LEGO smart bricks introduce new building methods and don’t require a screen

Lego announced its new Smart Play System on Monday at CES 2026, adding interactive and responsive Lego to its famous analog series.

The Smart Play System includes 2×4 blocks, smart tag tiles, and smart minifigures. Smart bricks and minifigures can sense nearby smart tags. Smart Tags are 2×2 studless tiles with unique digital IDs that tell Bricks and Minifigures how to behave.

For example, if a smart tag is included in a helicopter building set, the smart bricks can light up and make propeller sounds, bringing the helicopter to life. A built-in accelerometer allows Brick to sense when the helicopter is zooming across the sky or upside down, so these lights and sounds are more in line with what it would be like to play with a helicopter in real life.

The Smart Brick is powered by a patented ASIC chip that is smaller than the size of a single Lego stud. The chip uses near-field magnetic positioning to recognize surrounding tags, small speakers, accelerometers, and LED arrays. Lego has also developed a Bluetooth-based protocol called BrickNet. This allows multiple smart blocks to recognize each other and work together. The company claims that BrickNet is protected by enhanced encryption and privacy controls (all of which are necessary, but imagine a world where hacking into toys isn’t an issue!).

No setup is required to pair the elements of the Smart Play system, making it easy for kids to get started. Parents will also be happy to know that the Smart system doesn’t include any screens at all. However, Lego’s website says there is a smart tag to animate Lego toilets, so there you have it.

Lego’s first two smart play sets, both Star Wars themed, will be released on March 1st, but pre-orders will begin on Friday. The “Luke’s Red Five X-wing” building set costs $69.99, and the larger “Throne Room Duel and A-wing” set costs $159.99. These sets use the Smart Play System to animate characters like Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, allowing them to interact with Smart Tags, and enable lightsaber duels, among other Star Wars-related features.