Cobi is a Polish toy company with its headquarters in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. The company was founded in 1987, producing puzzles and board games. In 1992, it started producing building blocks with an interlocking stud and tube system, compatible with Lego blocks. Due to their popularity, the company switched to mostly producing building block sets.

Themes

The Cobi catalogue is divided up by themes, with each theme having multiple brick sets. The majority of the catalogue consists of 20th and 21st century military equipment, like tanks, ships and airplanes. Lego has a policy to not make realistic weapons and military equipment, leaving an opportunity for other building block companies to fill this niche. Cobi has various licensing deals, such as with Company of Heroes 3, along with

The Tank Museum The Tank Museum (previously The Bovington Tank Museum) is a collection of armoured fighting vehicles at Bovington Camp in Dorset, South West England. It is about north of the village of Wool and west of the major port of Poole. The collection ...

at Bovington Camp, and also for some Hollywood movies, such as Top Gun: Maverick.

Comparison to Lego

Cobi produces a larger variety of custom pieces than Lego. In recent years they've often printed their blocks, rather than using stickers. The mini figures have the same size as Lego figures, but have a more three dimensional head, with the nose sticking out, and a less blocky body. Also, due to the restrictions of Lego concerning weapons, Cobi is one of the leaders of the building bricks company in this sector.

Merger

Cobi and

Best-Lock Best-Lock Construction Toys is a brand of plastic building bricks that are compatible with Lego. Best-Lock Group Limited, which manufacture the bricks, is based in Colne, Lancashire, England. History Best-Lock was founded in 1997 by Torsten Gel ...

, a British building block manufacturer with a strong presence in North America and Asia, announced a merger on February 2, 2006. The merger has since yielded co-branded building block toys. Toys are still sold under the separate labels Best-Lock and Cobi, but many Cobi sets appear in North American retailers such as

Toys R' Us A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...

and

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...

under the Best-Lock brand.

References

External links

*
Best-Lock website
Construction toys Toy companies established in 1987 Manufacturing companies based in Warsaw Toy companies of Poland Polish brands Polish companies established in 1987 {{Toy-company-stub