LEGO Smart Play Bricks Come With a Huge Caveat

by

LEGO’s new Smart Play system has a significant limitation that will likely slow its initial success: it’s launching in only a few countries. Although LEGO plans to expand availability later, this limited start makes their claim that it’s a long-term product feel a bit early, as many customers won’t be able to experience the technology anytime soon.

LEGO officially announced they were developing a smart version of their classic bricks in June 2024, but the LEGO Smart Play platform wasn’t fully revealed until January 2026 at CES in Las Vegas. The system uses three main parts: special bricks, tags, and minifigures. The core of the technology is the Smart Brick, which has a speaker, LED lights, and sensors that can detect movement, sound, and light. It can also identify Smart Minifigures and creations built with NFC tags. The first three Smart Play sets, all based on LEGO’s popular Star Wars theme, went up for pre-order on January 9th. However, it turned out that these sets wouldn’t be available worldwide as initially suggested.

LEGO’s ‘Smart’ Star Wars Sets Are Only Launching in 6 Countries

LEGO’s new interactive Star Wars sets will initially only be available in six countries: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Poland, and Australia. LEGO didn’t mention this limited release in its official announcement; you can only find this information by visiting LEGO’s website for each specific country. It’s unclear how long these restrictions will last or when the sets will be available in other countries. The launch date in these six markets is March 1st.

LEGO Smart Play Bricks: Supported Countries List

  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • France
  • Germany
  • Poland
  • Australia

The six launch markets will receive the first LEGO Smart Play sets on March 1, 2026.

LEGO Maintains Smart Bricks Are a Long-Term Play

Even Denmark, LEGO’s home country, wasn’t included in the first release of the Smart Play platform, suggesting the company is being careful with how it introduces this new technology – more so than their announcement at CES indicated. LEGO insists these smart bricks are a permanent addition, designed to work with existing LEGO sets, not replace them. A key to this is using NFC tags, which allow regular LEGO bricks and the new sensor-equipped bricks to interact with each other.

One of the First LEGO Smart Sets Will Be Slightly Cheaper Than First Stated

Despite limited availability in some areas, one of the new LEGO Star Wars sets will be cheaper than first announced. Luke’s Red Five X-wing (set 75423, 584 pieces) will now retail for $89.99, down from the previously reported $99.99. While YouTuber PenPlays suggests LEGO mistakenly shared the higher price, Game Rant couldn’t verify this. The other two sets in the first wave will be sold at their original prices: $159.99 for the Throne Room Duel & A-Wing (set 75427, 952 pieces) and $69.99 for Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter (set 75421, 473 pieces).

LEGO’s new Smart Play platform is launching soon, but people in the United Kingdom actually got a first look at it earlier this year. A small number of smart LEGO bricks were released there in March 2025, but only in three sets: Jungle Explorer Base Camp (60691), The Lost Crocodile Temple (60692), and Survivor Island Seaplane (60693). These sets were quickly discontinued after their release. Beyond Star Wars, LEGO’s upcoming Pokemon line is also rumored to include sets that work with the Smart Brick technology, according to reliable sources.

Read More

2026-01-10 20:35