LEGO 1984 King’s Castle 6080 review
Unlike the earlier LEGO castle sets that I reviewed on this blog, the following LEGO 1984 King’s Castle 6080 set is part of my personal collection and it’s NOT for sale. It’s just that while taking photos of my other LEGO castle sets for sale, I also used the opportunity to take some shots of this 80’s set since I was in toy photography mood, LOL!
This pre-owned set from 1984 was bought as part of a bulk purchase from another collector who gave up his collection. For its age, the set was very well taken care of by its former owner and it is in fabulous condition! There are no discolorations on the bricks and all the parts are complete when I acquired it! This also happens to be the oldest LEGO castle set in my collection!
Let’s take a look at the photos!
Box - front view. The beautiful King’s Castle is seen pictured against a sunrise or sunset background. What you see is what you’ll get inside the box, no frills!
Box - back view. The many pictures show you suggestions of alternative castle shapes you could buid with the bricks and pieces in this set. I especially love the views of the knights and soldiers interacting with one another and posing with the buildings in all the scenes.
The modern LEGO boxes seldom or don’t even feature such suggested building alternatives anymore. It could either be due to lack of time for LEGO or lack of creative and talented staff to do this job. So much for a famous toy brand that wishes to inculcate creativity in young children, LOL!
Box - opened view, with its yellow tray inside. A transparent plastic film covers the ‘windows’ of the box. The windows allowed you to view some of the key contents inside the box back then when the set was brand new or “mint in sealed box” (MISB) at the store!
The inside of the opened flap shows even more suggestions of alternative castle shapes for you to build and castle scenes you can play with your minifigs.
Front view - Together with the younger Black Monarch’s Castle 6085 from 1988, King’s Castle has a modular design whereby the right and left halves of the building are nearly symmetrical, except for minimal differences.
Portcullis - The castles of the 80’s had portcullis or grille gates that were built from many thin pieces of long and flat bricks. These days, specially molded portcullis pieces are used in the current castle sets. I find that the self built portcullis adds more character to the castle, though it requires effort to build it.
Portcullis line - Castles of the 80’s and 90s use sturdy black string to hoist the portcullis up and down. The other end of the string is tied to a brick with a hole in the middle. This brick can then be pegged on anywhere of the castle as the owner pleased, as long the desired height of the portcullis is achieved!
Drawbridge - Here we have the drawbridge in closed up position to deter invaders from entering, and to lock up the castle for the night!
Drawbridge mechanism - The black string is also used to wind the drawbridge up and down for the 80’s and 90’s castles. This is the mechanism used to open and close the drawbridge. It’s a no brainer to use and blends very well into the castle architecture!
Right side view.
Back view.
Left side view.
Top view - The modular design of the castle is most obvious from the top view. Hmmm, there are supposed to be only 8 soldiers that come with this set. I think I added 2 extra homeless ones from my spares but I forgot to remove them when I took these photos!
Expansion view - The 80’s castles were built on a few flat base plates that allowed the building to be ‘expanded’ for greater playability!
Further expansion - Look, the side castle walls can be folded further forward to ‘bring’ the rear towers to the front!
Interior expansion view - Here’s a look behind those castle walls.
Further interior expansion view - There are 4 room like spaces near the 4 corners that can also serve as stables for the knights’ horses! Yup, this generous set of the 80’s also comes with 4 knights and 4 horses!
Knight A - Here is one of the brave knights and his noble black steed. The 80’s knights had very basic armor print on their bodies and they wear a standard fixed grille helmet. It was only a few years later that the more popular visor helmets for knights were introduced.
Knight B - This knight’s horse comes with a very rare white saddle, which I think occurs in only this set!
Knight C - This knight carries 2 flags on his lance while the other knights have only 1 flag each on their lances. Hence I presume that this knight is likely to be the king of the castle.
In the early years of the kingdom, it is not uncommon for kings to personally lead their armies in defending the castle, or attacking other kingdoms or factions. The king’s spendid white horse also comes with a rare black saddle!
Knight D - Another brave knight and horse to add to the strength of the king’s army!
Locked prison - At the base of a rear tower is a solid door that is bolted with a huge bar! If the bar is removed, the place can be converted into a store room or living quarters too! There is also a flight of stairs leading to the second level.
Opened prison - The space within is quite decent and a couple of minifigs can fit nicely inside.
Rear tower room 1 - Other than the ground floor rooms that I’ve pointed out, there is another room on the second level in each of the two rear towers.
