Family House: LEGO #60291 - REVIEW

For today, I've got a set that I received as a Christmas present to review!  It's the LEGO 60291:  Family House set from the LEGO City line.  This set contains 388 pieces and is designed for ages 5+.  

The set contains four minifigures, a car, the namesake "family house", as well as a car port, electric car charging station, and backyard.  There is one animal included (a dog) as well.

Before I get to the review proper, let's take a quick gander at the box itself so that we can better see what we are getting ourselves into.  Quite honestly, when I saw this set sitting on the store shelf for a suggested retail price of $59.99, I thought "hard pass" on that.  This was most definitely not a set that I would have bought for myself...but since it was a gift, I get to open it, build it, and see if my initial impression was correct or if perhaps this set actually deserves a second look by everyone!

Ripping into the box (which opened from the top for whatever that's worth), we find five numbered bags plus an extra bag with larger pieces and a final bag holding two instruction manuals and the rather small sticker sheet.

I was definitely surprised to see two instruction booklets for a set with only 388 pieces - but had I been building this set with my son I could easily see giving him the smaller booklet and the first bag of pieces to build the car while I could work on the larger structure.

Before I get to the build, let's take a quick peek at the sticker sheet as well:

I've said a number of times that I'd love for LEGO to eliminate stickers entirely but at least for this set the stickers do add quite a bit of flair and interest to the finished product (and none of the stickers are particularly finicky to apply which is appreciated in a set geared to the 5+ year old crowd)!  One sticker of particular interest to me was sticker #3 - is that LEGO paying direct homage to the RPG classic game Dungeons & Dragons?  Also, sticker #4 is truly adorable with the little kid drawings on it - good stuff here!

Alright, finally we get to the build.  As I said earlier, bag 1 contains the pieces to build the electric car:

This is a rather odd looking vehicle, fairly futuristic yet still realistic enough that you could imagine seeing something similar to it on the roads today.  I do like the blue wheel rims!

Bag #1 also provided us with half of the family of minifigures in the set - in this case, the two males (one adult, one child).  In a particularly nice touch, both male figures also come with a second "outfit" - basically each gets a pair of roller skates, a helmet, and a hockey stick!

Pretty cool to see LEGO provide extra hair pieces for minifigures.  That's something that the company has been doing a bit more of lately and I definitely approve/appreciate the gesture.  It's worth noting here that the two minifigs each get different colored roller skates - and both figures also feature nice printing on the backside of their torsos:

I think that green "Ninjago" sweatshirt torso is particularly great, even if I don't really understand or know much about Ninjago (more on Ninjago in a moment)!

With bag 1 (and instruction booklet 1) complete, we move on to the remaining instruction booklet which will make use of the four numbered bags of pieces that are still waiting to be opened.

First, we get to meet the rest of the family - the mother and (presumably) the teenage daughter along with the family dog (a retriever or Labrador I'd say).  I do love the dog mold (and the teenager's hair/hat piece is pretty great as well).  Heck, the four minifigures in this set are all nice additions to my collection!

This set is rated for ages 5+ and it's clear from the outset of the second instruction booklet that LEGO is trying to appeal to the youngest builders among us - literally the first page has you putting a pile of dog poop in the yard.  Insert giggles here.

The bottom level of the set is actually two parts - an outdoor yard/car port and then the first floor of the actual home.  In the outdoor portion, you get a picnic table (complete with bottle water and a hot dog) along with a small garden next to the car port.  The car port has a tool rack (only a wrench is included) as well as an Octan-branded electric charger.  I like that LEGO has transition OctanE to the blue/yellow color scheme (a direct change from the red/white/green color scheme of class oil-based Octan sets).

Moving into the house, the first floor contains two rooms - a kitchen and a living room.  There's a lot to be confused about here but first the good:  that TV with the Ninjago game (and the video game controller which is a printed piece) is great.  Even the simple stacked plates to create the video game console works well.  Unfortunately, what doesn't work well is the transition into the kitchen because that lime green couch blocks most of the doorway...and what isn't blocked by the couch is blocked on the other side by the kitchen appliances.  Speaking of appliances, I'm not quite sure what we have here - I think it's supposed to be a super tiny stove with vent hood alongside a comically oversized blender?  The bottom two "cabinets" are confusing as well - they have clear doors (fridge? dishwasher? oven?) and the one on the right has a cherry piece inside.  

The cramped aspect of the house continues throughout all three levels but it's most apparent on the first floor...

On the second floor, we once again get a pair of rooms - this time a bathroom and a washing machine/playroom?  On the bathroom side, you get a small sink, toilet, and an open shower.  The curved tile does a remarkable job of making the shower feel complete despite there being no curtain/doors.  The room on the right is a bit more confusing - is that thing with the black circle on it supposed to be a washer or drier?  Is it supposed to be a speaker for the guitar?  Why is there a bucket with a paint brush in it?  Why are there no chairs?  Lots of questions here but no good answers...your guess is as good as mine.

The third, and final, story of the house contains one single large room complete with an old transistor radio, a trophy, a katana, and that D&D stickered poster that I mentioned earlier on in the review.  

Now that you've seen the entire inside of the house, you may notice a fairly large problem (and I'm ignoring the fact that stairs don't exist)...  You see, this is a family of four and yet there is only a single bed in the entire house - and that bed almost assuredly belongs to the young boy based on the decorations in the room.  I guess the rest of the family sleeps in the yard (or maybe the electric vehicle) with the dog?

Moving up to the roof, there's not much here except some solar panels (a nice touch for a "green" house).  I do love the dark blue color used for the roof!

The rest of the build has you piece together a small balcony (with no door or other way to access it) that has a grill plus the large road plates where you can set up a couple of included hockey goals.  

And that's the set.

Overall, I have to say that my initial impression of this set was wrong!  The relatively low piece count (for the price) is kind of misleading given how many large pieces are in this set (the road plates are known pricy elements but there's plenty of large wall pieces as well).  The four included minifigs (plus the dog) are all excellent and, most importantly, the finished size of the house is actually a lot bigger than I was expecting.  Sure, the house has a cramped quality to it (and no stairs) but I can overlook that when trying to see the bigger picture.  I still don't think I'd spend $60 on this set but if you can find it for $50 or less, it's an easy recommend from me at that price.  I love the unique look of the structure overall - and I think it'll slot into my LEGO city nicely!

The Bottom Line (out of 10):

Fun:  8

Play Value:  9

Kid Value:  9

Adult Value:  4

Overall:  6

This set is perfect for young kids - a "doll house" style building complete with garage, refueling station, four minifigs, a dog, and lots of stuff for the minifigures to do and interact with.  Heck, even the car is nice - especially for a 5+ set!  For adults, I do think the set is a bit overpriced as SRP but as I said earlier, if you can find it for $10 off (or better), then I'd give it a hearty recommend.  That said, my "Adult Value" score is based on SRP and it's there that the set suffers the most.

Still, for a 5+ set this thing is so much better than it had any right to be.  It definitely blew away my expectations and now I can't wait for my son to get up so that he can start playing with it as well!