Creator

Hamster Wheel

Two hamsters, a spinning wheel, and three animals for the price of one.

Brick Rated Score

4.0/5

Set 31155 · 2024

Pieces416

Minifigsn/a

Year2024

Set number31155

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The verdict

I built the hamster version first and found myself grinning at the little bell and the water dispenser before I'd even finished the cage.

This is Creator 3-in-1 doing exactly what it does best, one box of parts that rebuilds into a hamster habitat, a lounging cat, or a dog on a ramp. It is not a technical showpiece, and the wheel mechanism is a little more fiddly to click together than it should be, but the charm per dollar is genuinely high. I'd hand this to a kid who loves animals more than a kid who loves engineering, and I think that kid will build all three versions before the year is out.

Best for: animal lovers and kids who want to rebuild the same set into three different pets

The full review

What it is

I'll be straight with you, this is a small, cheerful set that knows exactly what it is. You get two hamsters, a house with a bell on top, a water dispenser, a food bowl, and a wheel for them to run on, and then the 3-in-1 instructions let you tear it all down and rebuild it as a cat lounging with a moving tail and ears, or a dog zooming down a little ramp. It's the kind of set where the fun isn't in the piece count, it's in watching a kid choose which pet they want to live with this week.

The catch

Where it stumbles a bit is the actual engineering of that wheel. A few reviewers flagged that the connection holding it in place is on the fragile side, if a kid gives it a real spin it can pop loose, and the assembly sequence for it is more confusing than anything else in the build. At $29.99 US for 416 pieces you're also paying a bit of a premium for novelty over raw brick count, since a chunk of the budget clearly went into the two animal figures and the specialty pieces rather than more standard bricks.

Who it's for

I'd put this in the hands of a young animal lover, especially one who already has a hamster, cat, or dog at home and would get a kick out of building their own version. If you're shopping for someone who wants a meaty technical challenge or a display piece for a shelf, this isn't it, the pull here is purely emotional and it delivers that in spades.

The parts story

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

Building this one feels quick and light, you're through the hamster cage and its little accessories before you've really settled in, and then the fun starts when you crack it open again to rebuild it as the cat or the dog. The wheel gave me the most trouble of the whole set, the pieces that let it spin freely don't click together as confidently as I wanted, and I understood immediately why some builders said it needs a sturdier connection for kids who like to spin things hard.

The standout piece is the dish shaped round brick used for the hamster's bell, which as far as anyone's tracked appeared here and nowhere else, making it a genuine one-set exclusive for collectors of oddball parts. The rounded 3x3 brick also gets a first ever outing in orange in this set, having only shown up in lavender before. Neither piece will change your life, but if you're the sort of builder who likes spotting a first-appearance color or mold, this little set has two of them tucked in among the hamster food bowls.

Fun facts

01The dish shaped round brick used for the bell has, as of current records, appeared in this set and no other LEGO set.
02The rounded 3x3 brick makes its first appearance in orange here, having previously only been produced in lavender.
03The set rebuilds into three completely different pets from the same parts pool, a hamster with a spinning wheel, a cat with a moving tail and ears, and a dog that slides down a ramp.
04Hamster Wheel launched at $29.99 / £24.99 / €29.99 in December 2023 and was slated to retire around the end of 2025.