Are LEGO SMART Play sets worth it? An honest review

Our son has been obsessed with Lego for the last several years. It's all he wants to do when he gets home and it's all he asks for for birthdays and Christmas.

So when he heard about the new Lego Smart Play system, naturally he was very curious and wanted all the sets.

Normally we wouldn't just go out and buy him a bunch of new Lego with no occasion, but we were all very excited to test out this new tech.

After building and playing with the main Lego Smart Play sets, here's what you should expect, what we think of them, and whether or not they are worth it.

LEGO SMART Play review

Lego launched their new Smart Play sets as an interactive experience for kids, but honestly didn't provide a ton of information about what that really meant.

We saw their trailer and the information they put out, but still didn't totally understand it.

After interacting with them for several weeks, here's everything you need to know about Lego Smart Play and our honest review on whether they are worth buying.

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What is LEGO Smart Play?

Lego Smart Play is a new series of Lego sets that features new elements that allow for sound reaction through movement.

Essentially, there is a Smart Brick that interacts with Smart Tiles and Smart Minifigures in order to make sounds related to the tile or figure as you play with them. You can set up tiles and minifigures in various places and use them in different ways.

But - what does all that even mean? Let's get into it!

Make sure your child has a great Lego table to build their sets on!

What is the LEGO Smart Brick?

The Lego Smart Brick is the brain of the entire Smart Play system. Without the Smart Brick, nothing happens.

The Lego Smart Brick is a chunkier brick that lights up and plays sounds when it comes into close contact with a Smart Tile or Smart Minifigure. This can mean putting the brick next to one of those pieces or attaching it on top of one.

The Smart Brick needs an app to register and make minor adjustments and requires a charging pad to charge.

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What is a LEGO Smart Tag?

Smart Tags are flat lego pieces with specific symbols on them indicating the item or character they represent. When placed near a Smart Brick, the Smart Tag is what contains the chip that tells the Smart Brick to light up a certain color or make a certain sound.

It's important to know that a Smart Tag will do NOTHING unless it is placed next to a Smart Brick.

What is good about Lego Smart Play sets?

Our son has always been a Lego builder, not a Lego player. He constantly wants to build new sets, but as soon as he's finished, he moves on to another set.

He has never spent much time playing with sets, even ones that are scenes or designed for play and interaction. He'll usually play with the big scenes for a day before moving on and never plays with individual builds and just puts them on his display shelf.

But that has changed with these Lego Smart Play sets. He has been playing with these sets incessantly and creating games with his imagination.

The sounds from the Smart Brick do make it more interactive and easier to play. Instead of making lightsaber and engine noises with your mouth, the Smart Brick does that for you.

The Smart Brick interacts with the different tiles in unique ways, making it interesting for playing and bringing out the fun for someone who typically just likes to build.

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What is not good about Lego Smart Play sets?

While the Smart Play sets are more interactive and fun, I have seen quite a few negatives in my son's time playing with them.

First off, the buying process is not the best. The sets are quite a bit more expensive than a regular set, but that's not even what I find problematic.

If you don't pay attention, you could end up with a Lego Smart Play set that doesn't include a Smart Brick. Only a couple of the sets (the $$$ ones) include it while the rest will only work if you have the bigger sets that came with the brick.

And you have to buy one of those sets because you can't purchase a Lego Smart Brick on its own. I assume that at some point, Lego will release these for individual sale, but right now you have to buy one of the all-in-one sets to get a Smart Brick.

This makes the smaller "Smart" sets totally useless, unless you already have a Smart Brick from a larger set.

My next issue with the Lego Smart Play is that the sounds coming from the Smart Brick are very basic and repetitive. I assumed the sounds would cycle through a couple of options, sort of like a toy where you squeeze its hand, but it's just one sound throughout.

More surprisingly though was the Smart Minifigures. Mind you, Lego released the first sets using Star Wars characters and theming, which all have official sounds and movie quotes.

However, when a Smart figure "talks" it just sounds like garbled gibberish. I was expecting movie quotes or at least real voices.

I think that, for the price, they should step up the sound effects!

Who should buy LEGO Smart Play sets?

Lego Smart Play sets are definitely for kids or people who like to interact and play with their sets. These provide a good amount of engagement and play after building.

These sets are not particularly difficult or entailed with the actual assembly, they are designed for the post-build play.

If you are a Lego collector or an adult that just likes to build sets and create displays in your home, these sets are absolutely not for you. They are fairly small sets and not impressive for display, and definitely not a good value as far as cost per piece goes.

I highly recommend these sets for kids who love to build and play with their toys!

Does the Lego Smart Brick work with regular sets?

No, the Lego Smart Brick won't work with regular sets. It only interacts with Smart Tiles and Smart Minifigures and the RFID chip inside them.

I did think based on the trailer that you would be able to attach a Smart Brick on top of say a plane and could set it to make plane noises somehow, but that is not the case.

If I had to guess, Lego will eventually roll out a line of generic Smart Tiles, such as car engine noises, animals, different Disney characters and more, that you could add to older sets, but for now that is not the case.

Are Lego Smart Play sets worth the money?

The big question- are Lego Smart Play sets worth the money? Overall, I would say probably not in terms of a value perspective. The sets are much smaller than you could usually get for their Lego price point and the Smart Bricks are not as impressive as I expected.

However, if your child is big on playing with their Lego sets (or you have been trying to encourage that in addition to building), then these are really fun sets. It is really fun to battle the lightsabers and make the cannon fire on the A-wing.

Our son really really loves them.

So overall, I'd say that they are not financially worth it, but they may still be a good buy for your kids if you have the money to burn.

In conclusion

Lego Smart Play is the next wave of Lego sets that will only continue to evolve. I expect we'll see a lot bigger line of Lego Smart Play in the future once the initial Star Wars line has received it's welcome.

If you have a child that loves to play with Lego sets, this could be a great option for them for their upcoming birthday or special occasion!