First, Lincoln Logs appeared, interlocking bits of wood for building simple log structures. Next, the Erector Set, an industrial age toy that brought the ability to create more diverse mechanisms, but at the cost of greater complexity.
Then, LEGO arrived, offering a compromise between the two -- simplicity and diversity in one. The rest, as they say, is architectural toy history.
Actually, many more construction sets existed (Kenner Girder and Panel, for one), but the above trio are the best-known and most-loved, especially LEGO. In fact, it was inevitable that LEGO-based games would eventually reach the PC -- LEGO Chess, LEGOLAND and, one of the most popular, LEGO Star Wars. Add LEGO Fever to the mix.

Antispam
