the screen and the system knows which experience you want to partake in. After a short introduction video it prompts you for your name. If you are like me and have an Instagram/Youtube/TikTok name, you may want to use that, as then it can be used for other things and MOCs rather than your actual name, but entirely up to you.

Next you’ll he presented with a tile selection screen, you have a total of two tiles, 1×4 or 2×4. You can choose any combination you wish, both 2x4s, both 1x4s, or one 1×4 and one 2×4. I went for two of the larger tiles and though that would be better value for money, to help justify the cost. It all depends on the designs you want and where they’ll eventually go, I had my City, Gregsville, in mind.

Once you’ve chosen your tiles a design area pops up, you can choose from a pre-made background, design your own, place stickers and add text. You can layer as many of these as you to create something awesome and unique.

The backgrounds in offer are great and cover a wide variety of themes, colours and more. Fory first tile I wanted to create a Road Sign for my City, so I picked the green sign with small screw-like circles in the corners, I then added text ‘Gregsville‘, picked a font and colour and positioned it dead centre.

My second big tile was a little hard to decide, do I grab a pre-designed sticker of a cup, duck, or other item. They did have Father’s Day designs but they didn’t grab my fancy. Instead I had the idea of enlarging a LEGO Money Note, which the staff member on duty said was a cool idea!

Once you have your designs set in stone, simply confirm and hit the print button. They’ll be whisked off to the very large printer just behind you where you can watch the staff member there place your tiles ready to be printed onto. It’s just like any other printer, the item gets fed into the machine and the printer head runs over it multiple times.

Once your tiles have been printed, you’ll need to wait a few minutes whilst the ink fully sets. The guy on duty mentioned how the ink is slightly different and thicker compared to the Minifigure Factory torsos, so need that little extra time to fully dry. This is fine as we wandered around the store and gathered up the sets we wanted to buy. The guy kindly ran over to us and passed me the tiles, instead of us going back to the printing area.

From start to finish the whole process was faultless, a breeze and a enjoy to use. The only downside is the price, coming in at £10.99, just £1 less than the Minifigure Factory experience. Looking at it from a simple perspective of “oh it’s only three tiles, one of which you can’t design” is a valid point and looking at it from that point of view you’d be right, 3 tiles for £11? No thank you! But, and it’s a big but, the whole experience is worth the price tag in my honest opinion. If only once in your LEGO life, you should grab the opportunity to have a go, design something meaningful and unique and it’ll be treasure forever.

The Tile Studio is currently only available in two LEGO stores, London Leicester Square and Bull Ring Birmingham. It’s uncertain how long the trial will run but if things go well and we use the facility they should roll out to more LEGO stores. We hope they do as it’s a fun and unique activity for both young and old fans alike.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Have you used the Tile Studio yet? What did you think? Go on, let us know!