Did you notice that the flat brick on the floor of the room has a different bluish grey color? The sharp-eyed experts who are very familiar with this castle structure could have discovered by now that I made slight renovations to my castle.
That wall panel above the brighter brick was originally positioned at the side next to the where the soldier is standing, leaving the tower interior visible from the front of the castle. I felt that it gave no privacy and that the enemies could easily shoot arrows or fire projectiles into the rear towers from the front.
Hence I altered the design, which only required the addition of 2 such flat bricks. As I lack the needed bricks of the right matching color, these substitutes will do fine for now.
Rear tower room 2 - This other room on the second level is directly above the locked prison. A couple of minifigs can fit in there very snugly. Here I only put one of them inside.
Instructions manual - front view. The top photo shows the ‘closed’ castle while the bottom photo shows the castle ‘opened’ or ‘expanded’.
Instructions manual - back view. I think back then, someone had to draw all these pictures by hand, compared with the pictures on modern manuals that could have been generated into drawings by computer from actual photos of the real items.
Instructions manual - The first 2 pages. Back in those days, building your LEGO sets involved your ability to ’spot the differences’ in subsequent picture steps. The modern manuals today identify which parts you need at each step, so you no longer need to use much of your brain to build the set. All you need are to find the correct parts from your pile of bricks and know how to peg them in correctly into the set, LOL! 
Instructions manual - “Spot the differences” picture steps of the 80’s LEGO manuals.
Instructions manual - The steps for the castle’s DIY portcullis.
Minifigs - 4 knights, 4 horses (all with 1 clip saddles), 8 soldiers, weapons & accessories!
Overall this is a fantastic 80’s LEGO castle set to own. It has lots of play areas, though it doesn’t come with many significant rare pieces. The castle wall parts are all the standard ones used for the castle sets of that decade. I didn’t think that I would like this set until after I built it and explored its playability potential. The play possibilities are more than I thought of initially. Hence this is now one of my favourite LEGO castles despite its simplicity.
In July 2010, LEGO will release a Kingdoms King’s Castle set (7946) which looks very much like this set. I plan to get that set too, though I may not build it so soon as I have already run out of storage space to keep it assembled. The other vintage LEGO castles in my collection are all kept assembled, with one of them sitting on my bedroom floor at the moment. So I doubt I can review Kingdoms King’s Castle set (7946) anytime soon, even if I buy it. I will be reluctant to dismantle it and will not want to leave it on the floor as well to collect dust.
Nevertheless if good luck prevails and my time permits, a comparison review of both the old and new King’s Castles will be posted here.
Thanks for viewing!
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Great review! Simply amazing that it has stables for horses and it is 26 yrs old! Vintage of vintage. I am speechless.
Wow you seem to have alot of vintage castle.
Those set are truly collectors’ dream, they are priceless.
Hi Hippo,
It’s a hobby that is both fulfiling and cursed!
Wow wow wow! You got the review up already and I only notice it now
It is fabulous with so many shots. Makes me really miss my castle!
For awhile, I was wondering why the castle looks a little different, until I saw your “renovation” comment
I felt the rear upper rooms was kind of far from the front and wouldn’t be affected by hostile fire, so I didn’t think of the renovation like you did. ^_^
I recalled that I have some trouble opening the drawbridge because the bridge wasn’t heavy enough. Not sure if you experience this as well.
LOl…I know which are the two homeless soldiers. They are the two soldiers with the grey helmets. ^_^
I want to get this set again!
Hi Shaun,
I’m sorry I didn’t notify you sooner. This was a backdated posting, hence it was posted a few days later than the listed date.
Actually the castle walls are so low that a knight can just climb over it by using his horse as a mounting block, or using a ladder, LOL!
For the drawbridge, I just use my hand to guide it down a little until sufficient angle allows its weight to bring it down without extra help from me.
I think you’re right, those 2 are the extra soliders!
I used to have the 6030 Catapult and I’ll just catapult the soldiers over..LOL ^_^
Yeah, that’s what I did too to open the drawbridge. I believe I even tried to add more bricks to the drawbridge as well, but think it didn’t work too well either
And yes, I am absolutely sure on the extra soldiers. How can I forget this set? It was my baobei ^_^
So happy to see the pictures again. Think this is the most number of pictures I ever seen on this set. LOL…Thank you so much, Juliana!
Hi Shaun,
I still haven’t taken the photos of the instructions manual and minifigs yet to complete the above review
Beautiful photos & review! Had to come over and see it out of nostalgia.
