Lego Goes Digital

Lego is aiming to give screen time a run for its money (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).

What’s going on: In March, the Danish toy manufacturer launched its Smart Play system, which features “rechargeable smart bricks and microprocessors that can read digital tags inscribed inside other Smart Play pieces.”

• The system uses near-field communication, the technology that retailers use to allow consumers to tap credit cards for payment.
• The bricks can detect motion, light up, make sounds and even sense and communicate with each other.

Lightbulb moment: In 2018, a group of Lego designers took a road trip through the American Midwest and watched kids play with Lego sets.

• They concluded that children wanted “social experience,” “player agency” and “delightful surprises.”

The last word: “Children should feel like ‘the director of the new “Star Wars” movie that you’re creating,’ says [Lego Vice President Sam] Coates. The bricks and tags are meant to ‘get the action going, get the inner movie going, and prime and prompt the kid to keep going,’”