The LEGO Group revealed SMART Play for the first time at CES 2026, giving those in attendance a first look at the new SMART Brick in action.
For those who couldn't make it to CES in person, there's plenty of video and photos to show off what the new SMART Brick can do. Using Bluetooth-based BrickNet protocol, the new elements share data between bricks to offer a more interactive experience, triggering noises, lights, and music when pieces that are put in specific positions related to one another.
If that feels like a tricky feature to imagine, then don't worry. Read on for on-the-ground footage and videos from those at CES to see the SMART Play system in action.
Putting a new spin on LEGO cars
One of the first examples that the LEGO Group's Senior Vice President & Head of Creative Play Lab Tom Donaldson showed off at CES is how the SMART Brick can be used in brick-built cars. In the video embedded above from Beyond the Brick, Tom highlighted how the SMART Brick can trigger the sounds of a car turning, braking, and even crashing.
When bricks are placed at different angles to other SMART elements, different coloured lights appear on the elements as well. There's even a feature for a minifigure to cry out when 'hit' with the brick-built car.
"You can see that in three-dimensional space, we can determine in this case colour, but it can be anything you like," explained Tom. "What this means is, if you build models, we know which car is winning the race, because it's ahead of the other."
LEGO Star Wars SMART sets in hand at CES
Some of the very first sets to be revealed that include the SMART Brick are from LEGO Star Wars: 75421 Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter, 75423 Luke’s Red Five X-wing, and 75427 Throne Room Duel & A-wing. Beyond the Brick also shared videos to TikTok of how the new SMART features work in practice.
First up is 75427 Throne Room Duel & A-Wing, where the minifigures of Luke, Darth Vader, and Emperor Palpatine can fight, triggering lightsaber sounds, lights when the minifigures make impact, and famous lines from the characters. When a character is knocked down, they even yell in pain, bringing the fight to life.
More features in that same set include dynamic flying sounds from the A-wing that respond to how the set is moved. Turning it to the sound or dipping it in a downward dive triggers different noises, in line with how it's 'flying' through space. There's also a brief moment at the beginning of the video that shows needing to activate the SMART Brick before use, presumably to save battery.
For 75423 Luke’s Red Five X-wing, the video below shows how a green hammer and a buildable refuelling station trigger sounds of repairing and filling up the ship with fuel, rewarding you with happy Artoo sounds when the process is complete.
Aside from the official sets revealed, the LEGO Group also took the opportunity to show the possibilities of the SMART Brick, with a demonstration of how it can be used to play iconic music like Cantina Band, even changing the tempo of the song depending on how fast you move certain elements, or triggering singing from different characters depending on what minifigure is on stage.
Up close with LEGO SMART elements
Thanks to Beyond the Brick, we've also got an up-close look at how the sets appear in person. The SMART elements stand out from the rest, marked with printed images to show where to align bricks to trigger the interactive features.
Minifigures that interact with the SMART Play system also have extra printing on their torsos, including under their arms and on their backs.
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