everything you need to know about the company’s biggest innovation
Lego has attempted to incorporate technology into its products several times, with varying levels of success. These concepts aim to draw children back to the brand; The brand is increasingly appealing to adult collectors who simply want to build a model and display it, but while doing so they must also minimize the screens, apps and connectivity that parents prefer to avoid with connected toys.
Smart Play is the latest gamble, and Lego says it’s here to stay. It’s notable that this time around, all the technology has been squeezed into a regular Lego piece rather than relying on an app or separate device. And refreshingly, the idea is all about creative play rather than shelving. However, some online commentators criticized Smart Play and its first line. Star Wars– themed sets that both add technology to Lego and don’t go far enough.
What is Smart Game?
Lego says that as you play with these bricks, the bricks are also moved. A slightly more detailed explanation would be that when you integrate Smart Play components into the things you make, the bricks can understand what you’re doing and how you’re using it and provide feedback in the form of light and sound. For example, if you built a car, it could make engine noises as you drive, make ticking noises when you stop to refuel, and make different character response sounds depending on which Lego person is inside.
The system has two main components. The most important one is the smart brick, which has computers and sensors to make everything work. There are also smart tags and smart minifigures with NFC chips inside, where the smart brick can detect when they are nearby. More importantly, although there is a battery inside the brick and needs to be recharged (wireless charger included), the labels and figures do not. Just place them near the brick and everything works.
The focus is on enhancing and familiarizing the game rather than adding a technology component. And although it’s a bit more structured than playing with a pile of ordinary bricks, it still feels like Lego. And of course they all integrate with normal bricks.
How does smart brick work?
On the surface, it works like a regular 2×4 brick that you can attach to your structures as long as you put a smart tag on it. You don’t need a smart brick for every structure, as it’s easy to move from label to label.
Under the hood, the brick uses tags to tell what context it’s in, it uses smart minifigs to tell if there are Lego people nearby that it should react to, and its sensors detect movement, twists, turns and shakes.
It also has a color sensor on each side that can provide information about moving parts in a structure. It has lights to bring the structures to life and definitely has a low-frequency speaker. As a result, what you make becomes a toy that lights up and makes noise in response to what you do with it.
Bricks can also sense each other and track the distance and direction of other bricks. So if you have more than one, your structures can react to what the others do.
Does it need internet or an app?
As for playing with it, no, Smart Play does not need to be connected and there is no screen. The bricks are not internet-enabled and kids can access all their functionality by simply removing them from the charger, connecting them to a Lego, and playing with them. As with most Lego, you can use an app for building instructions, but there are also printed instructions. Parents are encouraged to connect the brick to a dedicated app via Bluetooth to install updates as new sets are released.
What Smart Play sets are available?
While Lego has released promotional videos showing kids playing with smart bricks and stickers in all kinds of scenarios, the only way to use Smart Play right now is to use the eight new Star Warsthemed sets. Three of these feature one or two smart bricks, while the remaining four feature smart tags and smart minifigs but no brick itself. Prices range from $60 to $250; The cheapest set containing smart bricks is $100.
What’s new? Star Wars sets like?
My kids and I built and played three sets; Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, Luke’s Red Five But my kids absolutely loved the smart brick.
The best part about this is that you can’t actually see the technology while you’re gaming; Lights and sounds occur as a result of moving the toys by hand. All machines have unique voices for driving, flying, or crashing, and all characters have different voices, but they speak in mumbles and nonsense as if they were being synthesized on the fly. Adult collectors would undoubtedly be happier if the effects were triggered by pressing buttons and the figures had voice-overs from the actors, but I think it’s just more fun. This means all figures can interact with all tags, and for imaginative play this is better because you get to decide what they say rather than just hearing movie lines.
Putting R2-D2 in the cockpit of a TIE Fighter and hearing his robot scream as he flies upside down is funny, but there are more subtle interactions as well. The X-Wing set comes with a satellite computer that spins and makes sounds as if it’s searching for or locking onto a signal; My kids have used it a few different ways and it sounds different when Vader uses it compared to Leia.
Parts include hammers you can use for repairs (kids say “fix it fix” as they make the hammering sound) and hoses for refueling. Starships have triggers to fire lasers, and if another ship with a smart brick is nearby it will make a impact sound as if it’s been hit, eventually sounding an alarm and exploding. These all use color-coded pieces and smart brick sensors, but for kids it happens naturally.
Unlike the other two sets, the Millennium Falcon does not contain smart bricks. It is very large and can be used as a play set by flying or opening to fit multiple characters. But since there are four spots to put smart bricks for different effects, it’s a disappointing set if you don’t have one.
What might Smart Play look like in the future?
It’s a no-brainer for Lego to add this to sets of other properties it works with, such as Batman, Marvel, Sonic. Jurassic Park. Part of the fun of Lego is that it’s standardized so you can put these worlds and characters together, and Smart Play supports this by allowing any figure to interact with any vehicle or object.
But I also really hope Lego integrates Smart Play with more mainstream themes, or even sell individual stickers and minifigs independent of the big expensive sets. If you can get a label for “horse” or “helicopter,” for example, you can bring them to life by adding them to your completely original builds. You can also let different children see how they interact by putting their own creations together.
Would adding technology defeat Lego’s purpose?
I don’t think so. I can see the argument that adding any prompting or feedback blunts the imagination-building effect of free play, but prescriptive Lego sets do that anyway. I love that these allow you to explore what kinds of reactions you can explore or repeat sounds and interactions you like, in addition to the freedom of regular Lego.
My kids definitely continued to make most of the sounds themselves, and it wasn’t long before they were back to their usual routines of swapping minifigs’ heads or weapons, gluing them to the sides of cars they don’t belong in, or adding custom parts to starships from doodle boxes. Smart Play also adds an extra element to this, because you can take the smart sticker off the little fuel booster and plug it into something you’ve made entirely yourself, and now it sounds like a space car. You can make a frog that looks like an X-Wing and shoots lasers when it sticks its tongue out, and when that happens a nearby house will blow up. This is Lego.
Get news and reviews on tech, gadgets and games in our Tech newsletter every Friday. Sign up here.
Tim Biggs is a writer covering consumer technology, gadgets, and video games.Connect with: X or email.
