Lego Pokémon Smart Play review: My inner child is losing it

Table of Contents

I recently got to spend a couple of hours of my workday playing with the new Lego Pokémon Smart Play Sets, and my inner 8-year-old is still screaming. So, I’ll put this the way a child might: I love the new Lego Pokémon Smart Play Sets so much I want to marry them.

Seriously, though: These sets totally rule.

And as of Aug. 1, you can finally order these sets for your own personal Lego collection, and they’re without a doubt some of the best new Legos we’ve seen in a while, and not just for Pokémon fans. Even if you’ve been skeptical of the Lego Smart Play system, I highly recommend giving these brickified monsters a chance.

I’ll admit that I was underwhelmed by the Lego Smart Play Star Wars sets released earlier this year. So I was a bit skeptical when Mashable got the chance to demo the new Lego Pokémon sets ahead of their launch. However, my Pokémon-loving colleagues and I had an absolute blast playing and geeking out over these sets.

I’m excited to break down how they work, which sets are coming, and whether they’re worth adding to your Lego collection.

You can also hear some of the adorable noises they make for yourself:

What are the Lego Pokémon Smart Play sets?

Charizard in all its glory.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

Mashable has been following the Lego Smart Play rollout closely. We were there for the Smart Brick’s big debut at CES 2026 and on hand for the London launch event for the Pokémon Smart Play Sets this summer.

Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

The Smart Brick enables interacitivity with the Mewtwo’s Lab Break set.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

The Smart Play system is built around a new Smart Brick, a modified 2×4 Lego piece. Lego crammed a lot of hardware into this brick, which features an accelerometer, microphones and speakers, LED lights, magnetic field sensors, a gyroscope, and a color sensor. The Smart Brick responds to Smart Tags included with the Smart Play sets, as well as various Smart Minifigures. An included wireless charger provides extra juice when the battery runs out.

The Lego Smart Brick looks like a regular 2×4 Lego brick.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

Recharge your Smart Bricks with the included charging pad.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

The end result is a Lego set that responds to your play. Now, your Lego Mini Figures can talk to each other. They also light up or make noises based on your movements.

Here’s the Lego Jolteon with a Smart Brick.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

The Lego Pokémon Smart Play Sets take this even further. Once you add a Smart Brick to Pikachu, Jolteon, or Geodude, your favorite Pokémon will start to make adorable little noises and talk to each other. You can feed them, train them, and even enter them into a battle mode. Once you do, you can charge up special powers, level up your Pokémon, and pit them against each other.

The Smart Brick sits right in Charizard’s tummy.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

The Lego Pokémon Smart Play Sets make incredibly cute noises

The real secret sauce behind the new smart Lego Pokémon sets? Pikachu, Squirtle, Bidoof, Geodude, Charmander, and Eevee make adorable little noises. They squeak and chatter back and forth when you place them near each other. When you push Squirtle’s buggy around, it makes little choo-choo engine noises.

Lego Smart Play Training House with Pikachu Set.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

And the pièce de résistance? The Pikachu Treehouse Set contains a hidden Murphy Bed. Place Pikachu or one of its smart friends on the bed, and they fall asleep and snore.

Lego Smart Play Pikachu takes a nap in the Training House.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

It’s enough to make you squeal at the cuteness overload, which is exactly what we did as we played with these little monsters at the Mashable office.

The aforementioned battle mode is also really cool. Some of the sets come with training stations, where you can level up Pokémon for a better chance at winning a match-up. You can power up your Pokémon’s special power (shake too hard, and the move fizzles out), dodge attacks, and generally just have fun.

These are just some of the primary interactive elements, and a lot of the fun here will be trying out new things. You can add the Smart Tags and Smart Bricks to different creatures to explore new ways to play.

Squirtle comes with a buggy and barbecue set, obviously.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

Again, I’ve never been a huge Pokémon guy (I’m an OG Harry Potter nerd), and even I had a blast playing with these cute little dudes.

Remember: You need at least one “All-In-One” set

There is one thing I don’t love about the Lego Smart Play sets: they don’t all come with a smart brick. That’s not as big of a deal here as it was with the pricey Star Wars sets, but check the product details carefully. You’ll need to buy at least one set with a smart brick and charger (look for “Smart Play All-In-One” on the upper-right corner of the box). From there, you can build your own collection. I appreciate that the add-on sets start at $19.99, and you can get all-in-one sets starting at $69.99. Lego’s prices aren’t always so friendly.

The Lego Pokémon Smart Play: Charizard vs. Jolteon Ultimate Battle set.
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

The adorable Training House with Pikachu and the Charizard vs. Jolteon Ultimate Battle sets are both all-in-one kits that include Smart Bricks.

Geodude rocks!
Credit: Joseph Maldonado / Mashable

You can also buy interactive “Smart Play Compatible” sets, which include:

• Mewtwo’s Lab Break

• Eevee and Lapras’s Treasure Hunt

• Berry Bash with Bulbasaur and Bidoof

• Trainer’s Buggy Adventure with Squirtle

• Charmander and Geodude’s Cavern Clash

• Cubone and Gengar’s Spooky Showdown

At least three of the sets are available on Amazon, and the rest are available at the Lego online store. Presumably, more smart Pokémon sets will be coming in the future.

Are the Lego Pokémon Smart Play Sets worth it?

Absolutely! We had a blast playing with these sets, and we appreciate that there are lots of sets available for under $75, and some for under $25. If you love Lego and Pokémon, we think this one will be fun for all ages.

You can purchase these sets at the Lego online store and through Amazon.