Review: LEGO 40416 Ice Skating Rink (Christmas 2020 Promo Set)

We made it to December! To ease us into the season of all things Winter, I’ve got a short review of the newest LEGO Gift with Purchase – 40416 Ice Skating Rink.

This is a brand new promotional set that will be available from 1 December 2020 (which is now if you’re in Eastern Australia!), when you purchase above a certain threshold from LEGO.com or your local LEGO store.

• LEGO.com orders over $150 [US]
• LEGO.com orders over AU$229 [AUS]
• LEGO.com orders over £150 [UK]

Name: Ice Skating Rink
Set Number: 10276
Pieces: 304 pieces
Price: N/A (Gift with Purchase from LEGO.com
Exclusive to: LEGO Brand Retail Stores, LEGO.com
Theme: Promotional, Christmas 2020
Release Date: 1 December 2020

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Each year, LEGO releases a festive Christmas-themed gift with purchase (last year was a beautiful Christmas tree) and this year, we get an Ice Skating rink with two minifigures and a really cool play feature.

Like all Christmas promo sets, the box design incorporates the red limited edition stamp and ribbon.

Here’s a look at the manual, which is an interesting, uncommon yet compact size.

Here are the two minifigures included in the set, which I believe both have exclusive torsos.

The female minifigure sports a white jumper with repeating snowflake patterns, and the male has a bright red sweater with snowflakes that’s almost borderline an ugly Christmas sweater.

The torsos are lovely and appropriately festive, and I also like that the female minifigure comes with a red scarf.

Here’s a look at the completed set, which is quite large for a GWP and occupies a very respectable footprint.

At 304 pieces, it makes for a brisk but enjoyable build that’s suitable for even younger builders.

Despite the relatively compact footprint of the set, the designers have squeezed in some fun little details – I really like these small snow-covered pine trees, and the very festively coloured coffee booth which has a mini lampost next to it.

There are plenty of white slopes being uses to give it the look of heavy uneven snow, and I also love the use of a green base, which looks like lush grass buried beneath heavy snowfall.

Placing the multitude of trans-blue tiles was very satisfying, and the curved brown tiles to give the Ice Skating Rink the rounded shape is also a nice choice.

The Ice Skating Rink’s play feature is the centerpiece of the build – using a combination of “Splat Gears”, you can spin the minifigures around, creating a very satisfying effect of them circling around the fountain in the middle.

Here’s a GIF of the set in action!

The play feature is a lot of fun, and for those with younger kids, the kinetic nature of the set really ties it all together to create something quite special.

Overall, for those of you who have been collecting Christmas Gift with Purchases, 40416 Ice Skating Rink is a great new addition, and the fact that it’s a minifigure-scaled set makes it a great addition to your LEGO Winter Village.

With everything that has gone on this year, it has been challenging for LEGO to keep some of its most coveted sets in stock, and after coming off Black Friday, it can be really difficult to even get what you want ordered from LEGO.com to qualify for this set.

Nevertheless, if you have a purchase lined up, or if one of your wishlist sets comes back in stock, it may be a great time to pick this set up.

Rating: 3/5

LEGO 40416 Ice Skating Rink will be available from LEGO.com from 1 December 2020 onwards, and will be free with purchases of US$150, AU$229, and £150.

Thanks for reading this short review! It’s the 1st of December, which means Advent Calendar season has begun, so be sure to check in tomorrow morning for Day 1 of Advent Calendars!