LEGO
Buy and sell LEGO sets in Guatemala.
LEGO here runs from a City fire station for a child in primary school to a Technic supercar that ends up on an adult’s shelf, and on to the SPIKE Prime and EV3 robotics kits that school teams build with for the national tournaments. Sets come new and sealed, or pre-owned after a season of play or competition, some still built and some sorted back into bags. When a team moves up to newer hardware, its old kit tends to pass to another school or to a family at home, and what decides its worth is the state of the hub, the motors and the sensors.
City, Technic and the robotics kits behind school teams:
most LEGO that changes hands belongs to one of three families. The play themes, City, Friends, Ninjago and Star Wars among them, use ordinary studded bricks and minifigures. Technic swaps studs for beams, pins, axles and gears, so the models steer and change gear; it mixes freely with ordinary bricks, and the motorised sets sit close to vehicles and RC. The third is LEGO Education robotics: SPIKE Prime and SPIKE Essential, the older Mindstorms EV3, and Robot Inventor, the home kit built around SPIKE Prime’s hub. Duplo and compatible brands sit one level up in building sets and blocks.
SPIKE Prime, EV3 and the plug that decides what works together:
a robotics kit is only as useful as the motors and sensors it can talk to. EV3 uses its own phone-style cable, while SPIKE Prime, SPIKE Essential, Robot Inventor and the Powered Up motors in recent Technic sets share one newer plug, so those parts move between kits and an EV3 sensor does not. LEGO has stopped making SPIKE but still supports its app, which Robot Inventor hubs now use as well. FIRST LEGO League, which Guatemala runs as a national tournament, is moving to new hardware and phasing out SPIKE and the older LEGO Education kits, so a coach buying for that league should read the current season’s rules first. The WRO olympiad opened its RoboMission category to robots of any brand, so an EV3 or a SPIKE kit stays usable there for as long as its parts work.
A hub, a box of bricks and what each is worth:
the largest licensed Technic cars go past Q2,000 new, and a SPIKE Prime kit cost several thousand quetzales before it went out of production, which is why a complete used one holds its value far better than a play set. Nearly all of that value sits in the hub, the motors and the sensors: a kit with every brick and a dead hub is worth a fraction of one that powers up. A Technic car works the other way round from a play set, losing little to a missing panel and a great deal to a missing gear or steering part, because the body can be patched with spare bricks and the mechanism cannot.
Hub batteries, rubber and gears on a pre-owned set:
ask the seller to charge the hub before you arrive, then connect it to the app on your phone and run each motor and sensor in turn. The rechargeable hub battery is the dearest single part to replace, and one that runs flat within minutes is a reason to offer less. On an EV3 brick, check that it boots and ask whether its rechargeable pack comes with it. On Technic, turn the steering and the gearbox through every position; a mechanism that jams or clicks usually means a cracked gear or a pin in the wrong hole. Rubber bands and tyres dry out with age and split when stretched, so squeeze them before counting them as working. Wash a grimy lot by hand in lukewarm water; a dishwasher warps bricks until they no longer grip.
A team’s kit or a finished Technic model, ready to move on:
say exactly which hub it is, how many motors and sensors come with it, and whether the storage box and its sorting trays survive. Mention whether the hub holds a charge and its firmware is up to date, and photograph every electronic part laid out beside the box. For a Technic car, say whether it was built once for display or played with. A coach driving in from San Marcos or Puerto Barrios ahead of a tournament will want to watch the hub connect and a motor turn before agreeing a price, so have it charged and a phone with the app open.