Trix model construction sets were originally produced in 1931 by a Nuremberg company, Andreas Förtner (Anfoe). The German patent for the basic Trix pieces had been granted the previous year, in 1930.

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The origin of the name Trix is uncertain; it has been suggested (by Adrie Wind^[1]]) that it could have referred to the triple-hole configuration of the basic pieces.

A friendship between Stephan Bing, owner of Anfoe, and the English toy manufacturer W J Bassett-Lowke led to the founding of the London company Trix Ltd in 1932. In the United Kingdom, Trix sets challenged the British-invented Meccano model construction sets.

(See Trix (company) for details of the model electric trains that the German company also began producing in 1935.)