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LEGO unveils SMART Play, the biggest system shift since the minifigure’s 1978 debut. Screen-free interactivity: movement triggers real-time sounds, lights, and musical cues. SMART Brick packs sensors, colour recognition, accelerometer, speaker, and onboard synth. SMART Tags act as physical modes, instantly changing brick behaviour. SMART Minifigures add character context, unlocking unique moods and reactions.
LEGO has officially unveiled its new SMART Play system, the most significant change to the LEGO system since the introduction of the minifigure in 1978.
Officially launching on March 1, 2026 (pre-orders available from January 9, 2026), the first SMART Play sets arrive as part of the LEGO Star Wars lineup. There’s an X-Wing, Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, and a Throne Room Duel set, each bundling a SMART Brick with SMART Minifigures and Tags. The engine roars, the lightsaber hums, and alarms and musical cues are triggered entirely through physical play. Move the ship, flip it upside down, crash it, or add a character, and the build reacts in real time. The SMART Play system is designed to create a future where kids are drawn away from their tablets and computers, but how exactly does it work?
The centre of the system is the SMART Brick. It looks like a standard 2×4 LEGO brick, but inside it packs sensors, lights, colour recognition, a built-in accelerometer and a tiny speaker powered by an onboard synthesiser. That hardware enables the brick to understand how it’s being moved, twisted, tapped, or flown around, and respond in real-time.
Next to the SMART Brick is the SMART Tag, which is a small tile that instructs the SMART Brick on its intended purpose.
Place a tag inside a build, and the brick knows whether it’s supposed to behave like a spaceship, a vehicle, a creature or something else entirely. Swap the SMART Tag out for another, and the same brick can instantly change its sounds, lights, and reactions without needing a screen or app.
Finally, SMART Minifigures complete the system. When placed near a SMART Brick, they unlock character-specific reactions. Different Minifigures trigger different sounds, moods and responses, all played through the SMART Brick itself. The figures don’t make noise on their own, but they provide the brick context, allowing it to respond differently depending on who’s involved in the scene.
Crucially, SMART Play isn’t something you program or update. The SMART Brick ships with its behaviour already built in. SMART Tags act like physical mode switches, telling the brick what it’s meant to be, while SMART MINIFIGURES add character-specific reactions. Sensors inside the brick handle the rest, triggering sounds and lights based on how it’s moved or played with. Nothing is downloaded, customised, or controlled through a screen.
LEGO Star Wars Smart Play Sets 
LEGO Star Wars SMART Play: Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter building set | Image: LEGO Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter (#75421)
Pieces: 473
Age Guide: 8+
Smart Play Components:
1x SMART Brick
1x Smart MINIFIGURE (Darth Vader)
1x SMART Tag (TIE Fighter)
Price: $99.99
LEGO Star Wars SMART Play: Luke’s Red Five X-wing building set | Image: LEGO Luke’s Red Five X-Wing (#75423)
Pieces: 584
Age Guide: 6+
Smart Play Components:
1x SMART Brick
2x SMART MINIFIGURE (Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia)
5x SMART Tag (X-Wing, Imperial turret, transporter, command centre, R2-D2)
Price: $149.99
LEGO Star Wars SMART Play: Throne Room Duel & A-wing building set | Image: LEGO Throne Room Duel & A-Wing (#75427)
Pieces: 962
Age Guide: 9+
Smart Play Components:
2x SMART Brick
3x SMART MINIFIGURE (Luke Skywalker, Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader)
5x SMART Tags (A-Wing, throne, Death Star turret, lightsaber duel tags)
Price: $249.99
Availability: Pre-orders open 9 January 2026, on sale from 1 March 2026
What makes SMART Play interesting is that LEGO is positioning it as a system rather than a one-off feature.
SMART elements are compatible with existing LEGO bricks, and LEGO is already discussing updates, new tags, and future expansions. In theory, the same SMART Brick could move between sets or custom builds, changing behaviour based on the tags and figures around it.
There are still some unanswered questions. LEGO hasn’t fully explained how SMART Play scales beyond these early, tightly designed sets, or how flexible it becomes once builders move completely off-script. Cost, accessibility, and the reality of lost pieces will all matter, not just for kids but for parents and adult builders who end up managing, expanding, or rebuilding these sets over time.
Either way, it’ll be nice to finally play with our LEGO sets without having to shout “pew, pew” every time we fire the lasers on our starship.
LEGO SMART Minifigures | Image: LEGO 
LEGO SMART Tag | Image: LEGO