{"id":476859,"date":"2026-09-26T22:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T22:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476859\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T22:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T22:52:14","slug":"inside-the-lego-pokemon-smart-play-experience-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/476859\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside The LEGO Pok\u00e9mon SMART Play Experience In Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEGOs have been an integral part of growing up for many children, enough that adults become collectors of the brand. New sets sell out as collectors buy them to collect, build, and display (though some collectors do play). LEGO recognized that and wanted to focus on the younger generation who would build and create with LEGOs and use their imagination. That’s why they created LEGO SMART Play technology \u2013 to allow their toys to be activated and played back with.<\/p>\n

Since launching the <\/a>LEGO SMART Play System in January<\/a>, The LEGO Group has expanded it across its popular IPs, including <\/a>Star Wars<\/a> and <\/a>Pok\u00e9mon<\/a>. What exactly is the SMART Play System? It’s exactly what you expect it to be \u2013 a SMART Brick that responds to how it’s played, bringing interactive sounds and lights to builds \u2013 with the help of SMART Tags and Minifigures. Kids (and adults) will find these very appealing, celebrating these franchises in a screenless way.<\/p>\n

\"LEGOPokemonSMARTPlayExperience_5\"<\/p>\n

LEGO Pok\u00e9mon SMART Play Experience at the Americana on Brand in Glendale, CA, September 26-27<\/p>\n

The LEGO Group partnered with Pok\u00e9mon this year to create a line of regular builds for collectors, as well as a set for kids ages 6-12 using SMART Play tech. Now, they want kids (and adults) to experience it themselves.<\/p>\n

Open today and tomorrow in Los Angeles (before heading to Phoenix and Dallas the next two weekends), the LEGO Pok\u00e9mon SMART Play Experience lets visitors see what these toys can do.<\/p>\n

To manage the massive lines LEGO and Pok\u00e9mon are known to create, the event plans to use a virtual queue. Fans can scan the QR code and enter their information to join the queue. They will receive a place in line, then be alerted when they can enter the experience.<\/p>\n

Inside the experience, it’s pretty simple \u2013 in groups of 8 people (unless you want to watch and supervise the kids and not play), you grab the Trainer guide and pick your starter Pok\u00e9mon. Just like in the original game, the choices are Charmander, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Pikachu \u2013 and Eevee for good measure.<\/p>\n

Visitors receive stickers of the characters to add to the Trainer Guide. They then take you into the lab room, where you are introduced to the Pok\u00e9mon of your choosing that you will use throughout the experience.<\/p>\n

\"LEGOPokemonSMARTPlayExperience_2\"<\/p>\n

LEGO Pok\u00e9mon SMART Play Experience at the Americana on Brand in Glendale, CA, September 26-27<\/p>\n

Introducing your Pok\u00e9mon in the Lab<\/p>\n

To wake up the selected Pok\u00e9mon \u2013 and the SMART Brick \u2013 all one does is shake it. The brick should light up and make some Pok\u00e9mon sounds. The instructor will go over some ground rules for the LEGO Pok\u00e9mon: don’t be too rough with them, and make sure the SMART chips line up. When participants receive a food chip (Sandwich SMART Tag) to feed their Pok\u00e9mon, they line up to activate it. The Pok\u00e9mon respond to the food with eating noises and lights flashing on the brick. The Pok\u00e9mon can also interact with other Pok\u00e9mon by facing each other to converse. After some time nurturing and feeding the Pok\u00e9mon, it’s time to move on to the training room.<\/p>\n

Training your Pok\u00e9mon<\/p>\n

The room is filled with training chips (Training SMART Tag) attached to cartoon-like training products like a boulder and punching dummies. Inside the training room, there are Pok\u00e9mon displays showcasing the different types of LEGO Pok\u00e9mon with SMART Play technology. The team will hand you stickers of all the Pok\u00e9mon in the display case \u2013 20 Pok\u00e9mon currently in this iteration \u2013 that you can put in your Trainer Guide. At each chip location, visitors can train their Pok\u00e9mon with a quick wave, which triggers lights and sounds.<\/p>\n

After some time there, it’s time to battle.<\/p>\n

\"LEGOpOKEmonSMARTPlayExperience6\"<\/p>\n

LEGO Pok\u00e9mon SMART Play Experience at the Americana on Brand in Glendale, CA, September 26-27<\/p>\n

