LEGO Retro Telephone – a rotary phone with a dial that actually springs back
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There’s a whole generation that has never dialed a phone. Not tapped. Dialed. Finger in the hole, turn, let go, wait for the clicky whirr to come back, repeat seven times and pray you didn’t miss a number.
The LEGO Retro Telephone brings that back, minus the party line. It’s a LEGO Creator 3-in-1 set (number 31174) that builds a 1960s rotary phone with a dial that springs back when you let go. And it’s one of the cheapest good LEGO gifts you can buy this year.
What is the LEGO Retro Telephone?
It’s a 383-piece set from LEGO’s Creator 3-in-1 line, released on August 1, 2025. Brickset lists Aaron Newman as the designer. The main build is a light royal blue desk phone from the 1960s, about 3.5 inches high, 6 inches wide and 4 inches deep. LEGO says ages 8 and up, but this is clearly also aimed at the adults who remember when the phone lived in the hallway.
It’s part of the same family of retro Creator sets as the Typewriter with Flowers, the Record Player with Flowers and the Retro Camera. If you’ve seen one of those on someone’s desk, you know the vibe.
How does the rotary dial work?
The fun bits are all mechanical. According to Brickset’s review, the dial turns in one direction and a mechanism underneath springs it back, like the real thing. The handset lifts off a cradle that sits on axles with rubber bushes, so it gives a little springy “clunk” when you hang up. LEGO calls it a spring-loaded hang-up function. The curly cord is made of solid LEGO parts but still bends.
There’s also a LEGO pencil and a little sticky-note pad, so the phone comes with a place to scribble “Mom called”.
Being a 3-in-1 set, you can take it apart and rebuild the same bricks into:
- a 1980s phone on a charging base. Brickset describes it as a big blocky DynaTAC-style mobile with a tall antenna, in pink.
- two 2000s phones: a candy-bar “brick” phone and a flip phone that folds shut.
You can only build one version at a time. Pick your decade.
The good and the not-so-good
The rotary phone is the star. Brickset’s reviewer called it an excellent build with surprising play features, and the spring dial plus the bouncy hang-up are exactly the details you’ll keep fiddling with on your desk. Amazon buyers rate it 4.9 out of 5 from over 700 ratings.
On the downside, Brickset’s reviewer wasn’t sold on the light blue (red would have been their pick), and called the pink 1980s phone a bit dull. The 2000s brick phone only gets nine buttons. The Brick Blogger felt 30 dollars was slightly high for people new to the retro series. Brickset expects most buyers to keep it as the rotary phone, and I agree: treat the other two builds as a bonus.
Who is the LEGO Retro Telephone for?
Anyone who has ever said “back in my day we had to dial”. Parents who want to show their kids how phones used to work. LEGO fans who want something small for the desk instead of another 3,000-piece monster. It also works as a stocking stuffer or a Secret Santa gift with a strict budget.
If they already own every retro set, our gifts for LEGO lovers has storage, mugs and other stuff for the brick-obsessed. And if they want a bigger nostalgia build, there’s the LEGO Game Boy.
Where can I buy the LEGO Retro Telephone?
It’s sold on Amazon through the LEGO store, for about 17 bucks at the time of writing (October 2026), down from the 30-dollar list price. LEGO sells it in its own shop as well. BrickEconomy doesn’t expect it to retire before mid-2027, so there’s no rush, but at that price I’d grab it now.
Take my money. And let it ring.