LEGO Store Visit With Smart Brick Demonstration

Hey Brick News readers,

Thought I'd do a little article and upload a video, to show how the new 'Smart Brick' works. Currently it is only available in some Star Wars themed sets, and not as a separate purchase, and you may be wondering if it's worth getting any of these new sets.

These are very much play sets, with the designs specifically set up to integrate the 'smart bricks', and since my visit to the LEGO store, I've realised that some of these sets are 'Smart Play Compatible'... but they DO NOT come with a 'smart brick'!

Only 3 sets are "all-in-one", while 5 others are simply "compatible", and only 1 of the sets with the 'smart brick' have 2 included. Each of those 'smart brick' sets also come with a 'smart charger'.

The 'Smart Play Compatible' sets have 'smart minifigures' and 'smart tags' (which are 2x2 tiles with an electronic tag built into it and an image to represent the effect if has on the 'smart brick'). I asked the staff member doing the demonstrations if the 'smart brick' has increased the price of the sets, and he said that price per piece wasn't really different to other recent releases (though I don't know if the one he compared it to was simply a 'compatible' set or an 'all-in-one' version). I didn't dive into researching this myself so if anyone here has then do comment below!

When it came to the demo, the 'smart brick' lit up in a variety of colours and had many sounds from the variety of tags or minifigures available throughout the 'Smart Play' sets. The direction you had your spacecraft even affected the sound, with it causing a crashing sound when the vehicle was upside down. Movement caused sound, as did proximity to the 'smart brick', as well as pushing inbuilt buttons.

Adding to the interaction was the fact that you have to move the 'smart brick' around to different parts of your set to achieve the different sounds and light... whether you see this as a positive or not is up to you, personally I think it interrupts a smooth play effect and would definitely be frustrating if your Tie Fighter (all-in-one) was fighting your Falcon (compatible), as only one ship would have its flying and shooting sounds at a time. The Millennium Falcon has multiple spaces inside the ship for the 'smart brick' to be placed, yet no 'smart bricks' are included - this is really inconvenient and annoying, and feels like a cash-grab from LEGO seeing you are forced to buy another set for that 'compatible' set to function as it should. This is possibly the reason they are willing to price per piece the same as regular sets as you really have to buy more than one set to get the most from 'Smart Play' sets.

The sound coming from the 'smart bricks' was amplified using a microphone and speaker in the outdoor space of the demonstration I saw, and it needed the boosted sound as even that wasn't always clear to me... though the staff member said that inside a quieter room it would produce a loud enough sound (which I think is also adjustable via an app).

Designed for 'smart brick' functionality, and playability of these sets, the looks aren't quite pleasing to me.

The 'smart minifigures' all are identified with a logo printed on their backs too, so I don't see anyone collecting these for aesthetic value of either minifigures or the sets as a whole. I think once more 'Smart Play all-in-one' sets are released, and therefore the 'smart bricks' become more available, then these could become a popular item for LEGO-loving kids.

See the video below for a demonstration of how the 'smart brick' features work:

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/db7608_844d5a1e75ba4be8ad5b5447b8c054a2/1080p/mp4/file.mp4