Battle your Pok\u00e9mon<\/p>\n

Rather than battle the Pok\u00e9mon featured at the event, the organizers want you to battle each other with the characters you all picked. There’s no crashing of toys; it’s really air play, with your chip and their chip connecting. There is a clear winner and loser \u2013 and after each battle, the room has a healing station (Healing Spray SMART Tag) to recharge your Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n

Resting your Pok\u00e9mon<\/p>\n

After the Battling of Pok\u00e9mon, the final room allows your Pok\u00e9mon to sleep and recharge for the next group. But letting it sit idle on its side, it recognizes it’s sleeping and begins to make sleeping noises like snoring or breathing loudly.<\/p>\n

LEGO SMART Play Lounge<\/p>\n

After which, you leave the room to enter the free-flow LEGO SMART Play Lounge, which has a full LEGO Pok\u00e9mon\u2122 SMART Play assortment, featuring interactive, responsive play with the SMART Brick. There are also interactive photo opportunities, including LEGO Eevee and LEGO Pikachu models, and a chance to relive the Pok\u00e9mon experience of choosing one of the original iconic starter Pok\u00e9mon.<\/p>\n

\"LEGOpOKEmonSMARTPlayExperience7\"<\/p>\n

LEGO Pok\u00e9mon SMART Play Experience at the Americana on Brand in Glendale, CA, September 26-27<\/p>\n

The Nearby LEGO Store<\/p>\n

You’ll receive a SMART Play Experience flyer for those who participated in the Pok\u00e9mon journey. At the LEGO Store at the Glendale Galleria, you may be able to get a free LEGO Pok\u00e9 Ball SMART Tag Case (limited quantities) by giving the flyer to employees. It is only valid this weekend, September 26 – 27, 11:30 am – 5:30 pm.<\/p>\n

Good for Kids<\/p>\n

The experience is marketed to 6-12-year-olds and is a great way to expend their energy. Not just playing with the toys at hand, but also the lounge area for them to push buttons to make Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur appear. It’s another great new way to play with toys without screens.<\/p>\n

\"LEGOPokemonSMARTPlayExperience_4\"<\/p>\n

LEGO Pok\u00e9mon SMART Play Experience at the Americana on Brand in Glendale, CA, September 26-27<\/p>\n

Since its partnership earlier this year, The LEGO Group saw a revenue increase of 21% to a record US$6.4 billion, according to the company’s financial results for the first half of 2026<\/a>. Consumer sales grew 22%, “driven by strong demand across a broad product range and excitement for the LEGO brand.”<\/p>\n

When LEGO released its regular LEGO Pok\u00e9mon line, which included a $650 Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise set, <\/a>it sold out within 24 hours<\/a>. The LEGO Group plans to release new sets, but hasn’t revealed what yet. For now, they’re focused on expanding their LEGO Pok\u00e9mon SMART Play sets.<\/p>\n

The SMART Play toys are fun for kids, especially with the 7-year-old I brought to the experience. He had a blast running around to train his Pok\u00e9mon of choice \u2013 Pikachu. It allowed him to battle and care for his Pok\u00e9mon \u2013 like a Tamagotchi.<\/p>\n

\"lego<\/p>\n

LEGO Pok\u00e9mon SMART Play\u2122: Training House with Pikachu<\/p>\n

The downside to the SMART Play toys is the limited number of chargers for the bricks in each set. To charge the SMART Play brick, one must order the Training House with Pikachu Set<\/a> or the Charizard vs. Jolteon Ultimate Battle Set<\/a>. They do not sell it separately or with any other sets. So, if someone only wants the Charmander and Geodude’s Cavern Clash Set<\/a>, then there may be no opportunity to charge the brick to activate the SMART Play. The bricks are compatible with the LEGO Star Wars SMART Play<\/a> chargers. The sets can be purchased online and at LEGO stores. The event does not have any on hand.<\/p>\n

The LEGO Pok\u00e9mon SMART Play Experience is this weekend<\/a> \u2013 September 26 and 27, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the Americana at Brand in Glendale. The line may close earlier based on capacity. It then heads to Phoenix , Arizona at Desert Ridge Marketplace on October 3 – 4 and Dallas, Texas at The Shops at Legacy East, October 10-11.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published on Forbes.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEGOs have been an integral part of growing up for many children, enough that adults become collectors of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,2692,47,50,49,187290,8555],"class_list":["post-476859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-lego","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-starter-pokemon","tag-the-lego-group"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}