Lego Star Wars Smart Play Throne Room Duel and A-Wing Review

It has been three years, five months, six days since my kids announced they were too old for Lego (not that I’m counting). As kids grow into teens, they may feel the need to distance themselves. It’s a natural part of growing up, so I’m told. Parents with younger kids: Brace yourself for a rapid-fire series of painful parental purges.

No more bike rides, no more playing in the park, and no more hugs are tough, so I don’t know why Lego hit me so hard. Perhaps because we spent so much time building sets together. Perhaps because dragging the old suitcase of Lego out from under the bed was my happy place as a kid, and as an adult with money, I was free to spend far too much of it on Lego. The kids loved it, I loved it. Win-win.

Many adults pack up Lego for good at this point, or maybe pack some away in the loft for potential grandkids. But I have to test the latest Star Wars set with Smart Bricks in it for my job. Oh, how I’ve missed it. Those numbered packages of colorful bricks. The thrill of new pieces, the concise instruction booklets.

Building sets is somehow simultaneously exciting and soothing. I fall into a fugue Lego zen flow state. There is only the next piece, the satisfying click together, the gradual emergence of the picture on the box. But looking beyond the old comforting and familiar Lego experience, the big question is: Do the new Smart Bricks add much?

Smart Bricks: A New Hope

The Lego Star Wars Throne Room Duel and A-Wing is one of Lego’s new Smart Play sets featuring Smart Bricks that add light and sound. This 962-piece set includes two Smart Bricks, three Smart Minifigures, five Smart Tags, and a Smart Charger. It enables you to recreate the final lightsaber battle in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi as Emperor Palpatine sits on his throne, watching Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker fight. It’s an easy build that also includes an A-Wing and a gun turret in a nod to the space battle raging around the Death Star.

Smart Bricks are the same size as standard 2 x 4 Lego bricks, but can connect to compatible Smart Minifigures and Smart Tags, interacting with them in real time. Each Smart Brick contains a custom-made chip, an LED light array, accelerometers, light sensors, a sound sensor, and even a miniature speaker. Lego is initially releasing them in a series of sets featuring its biggest license, but the potential for these Smart Bricks is huge and stretches well beyond Star Wars.