LEGO Brings Bricks To Life With Smart Play

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The first three Smart Play sets focus on the Star Wars Universe (Credit: LEGO.com)

Danish toymaker LEGO is entering a new era with Smart Play. The groundbreaking system brings LEGO bricks to life with lights, sounds, and interactive features. It aims to transform how kids build, explore, and play.

The idea for Smart Play began in 2016, when the company asked children what they wanted most from their LEGO sets. Two themes stood out. Kids wanted to build with friends, and they wanted toys that could respond and evolve as they played. LEGO took these insights seriously and spent nearly a decade turning them into reality with Smart Play. The system revolves around three main components: the Smart Brick, the Smart Tag, and the Smart Minifigure.

The Smart Play system comprises the Smart Brick, the Smart Tag and the Smart Minifigure (Credit: LEGO.com)

Smart Brick

The Smart Brick is a 2 by 4-inch (5 by 10 cm) LEGO brick with a chip, motion sensors, lights, and a speaker inside. It can sense when it is moved, detect Smart Tags and Smart Minifigures, and recognize the colors of nearby LEGO pieces. The brick uses this information to react instantly with lights, sounds, and movement, bringing LEGO creations to life.

Smart Tag

The Smart Tag is a 2 by 2-inch (5 by 5 cm) tile with a built-in digital code. Each tag carries a unique code that tells the Smart Brick which object or action to simulate. When the brick senses a tag nearby, it reacts with corresponding sounds and movements. For instance, a dinosaur tag might trigger roaring, while a race car tag could mimic screeching tires.

Smart Minifigures

Smart Minifigures work in a similar way to Smart Tags. Each figure has a code that the Smart Brick can read. This allows it to recognize the character and respond accordingly. For example, a Minifigure placed inside a spaceship with the right Smart Tag might act nervous, excited, or confident based on its personality.

Together, the Smart Brick, Smart Tags, and Smart Minifigures create interactive play and help bring stories to life in real time.

Smart Play allows kids to bring stories to life (Credit: LEGO.com)

The first three sets of Smart Play, available in stores and online on March 1, 2026, focus on the Star Wars universe. Fans can recreate classic scenes — from lightsaber duels to spaceship battles — with Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, R2‑D2, and more. LEGO plans to expand Smart Play to additional themes soon.

Resources: LEGO.com, Theverge.com, CNN.com

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