Where to buy Lego Smart Play, the toy everyone's talking about

Revealed at this year's CES, Smart Play offers reactive sets that respond to how you use them. (You'll get sound effects if lightsabers clash or helicopter rotors spin, for example.) This is thanks to what the press release says is "more than 20 patented world-firsts within its technology," not to mention gizmos like accelerometers. All that is powered by a chip smaller than the average Lego stud, and can be charged wirelessly.

The initiative is made up of three different elements: Smart Bricks, Smart Tags, and Smart Minifigures. These all have slightly different roles, but it's worth noting that the Smart Minifigures are the same size as normal minifigs - they aren't oversized like the interactive Super Mario models. Similarly, the Tags look like your normal two-by-four plates. The Bricks are a little bigger though, admittedly. That's to accommodate the lights and technical wizardry inside.

The first three Lego Smart Play sets will be released on March 1, 2026. More are sure to follow, and I suspect we'll get others throughout the year.

While I've not been hands-on with the kits yet, I'm impressed by what I've seen so far. The idea of a toy responding to how you play with it isn't new, but we've never seen anything quite so seamless from Lego itself. Because most of the tech fits into (almost) normal-sized Lego bricks and standard minifigures, it isn't obtrusive like the closest comparison - the very blocky, oversized interactive Mario.

My main hesitation is price. While the X-Wing and TIE Fighter models cost about as much as I expected (if not a little more), the Throne Room Duel set caused me to give out an audible gasp. I hadn't expected it to cost almost double what Darth Vader's ship did.

In all fairness, it's the most feature-rich of the three; it has two Smart Bricks, three Smart Minifigures, five Smart Tags, and a charger to its name. However, seeing as the others have two Smart Minifigures, a charger, and five Tags as well, I wonder whether the jump in cost is down to the bonus Smart Brick and minifig... which may tell us something about those items' individual cost.

As my colleague reminded me, though, it's certainly in line with the previous Lego robotics gear (Mindstorm, etc). These always had a higher price due to the complexity of the technology, and we know for a fact that Smart Play is jam-packed with goodies. I suppose we'll just have to see how they compare for ourselves come March.