LEGO Smart Play: What to Expect from LEGO’s Main Selling Point in 2026

In 2026, LEGO is set to redefine interactive building with the launch of its Smart Play initiative and the revolutionary LEGO Smart Brick. First tested in select regions in 2024, the Smart Brick represents an evolution of LEGO Super Mario technology, combining lights, sounds, sensors, scannable tags, and wireless charging to create a responsive, hybrid play experience.

Smart Play is expected to become a major focus across LEGO’s entire portfolio, spanning from 4+ Friends sets to Technic, as well as licensed themes including Pokémon, Star Wars, and Animal Crossing. Beyond physical builds, Smart Play is designed to connect to apps and games, offering experiences that can potentially integrate with platforms such as Fortnite or Nintendo games.

The LEGO Smart Brick: The Smartest Brick Ever

We've already seen the LEGO Smart Brick, or at least an early, preliminary look, as the LEGO Group themselves accidentally showed official images of three LEGO City-branded test sets. These sets included 60691 Jungle Explorer Base Camp, 60692 The Lost Crocodile Temple and 60693 Survivor Island Seaplane, which were unfortunately only available for this specific beta test.

LEGO describes it as "the smartest LEGO brick we’ve ever built." The Smart Brick reacts to everything builders do, from how it is held, moved, or incorporated into a build. Its main features include:

• LED Lighting and Sounds: The Smart brick adds a new dynamic to play with lights, character sounds and environmental effects.

• Sensors and Scannable Tags: Much like the technology used in the LEGO Super Mario theme, the Smart Brick will be able to detect colours, barcodes and RFID-enabled LEGO Minifigures.

• Electronic Minifigure Integration: Certain Smart Play Minifigures will be fully interactive, triggering effects on the Smart Brick and possibly responding to app-based events. These figures will have completely modified parts compared to standard LEGO Minifigures, resulting in the torso and legs being permanently attached.

• Wireless Charging: Smart Play and the Smart Brick will feature wireless charging, ensuring the brick can be used for extended periods of play. Reports claim this will involve a charging pad which creates a charging field, allowing built models with the brick to be placed on the pad.

The 2024 LEGO City tests featured the Smart Brick in just one model: 60691 Jungle Explorer Base Camp. However, it was fully compatible with the other two, slightly smaller sets that still utilised the unique technology's functionality and playability.

Smart Play Across Themes and Experiences

LEGO’s vision for 2026 is to expand to integrate Smart Bricks and its associated technology across all themes and product lines, making Smart Play a central part of the LEGO experience. It will be company-wide wide creating a unique, interactive and hybrid play experience across nearly every set from classic LEGO themes to licensed IPs.

Some themes which may debut LEGO Smart Play in 2026 include:

• LEGO Star Wars: Starships, droids and vehicles may feature interactive lights, sound effects and sensors, for example, allowing builders to simulate epic lightsaber battles.

• LEGO Pokémon: Electronic LEGO Pokémon Minifigures and the Smart Brick could simulate attacks, roars and special effects to recreate intense Pokémon battles in brick-built form.

• LEGO City: Emergency vehicles, construction equipment and city scenes could react in real time, triggering sirens, lights and mechanical effects, for example.

• LEGO Friends: Buildings, shops and seasonal scenes in Heartlake City could respond with music, lighting or environmental effects to further promote storytelling and imagination amongst children and adults.

• LEGO Technic: Advanced Technic models may incorporate Smart Play via interactive tutorials, programmable functions or mechanical feedback, for example, to take engineering builds to the next level.

  
  

In addition to the Smart Brick and electronic LEGO Minifigures, Smart Play will also reportedly connect to apps and games, even beyond a controller app, which we've seen in the past. For example, actions performed in a LEGO set could trigger responses in a compatible game, such as opening doors, activating characters or generating points. This, like the rest of Smart Play, combines a physical building experience with electronics and software.

The Future of LEGO Smart Play

With Smart Play and the Smart Brick, LEGO is laying the foundation for a new era of building and with that a new era of interactive building, expanding on the likes of Nexo Knights, Hidden Side and more recently Super Mario. Throughout 2026 and the foreseeable future, we can expect to see plenty of sets, including Smart Play and even further interactive technology, starting off with the likes of LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Pokémon as early as January and February.

Smart Play is the future of the LEGO brand, and it starts in 2026, but what do you think? What's your opinion of Smart Play and the Smart Brick? What kind of LEGO themes and sets would you like to see this technology in? Will this prove to be successful or another big flop like previous iterations of interactive technology in LEGO themes? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.