Rasti (from the German verb ''rasten'', 'to secure, to place firmly, to lock into its place') is a

construction toy A construction set is a set of standardized pieces that allow for the construction of a variety of different models. The pieces avoid the lead-time of manufacturing custom pieces, and of requiring special training or design time to constr ...

made from plastic—similar to

Lego Lego ( , ; stylized as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys that are manufactured by The Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. The company's flagship product, Lego, consists of variously colored interlocking ...

, Tente and Mis Ladrillos—that was produced by the Knittax company in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

during the 1960s and 1970s. In 2007, manufacturing began again. Rasti

Construction

The construction method allows a person to join pieces by using medium pressure, locking the blocks together with semi-rigid plastic pins which, unlike other brands, avoids the friction and wear between the pins and the internal surfaces of the blocks. This system avoids the fragility and instability in the models, giving a solidity unequaled by any other construction toy or block system. Wp-rasti-5

Quality

Rasti bricks produced in Argentina were made with quality in mind—the shafts were made in chromed steel with plastic points for joining the special holes in the wheels. They were so popular that the word "Rasti" became regularly used as a synonym for durability and stability. It is still used as a generic noun to describe objects that can be assembled or disassembled in pieces saying: "''it was broken like a Rasti''" or "''you can build it like a Rasti''". Having obtained a considerable popularity in the toy market in Argentina, the "Rasti" was exported to countries such as

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

(from where the original design came) until its production moved to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

where its license was granted to the company Hering, and remained in production for several years. The brand "Rasti" comes from the German word "rasten" which means "to affirm, to establish giving solidity, stability and firmness" which is the concept that governs the plastic blocks that are embedded to form various structures. In Europe, with new colors but with the same basic pieces, the Rasti still continued selling after the new millennium (“Rasti-2000”). Between the more popular sets sold in the Rasti decades, there are the Minibox 600, the Multibox 800, the technical kits 501 and 502, the three variants of Rasti Mobil (202, 203 and 204), the Motobox 45 and its more complete version the Motobox 90, and the larger set, "Starbox 1000". Wp-rasti-8

External links

Rasti in Argentina
Rasti official page

República Rasti

Rasti Club Argentina

References

{{Reflist Construction toys