The Consumer Electronics Show is the event to showcase upcoming innovative technologies. Lego was definitely a curious company during media day with other presenters such as Bosch, LG, and Hyundai. Yet, the toy company known for its buildable blocks showcased the Lego Smart Brick, which adds a new dimension to their play sets called Smart Play.
The Lego Smart Brick is powered by a custom-made chip developed by Lego Group’s Creative Play Lab team. That chip is smaller than a standard stud and enables responsive physical play. During the demonstration, the Lego Smart Brick interacted with Lego Smart Tags, which are another specialized piece, and Lego Smart Minifigures.
Many of the examples were basic concepts such as providing sound effects for several builds such as a car, a plane, and a duck. Tom Donaldson, Senior Vice President & Head of Creative Play Lab at Lego Group, used the same Lego Smart Brick for each build showing its versatility. Also, the orientation of the build resulted in a different effect.
The ability of the smart brick to light up showcased another play aspect utilizing its spacial and color recognition. It could detect different colored bricks with precision and high resolution in three dimensions. In a shuffleboard style game with ducks, the specialty brick could determine location of the ducks from closest to furthest. These aren’t jaw dropping developments, but merely the tip of the iceberg of what kind interactions play sets can have with each other with further development.
The first sets to feature the Lego Smart Brick will be in three “All-In-One” Star Wars builds. The first is the Lego Star Wars Smart Play: Luke’s Red Five X-Wing building set. It is composed of 584 pieces with two Smart Minifigures (Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia) along with regular R2-D2, Rebel Crew and Stormtrooper Minifugures. In addition to the vehicle, there is a buildable Imperial turret, transporter, and command center. The two smart bricks and five smart tags can create laser shooting sounds, engine sounds and lights and refueling and repair sounds.
The second is the Lego Star Wars Smart Play: Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter building set. It contains 473 pieces of the starship, a Rebel Outpost, and an Imperial Fueling Station. It comes with Smart Minifigure Darth Vader and a Rebel Fleet Trooper Minifigure. The smart brick can initiate the twin ion engines and other interactive features.
Finally, there is the Lego Star Wars Smart Play: Throne Room Duel & A-Wing. This 962-piece set comes with three smart Minifugures (Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and Luke Skywalker (Jedi)), a brick-built A-Wing Fighter and Pilot Minifigure, two Royal Guard Minifigures, and a Smart Tag enabled cannon turret.
Despite the excitement around the Lego Smart Brick as well as the upcoming Star Wars Smart Play sets, especially due to the hype video special guests Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm Dave Filoni and Chief Brand Officer at the Walt Disney Company Asad Ayaz brought with them, the announcement wasn’t a complete home run. The price points are pretty high considering the number pieces each set contains (TIE Fighter $69.99, X-Wing $89.99, and Throne Room $159.99). Also, based off of the images, they don’t seem to have nearly the same detail as comparable sets, especially for the TIE Fighter and X-Wing. Is the added play from the different smart pieces enough to warrant the higher price tag?
The first wave of the Lego Star Wars Smart Play sets are up for pre-order beginning January 9 and release March 1, 2026.
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