Brick Wall psychology: PAB cup filling strategy? Since I don't live next to a LEGO store I don't often have the opportunity to stand in front of a Pick A Brick Wall. Recently, I filled my large PAB cup for the second time. When I browsed the wall, I found several pieces that fit into my current (or near future) projects. I was aiming for small parts, since the price on Bricklink would be at least some cents each.

Here comes the question: I needed some trans-clear 1x2x2 panels. I took some, walked back and forth, put some more into the cup, and ended up with 43 (!) of them. But I was sure that I only had 10, maybe 15. Am I crazy? How can I so dramatically underestimate the number of those panels? Do you know in advance what to put into the cup? What is your PAB cup strategy?

The picture shows the filled cup. 


And this is the pile of the mentioned panels:
You aren't crazy. In my experience, the PaB wall ends up having only a handful of parts that I'm really interested in, so I end up getting a lot of certain parts.

I find myself walking back and forth adding the same parts that I know I already have a bunch of just because nothing else looks particularly interesting to me.

Several years ago, I filled up a small PaB cup and ended up with 62 of those trans-clear panels, so you're at least doing better than me. :)





In terms of strategy, I've found it helpful to check the inventories in advance and decide if it's going to be worth having a cup full of those parts. At this point, I usually don't fill up a cup unless there is a part that I don't mind having a whole lot of (e.g. 1x2 bricks in a rarer color that I like). If I fill up a cup it tends to look more like this now: