Super Mario

Mario Kart, Bowser's Castle

The one bit of proper scenery in the whole Mario Kart line, and it's Bowser's.

Brick Rated Score

3.9/5

Set 72039 · 2025

Pieces1,068

Minifigs4

Year2025

Set number72039

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The verdict

This is the set that finally gives the Mario Kart range a backdrop instead of another loop of track, and the castle gateway really does look the part with its horns, banners, and glowing lava trim.

The two karts are the weak spot and the sticker sheet will test your steady hand, but the Bowser figure and the drop-the-Thwomp play feature carry it. If you already have a shelf of little Mario Kart accessory sets, this is the piece that ties them all together.

Best for: Mario Kart fans who want a real set piece, not just another stretch of track

The full review

What it is

For a couple of years now the Mario Kart LEGO® sets have given you karts, characters, and little pop-up track pieces, but never really a place. Bowser's Castle finally fixes that. This set is 1,068 pieces of gateway, walls, and menace, built to match the Mario Kart 8 version of the castle right down to the horns up top, the red banners with the Koopa emblem, and that unmistakable band of lava running along the base. At over 26cm tall and 36cm wide, it's a proper centerpiece, and it's the first time we've seen Bowser's Castle show up in the Mario Kart subtheme rather than the older interactive Mario line.

The catch

Here's where I'll be straight with you about the compromises. The facade is decorated with stickers rather than prints, and there are a lot of them. The chevron stripes in particular are the kind you'll want to line up slowly with a fresh cup of tea nearby, because they're unforgiving if you rush. The two karts are the other soft spot. Bowser's ride is a fairly standard ATV and Yoshi drives the Mach 8, and neither of them is going to be the reason you buy this. There's also a slightly awkward gap under Bowser's shell when you look at him in profile, the sort of thing you stop noticing after a day but do clock on day one. And at $99.99 for just over a thousand pieces, you're paying castle prices, so the value really rides on how much you love the subject.

Who it's for

So who's this really for. If you've been collecting the small Mario Kart accessory packs and you want something to build a scene around, this is the obvious anchor, and the foldout walls mean you can reconfigure it into a corridor or spread it wide to flank a track. Families with a Mario-obsessed nine-year-old will get real mileage out of the drop-the-Thwomp and spinning-fire play, since this leans into hands-on play rather than the app-based stuff. If you're a pure display builder chasing clever engineering or you already own Bowser and Yoshi from other sets, you might find this one a bit repetitive, and that's fair. But as the one bit of real world-building the Mario Kart line has offered so far, it earns its spot.

The parts story

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

The build breaks neatly into three jobs: the two karts first, then the big central gateway, then the flanking wall panels. The karts go quickly and use some nice chunky wheels sized for their riders. The gateway is the heart of it, and it's where the engineering lives. You build up the tower, thread the chains that suspend the Thwomp, and install the wheel on top that raises it, plus the orange-tipped lever that drops it. The Fire Bar is a satisfying little mechanism too, just a spinnable wheel with the flames mounted on it. The foldout walls are hinged so the whole thing rearranges, which keeps the last stretch of building feeling purposeful rather than repetitive.

On parts, the standout trick is the Fire Bar's flames, which are made from transparent orange minifigure heads mounted on a wheel, a lovely bit of lateral thinking. The Technic tube pieces used as bumpers on Bowser's ATV are another clever reuse. You get four figures in the box (Bowser, Yoshi, a Thwomp, and a Lava Bubble) plus a printed Banana element, though Bowser and Yoshi are the same brick-built designs from sets like 71431 Bowser's Muscle Car. At roughly 9.4 cents per piece this isn't a bargain by count alone, and the reliance on stickers over prints stings a little at this price. What you're paying for is the scenery and the play, not a parts-value haul.

Fun facts

01This is the first time Bowser's Castle has appeared in the Mario Kart subtheme, after showing up several times in the earlier app-connected LEGO Super Mario line.
02The model recreates the Mario Kart 8 version of the castle specifically, copying its horns, red Koopa banners, and lava-lined base.
03The Fire Bar's rotating flames are built from transparent orange minifigure heads spun on a wheel, a rare case of a head being used as pure scenery rather than on a body.
04Despite being one of the biggest sets in the Mario Kart line at 1,068 pieces, it includes only four Action Tags, the interactive scan-pads that drive the digital play in this theme.