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Earlier today, Lego held its first press conference at CES 2026 and infused some tech into its toys. Introducing the Lego Smart Brick, which is a standard brick armed with technology. But that’s not all; this is a part of the company’s Smart Play, which consists of the Smart Brick along with Smart Minifigures and Smart Tags.
So what’s so special about the new brick? Lego equipped a 4.1mm chip to power all of the tech, LED lights, speakers that generate sounds and not pre-recorded clips, an accelerometer to measure movements, magnets to sense other Smart Tags and Smart Minifigures nearby, and a new Bluetooth-based system that allows multiple Smart Bricks to work with each other—all within a 2×4 brick. While the Smart Tag is a 2×2 tile, the Smart Minifigure has a digital ID that the Smart Brick can read via near-field magnetic communication.
The entire Smart Play setup works entirely by proximity and can be activated by shaking before playing with them. It can recognize different-colored bricks when placed on them. Each brick works with others to generate different lights and sounds, or use multiple bricks to connect and mirror each other. While the tag tells the brick what to play, for example, what kind of object, animal, or vehicle it should become or operate as.
The first Lego sets arriving with this new technology are from Star Wars, with a 473-piece Darth Vader TIE Fighter set with a smart Darth Vader Minifigure, one Smart Brick, and one Smart Tag for $70; a 584-piece Luke Skywalker Red Five X-Wing with two Smart Minifigures, one Smart Brick, and five Smart Tags for $100; and a 962-piece Throne Room Duel with three Smart Minifigures, two Smart Bricks, and five Smart Tags for $160.
The Smart Play setup can make TIE Fighters light up and make laser sounds as you fly them around, and the same goes for lightsaber battles when minifigures are close to each other. All three Star Wars Lego Smart Play sets are set to arrive on March 1, with pre-orders starting on January 9.
