LEGO Sets are Getting a Major Upgrade, Taking Play to the Next Level

by

For a while, people have been hearing rumors that LEGO was planning something big for 2026, and now it’s confirmed! At CES 2026, LEGO revealed LEGO Smart Play, a new system designed to make building with LEGO bricks and playing with them even more engaging and fun.

I’m so excited about LEGO Smart Play! It’s launching on March 1, 2026, and it’s starting with three awesome LEGO Star Wars sets. But what’s really cool is that LEGO plans to expand this system to lots of different themes beyond Star Wars – they’re thinking big! These first sets will showcase everything the Smart Play system is all about, including its three main parts.

  • LEGO Smart Brick
  • LEGO Smart Tag
  • LEGO Smart Minifigures

The LEGO Smart Brick is the core of the new Smart Play system. It contains a tiny computer chip with sensors that detect movement, sound, and light, plus a small speaker. The Smart Brick can also be charged wirelessly, though details on how this feature works aren’t available yet.

I recently got my hands on the LEGO Smart Brick, and it’s really opened up some fun possibilities with my LEGO sets! Once installed, your Smart Tags and Minifigures actually interact with each other – think lights flashing or sounds playing, or even both at the same time. It feels like there’s no limit to what you can do, although I’m curious to see just how complex these interactions will become. I’m hoping future sets will let you really personalize things, letting you choose exactly how the Smart Brick responds to different tags or minifigures with custom sounds and lights. It’s a promising start!

LEGO Star Wars Smart Play Sets are Just the Beginning

As we discussed, LEGO Smart Play is launching with three Star Wars sets. Each set includes a LEGO brick, a special tag, and at least one minifigure.

Luke’s Red Five X-Wing LEGO Smart Play Set

  • Price: $99.99
  • 584 Pieces

The X-Wing Smart Play set comes with interactive Luke and Princess Leia minifigures, plus Smart Tags for the X-Wing itself, an Imperial Turret, a transporter, a command center, and R2-D2. Using the Smart Brick technology, the set creates realistic sounds like blaster fire and refueling, and even lights up when you move the X-Wing around.

Darth Vader’s Tie-Fighter LEGO Smart Play Set

  • Price: $69.99
  • 473 Pieces

The Tie-Fighter set comes with a Darth Vader Smart Minifigure and a special tag that makes the classic Tie-Fighter sound when you play with it.

Throne Room Duel and A-Wing LEGO Smart Play Set

  • Price: $159.99
  • 962 Pieces

This is the largest of the three Smart Play launch sets, offering both a detailed play scene and a starship. Unlike the other sets which each have one Smart Brick, this one includes two. It also features Smart Minifigures of Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Emperor Palpatine. To add even more play possibilities, the set comes with five Smart Tags – one each for the A-Wing and the Emperor’s throne, one for the Death Star turret, and two for Luke and Darth Vader’s lightsabers.

You’ll be able to pre-order all three of the new Star Wars Smart Play sets starting January 9th.

Although many people are just learning about the Smart Play system now, it’s been talked about for a while. Rumors of improvements to LEGO’s interactive sets, and specific sets using the system, have been circulating. We’ve even heard that some Pokémon sets will include Smart Play, but they aren’t expected to be available until summer.

It will be fascinating to watch how LEGO develops its Smart Play system and whether any challenges arise with the sets. Currently, it appears the ‘Smart Brick’ is essential for powering the lights and sounds, so it’s likely each set will come with one.

We noticed that some of the Mario LEGO sets didn’t always include the figures needed to connect to the app. Thankfully, the new Smart Play system doesn’t need any apps or extra software to work, which is a big step forward. My only concern is that adding Smart Play might make LEGO sets even more expensive, and they’re already quite pricey.

The LEGO Smart Play Star Wars sets launch March 1, 2026.

Read More

2026-01-06 03:34