Lego has tried to introduce tech into its products several times, with varied levels of success. These concepts aim to entice kids back to the brand, which increasingly caters to adult collectors who just want to build a model and put it on display, but in doing so, they also need to minimise the screens, apps and connectivity that parents would rather avoid in connected toys.
Smart Play is the latest gambit, and Lego says it’s here to stay. It’s notable that this time all the tech is being crammed into a regular Lego brick, instead of relying on an app or separate device. And refreshingly, the idea is all about imaginative play rather than building for the shelf. But some online commenters have criticised Smart Play, and its initial line of Star Wars-themed sets, both for adding tech to Lego at all and for not going far enough.
What is Smart Play?
Lego says that as you’re playing with these bricks, the bricks themselves play back. A slightly more detailed description would be that, by integrating the Smart Play components into the stuff you build, the bricks can get a sense of what you’ve made and how you’re using it, and provide feedback in the form of lights and sounds. For example, if you made a car, it could make engine sounds when you drive, glugging sounds when you stop to fill it with fuel, and different character reaction voices depending on which Lego person you had inside.
The system has two main components. Most important is the smart brick, which has the computer and sensors to make it all work. Then there are smart tags and smart minifigures, elements with NFC chips inside that the smart brick can detect when they’re nearby. Importantly, though the brick has a battery inside and needs to be recharged (a wireless charger is included), the tags and figures do not. You simply put them near the brick and it all works.
The focus is less on adding a tech component, and more on reinforcing and recognising play. And while it is a bit more structured than just playing with a pile of regular bricks, it still feels like Lego. And of course, it all integrates with the regular bricks.
How does the smart brick work?
On the surface, it works like a regular 2×4 brick you can attach to your builds, as long as you put it on top of a smart tag. You don’t need a smart brick for every build, since it’s easy to move from tag to tag.
Under the hood, the brick uses the tags to tell it what context it’s in, smart minifigs to tell it if there are Lego people nearby who should be reacting, and its sensors to detect movement, twists, turns and shakes.
It also has a colour sensor on either side, which can let it know about moving parts in a build. It has lights and a decidedly low-fi speaker to bring life to the builds. The outcome is that the thing you built becomes a toy that lights up and makes sound in response to what you do with it.
The bricks can also detect each other and keep track of other bricks’ distance and orientation. So if you have more than one, your builds can react to what the others are doing.
Does it need the internet or an app?
As far as playing with it, no, Smart Play doesn’t need to be connected and there are no screens. The bricks do not have internet capability, and kids can access all of their functions by just lifting them off the charger, attaching them to some Lego, and playing with them. As with most Lego, you can use an app for build directions, but there are paper instructions too. And 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 published promotional videos showing kids playing with smart bricks and tags in all sorts of scenarios, the only way to currently use Smart Play is through eight new Star Wars-themed sets. Three of these include a smart brick or two, while the remaining four have smart tags and smart minifigs but not the brick itself. They range from $60 to $250, with the least expensive set that includes a smart brick being $100.
What are the new Star Wars sets like?
My kids and I built and played with three sets; Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, Luke’s Red Five X-Wing, and the Millenium Falcon, each of which came with a bunch of components besides the starship, and would be fun to play with even without the tech. But my kids absolutely loved the smart brick.
The best thing about it is you don’t really see the technology as you’re playing; lights and noises just happen as a result of moving the toys by hand. All the machines have unique noises for driving or flying or crashing, and all the characters have distinct voices, though they speak in mumbles and nonsense that sounds like it’s being synthesised on the fly. Adult collectors would no doubt have been happier if effects were triggered by button presses, and the figures had voice lines from the actors, but I think this is more fun. It means all figures will be able to interact with all tags, and it’s better for imaginative play because you decide what they’re saying rather than just hearing movie lines.
Putting R2-D2 in a TIE Fighter cockpit and listening to him scream his robot scream as it flies upside down is funny, but there are subtler interactions too. The X-Wing set comes with a satellite computer that rotates and makes noises as though it’s searching for a signal or has locked on to one, which my kids used in a few different ways, and it sounds different when Vader uses it compared to Leia.
Among the bits and pieces are hammers you can use for repair (“fix fix fix” say the kids as it makes hammer sounds), and hoses for refuelling. The starships have triggers to fire the lasers, and if there’s another ship with a smart brick nearby it will make an impact sound as though it’s been hit, eventually sounding an alarm and exploding. This all uses colour-coded pieces and the smart brick’s sensors, but to the kids it just naturally happens.
The Millenium Falcon, unlike the other two sets, does not include a smart brick. It is huge, and can be flown around or opened up to use as a playset, with room for multiple characters. But since there are four spots to put a smart brick for different effects, it would be a disappointing set if you didn’t have one.
What could Smart Play be like in the future?
It’s a no-brainer for Lego to add this into sets from other properties it tends to work with, like Batman, Marvel, Sonic and Jurassic Park. Part of the fun of Lego is that it’s standardised so you can blend those worlds and characters together, and Smart Play would support that by letting any figure interact with any vehicle or object.
But I also really hope Lego integrates Smart Play with more generic themes, or even sells individual tags and minifigs independent of big expensive sets. If you could get a tag for “horse” or “helicopter”, for example, you could add them to your own wholly original builds to bring them to life. And you’d also be able to have different kids bring their own creations together to see how they interacted.
Does adding tech defeat the purpose of Lego?
I don’t think so. I can see the argument that adding any kind of direction or feedback dulls the imagination-building effect of free play, but prescriptive Lego sets do that anyway. I like that these let you experiment to find out what kind of reactions you can discover, or repeat the sounds and interactions you like, in addition to the freedom of regular Lego.
My kids certainly continued to make most of the noises themselves, and it didn’t take long before they reverted to their usual routine of swapping the minifigs’ heads or weapons, sticking them to the sides of cars where they don’t belong, or adding custom bits to the starships from their box of doodads. And Smart Play adds an extra element to that as well, because you can pull the smart tag off the little fuel speeder and put it on something you’ve built entirely on your own, and now it sounds like a space car. You can make a frog that sounds like an X-Wing and shoots lasers when it sticks out its tongue, and when that happens a nearby house blows up. It’s Lego.
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Tim Biggs is a writer covering consumer technology, gadgets and video games.Connect via X or email.
