LEGO Techniques - Znap

Wut? Yeah, Znap. I didn't know either until I was browsing through the Bricklink catalog a few years ago. Turns out it's sort of Technic compatible and an attempt to compete with K'nex. But it failed because that was like 20 years ago. The pieces are still available for a few pennies on the secondary market.

And why would you buy the pieces? I got my hands on a few of them and gave them some Dag style tests.


First there's the Technic connection. Piece of cake. But there's more than meets the eye. Here's two of the fun pieces:

And here's a general idea of how Znap works. Boring!

But can it pair with System?

It can! But should it?

Yikes, looks painful. How about that purply piece?

 So far so good.

Plays nicer with SNOT too.

And a twist! (with a perfectly aligned tube).

Sadly the square hole through purply is juuust too tiny to accomodate a brick. But that grey torture device, Znap beams and liftarms will all slip through there. So will 1x1 round bricks and cones. As for the Znap beams you can use them like Technic beams but these little connectors are super nifty! Not shown, a swiveling piece that works like purply but allows one of the bricks to be swiveled at any angle. These pieces are on Bricklink under part numbers Zbb013, Zbb014, and Zbb018. Is that the sound a bee makes when it flies backwards?