Heading into CES 2026, Lego teased it would host a keynote, but now that the dust has settled, it’s clear the company used the stage to reveal its biggest change to the Lego brick since its modern design debuted in 1958.
The new Smart Play system, and most notably the Smart Brick, is designed to work seamlessly within Lego’s existing play system. That’s intentional. Rather than introducing a new screen or a closed ecosystem, Smart Play keeps the focus on hands-on building and tangible play – the core of what Lego has always been about.
It is also a change that has been a long time coming.
“Well, the truth is, we started this project eight years ago,” explained Julia Goldin, Lego’s director of product and marketing. “So now it’s because we’re ready. We’re ready to go. That’s why now. It’s not because we’re trying to solve some kind of problem. It’s more because we’re ready with some really great innovation.”
That long runway was essential, Goldin said, not only to miniaturize the technology – including a custom chip small enough to fit inside a Lego brick – but to ensure that Smart Play could exist as a true platform. Although it is not completely new.
“Everything we’ve done is still part of the system,” Goldin said, noting that Smart Play integrates cohesively with Lego’s existing play system and is additive in nature. “This just adds a new dimension.”
It’s a different beast from Lego’s Super Mario sets, which were powered by Lego bricks but relied on a custom Mario figure with a screen and scanner and largely existed in their own ecosystem.
“We actually learned a lot from the launch of Mario,” Goldin said. “We didn’t want screens, we didn’t want power buttons, we wanted something very fluid… something that anyone could take and adapt to any other set and that could really travel through our entire system as it exists today, but also into the future.”
It’s clear that Lego teams worked to preserve the principles of the existing Lego system while elevating interactivity and responsiveness. Given the amount of technology included in the Smart Brick, I had to ask how Lego sees itself today: is it a toy company that also builds technology, or something else entirely?
“I don’t think we can continue to call ourselves a toy because we are an iconic experience company,” Goldin said, reflecting a broader shift in how Lego now views itself.
That perspective helps explain why Smart Play avoids many of the pitfalls often associated with connected toys. There’s no screen built into the brick, no app required, and no new, fully segmented ecosystem to purchase from. Instead, the intelligence resides within the brick itself, designed to enhance physical play rather than compete with it.
As I saw during my hands-on demo, at first it’s a classic Lego set (for example, Luke Skywalker’s
There is a very low learning curve for Smart Brick, Smart Minifigures and Smart Tags.
For Tom Donaldson, director of Lego’s Creative Play Lab, that philosophy was equally important.
“If you have a screen, they tend to suck you in,” Donaldson said. “And we were very deliberate in saying, no, we love Lego bricks, we love building with Lego bricks, and if we want to magnify that, then certain options… have probably been advantageous for us.”
That same thinking extends to where Smart Play could go next. While current Smart Bricks focus on responsiveness through light, sound and interaction, Goldin sees the platform as much more expansive over time.
“I think we’re just scratching the surface,” he said.
While neither Goldin nor Donaldson would comment on what sets might arrive next or how the roadmap might develop, it’s clear that Lego is focused on building a solid foundation for Smart Play, starting with one of the most iconic themes of its line, Star Wars, while showing off just how much technology is quietly working under the hood.
“There are some of the technologies here that we couldn’t have done at all without an ASIC. In particular, the sensing technology,” Donaldson said.
That custom silicon allows the Smart Brick to silently understand what’s going on around it: detect nearby minifigures and smart tags, recognize their relative positions in space, including height and distance, and trigger the appropriate response. Whether it’s a flash of light, a sound effect, or a character’s reaction, the experience seems immediate and intuitive on the surface.
However, under the hood is a level of integration that Lego says simply wouldn’t have been possible without customization. “The overall capabilities we couldn’t have brought together in any meaningful way – size, cost or even integrated performance – without turning to silicon,” Donaldson said.
That approach – hiding complexity within a familiar brick – is central to the way Lego thinks about Smart Play. Instead of asking builders to learn something new, the company is betting on technology that simply adds to the classic Lego experience.
For now, Lego is focused on laying a solid foundation. Smart bricks that fit into the existing system. Minifigures and smart tags add a touch of fun without replacing traditional play. And a platform designed to evolve while still building on the simplicity, creativity and reuse that have defined the Lego brick for decades.
Lego has started pre-orders for the first three Star Wars Smart Play sets, with the line starting at $69.99 / £59.99 / AU$99.99 for Vader’s Tie Fighter which includes a Smart Brick and charger, a smart minifigure and a smart tag; In total, there are 473 pieces.
You can also get Luke’s X-Wing for $99.99 / £79.99 / AU$149.99 and the Throne Room Duel & A-Wing for $159.99 / £139.99 / AU$249.99. You can read our first look at the Smart Play Star Wars sets here.
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