Update: The new LEGO Smart Play and its first three sets go live for pre-order on January 9 – they are officially releasing on March 1.
After a brief and relatively cryptic official teaser hit LEGO’s social feeds over the last day or so, it has now officially hit the stage at CES 2026.
The initial teaser featured a series of sleek black bricks and some obvious minifigure pieces alongside some quotes from kids and a tag line reading “enter a whole new dimension of play.”
At the time, we could only help but speculate all of that was alluding some sort of smart brick or tech-laden building sets, potentially something aimed directly at kids with a companion app involved in some way, but the speculation will soon be over.
This is certainly not the first time LEGO has dabbled outside of the traditional brick-built sets, implementing technology with integrated coding platforms to build your own robots years ago right through to the ability to scan 2D brick creations and bring them to life app side. And you might remember NEXO Knights, a modernized fantasy theme that landed alongside a TV series and a digital game.
Updating…
- LEGO execs are now live on stage at CES 2026.
- LEGO has now officially unveiled is first smart brick – it appears to look just like a standard 2×4 brick
- The new system includes a small chip the size of a single stud hidden inside the brick
- There also appears to be some kind of minfig integration here
- This new intelligent LEGO platform is known as Smart Play
- The Smart Brick contains a mini speaker to integrate SFX into builds.
- Smart Bricks can sense when a Smart minifig is nearby and deliver proximity-based functionality
- It sounds like the idea here is that builders can leverage just a few Smart Bricks and/or minifigs into builds to add some additional interactive functionality.
- There are three new Star Wars sets that include the Smart Brick
LEGO says Smart Play Smart Bricks “bring play to life including sensors, accelerometers, light sensing and a sound sensor as well as a miniature speaker driven by an onboard synthesizer, and much more, in addition to easy wireless charging.”
Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter $69
- 743 pieces
- Comes with a Smart Brick, Smart Play Darth Vader minifigure, Smart Play Tag
Red Five X-wing $100
- 584 pieces
- Comes with a Smart Brick, Smart Play minifigs (Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia) and 5 Smart Play tags
Throne Room + A-wing $160
- 962 pieces
- Comes with a Smart Brick, 3 Smart Play minifigs (Like Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader), 5 Smart Play tags
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