Super Mario

Goombas' Playground

A tiny seesaw of chaos that earns its keep as a course add-on.

Brick Rated Score

3.7/5

Set 71433 · 2024

Pieces173

Minifigsn/a

Year2024

Set number71433

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The verdict

This is one of those expansion sets you buy after you already own the starter course, and once I had it clipped onto my baseplate I understood the appeal fast.

The seesaw mechanism is genuinely fun to trigger with the interactive Mario figure, and watching a Goomba go flying because you stomped the wrong end never quite got old for me. It is a small, focused build rather than a showpiece, so I would not lead with this one if you are new to the theme. If you already have a course running and want another obstacle with some personality, it is a satisfying, inexpensive add.

Best for: Super Mario course builders who already own a starter set and want another interactive obstacle

The full review

What it is

Goombas' Playground is a compact expansion set for the LEGO Super Mario interactive line, and its whole job is to give your course one more moment of physical comedy. You build a little seesaw platform, load a Goomba onto one end, and when your interactive figure comes rolling through and hits the trigger, the other end flips up and sends whatever is sitting there flying. It is a small piece of engineering, but it works, and there is something genuinely charming about watching a Goomba go airborne on a spring you built yourself.

The catch

I will be honest about what this is not. It is not a display piece, and at 173 pieces it will not take you an evening to build. This is a course accessory, plain and simple, meant to slot in alongside other expansion sets like pipes, enemies, and platforms to make a longer, more varied run for the interactive figure to travel through. If you buy it expecting a substantial standalone model, you will be disappointed by how quickly it comes together and how little it does on its own.

Who it's for

This one is for people who already have a Super Mario starter course running, whether that is the classic Adventures with Mario set or one of its successors, and who want to keep expanding the layout. If that is you, it is an easy, reasonably priced way to add a new interactive beat to the course. If you do not own a starter set and figure, skip it entirely. It does nothing without one.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build itself is quick and mechanical rather than decorative. You are mostly assembling a hinged platform and a spring or lever setup that needs to move smoothly, so LEGO leans on a handful of Technic-style connectors and plates to keep the seesaw action reliable over repeated play. It is the kind of build that teaches younger builders how a simple machine works without ever feeling like a lecture, which is exactly the register the Super Mario theme aims for.

There is nothing here that will send collectors chasing rare recolors, and that is fine, this is a supporting-cast set rather than a parts-pack. The value is in the Goomba figures themselves, which carry the same squashed, big-eyed sculpt fans of the game and the theme recognize instantly, plus the course-piece baseplates that let it click into your existing layout. At this size and price point, you are paying for the mechanism and the figures, not part count.

Fun facts

01Goombas' Playground is part of LEGO's Super Mario interactive line, which uses a color and infrared sensor built into the Mario, Luigi, or Peach figure to detect action bricks as it travels through a course.
02The set's seesaw mechanism is a simple lever build, a common pattern across the Super Mario expansion range that lets younger builders see basic mechanical principles at work in a play context.
03The set requires an interactive figure sold separately in one of the starter course sets, since expansion sets in this theme are designed purely as add-ons rather than standalone builds.