Toy manufacturer Lego launched the national Lego building competition yesterday to find the best builder in the country.
Toyworld manager Mandy Matheson said the toy had enchanted children for generations.
"You can use your imagination. You can't use your imagination the same way with many other toys," she said yesterday.
"Lego has just been around forever. I don't think it will ever go out of fashion.
" It's still one of our biggest sellers."
Dozens of young empire builders competed yesterday in a tower-building competition which is on this week in the Meridian.
"It's interesting to watch the different strategies.
"The young ones have no strategy at all, the next ones get the shakes when they're doing it because they're so excited, and the older kids use lots of strategy and build it on the ground and then put it up."
Mrs Matheson also had a tip for parents frustrated by having to pick up the blocks.
"My kids have a lot of Lego and for the really little pieces I just use the lux [vacuum cleaner]."
The national winner will receive return flights to Los Angeles for four people, five nights' accommodation, admission to Legoland in California and $1500 spending money.
Lego was invented by Denmark carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932 and was named after the Danish phrase "leg godt", which means "play well".
If all the Lego blocks in the world were divided up, everyone would get 62 blocks each.