This was always my favorite of the series, and looking at it now, I think it’s superior to 7946. Sure, sometimes I came to grief when carrying it around because it was a little fragile, but I got really good at rebuilding!
Hi Becky,
Thanks for looking at my review! Do continue to keep this castle cos having a complete and good condition set is very hard to come by these days
Hi Juliana
Thanks for the great review!!! I was looking for pictures of this set that I used to play with when I was young with my brother in the 80’s! This is the exact one! Nice fond memories came back…I now play lego with my son who is 6, and considering asking my parents to dig this one out and send it to me, I think it’s still in their house. What a gem!!!
Hi Alison,
I’m glad that this castle gave you many fond memories of your childhood. It wasn’t part of my childhood but it grew on me after I owned it in my adult years.
Yes do retrieve your castle from storage when you can, and to ensure that it is never exposed to direct sunlight and left in daylight or under artificial lights for prolonged periods of time. The grey color bricks would discolor to brown.
If you plan to display your assembled set, do keep it in a dust free cupboard as much as you can. Accumulated dust on LEGO is very tedious to clean off
[...] Updated LEGO 6080 King’s Castle review. [...]
[...] with the red and yellow blocks? It’ll be the colors of your knights. My guys will have this ugly grey one.” (why did I fall for [...]
Do you happen to have a full PDF scan of the building instructions? I just found this set in my parents attic sans plans and my daughter and I want to build it. I think I can guess from your pix above, but just wondering. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Matt,
Most of the LEGO sets instructions can be found online at this website called Peeron.com
The online instructions for LEGO King’s Castle 6080 is here:
http://www.peeron.com/scans/6080-1/
Glad to be able to help you, enjoy building your set!
Wow, great pics. A real blast from the past for me. I got this for Christmas in ‘84 and I think I played with it non stop. Thank you so much.
Hi Linda,
Glad you enjoyed the blog post
I found this page by chance. It’s quite a nostalgia trip! (^Q^)
Me and my brother each got this set for christmas when we were very young. I don’t know if it was in 84, since I would have been only 3 years old at the time, but it was definitely around those years.
I remember how mother built my set and father built my brothers set. Father had trouble finding the parts in his box so he stole from mothers sorted piles, probably making it all more complicated.
We had much lego, two full drawers, but this castle and a spaceship has always stayed with me built together. Most of my other lego from the early to mid 80’s are unfortunately lost or very incomplete.
I still have the instructions manual, but my parents always threw away the boxes. The handles of the shields broke when we were children, so not all of them are original, and some of the weapons are gone. But other than that everything is original and in good condition. The lego is not even discolored. (^_^)
(I love it how the older lego always stays “fresh”. The newer lego tends to dry up and crack…)
There is one difference between our sets though. Only the archers’ helmets are black in my set. All other helmets are gray. Thought that might be interesting for you to know!
Any how, it was nice reading, and I love it how you rebuilt the castle to protect your soldiers. Too few still have that quality when they grow up!
Hi Peter,
I’m happy to share my love for this LEGO set with my readers. I’m also glad to know that it brings you many happy childhood memories.
Hey, I have recently found one of these in the attic, I remember my brother and I both got one as kids but we were only allowed to open one of them. It is brand new and unopened, with only very minor damage to one corner of the box, does anyone know what it might be worth in that condition. Sorry to ask silly questions on here.
Hi Graham,
You can check out past completed auction listings on ebay for the price guide. From what I saw there last year, this unopened set can go for a over USD 100. Good luck!
This is a sweet castle, I got one for xmas when I was a kid, and believe it or not I’m like 99% certain its still at my moms house in a big tote of Legos. After stumbling accross this site, I think I’m gonna go dig it out, its probably 100% complete or close to it, and still in great condition unless old age or improper storage got to it, as a kid my mom made us take care of our toys! Now I want to go find it, looks like a trip to my folks house is in order!
Hi PDS4,
That’s cool to know! Have a great time finding and building it!
Hey, I have one of these in mint condition with the pieces still in the original bags but I am unsure if all of the pieces are present, the only way I could confirm is to open the small bags full of bricks, there are 13 bags inside, aswell as the green boards and the plastic insert full of figures. Does anyone know if that seems right. Thanks in advance for your help.
Hi Paul,
If the Lego bricks are still sealed in their original factory bags, then I assume that the pieces are all complete. Of course the only way to make sure is really to build the set once and find out