BREAKING NEWS: Lego Combines Digital and Physical Play with Lego Fusion

Lego Systems Inc. has unveiled Lego Fusion, a play experience that combines traditional Lego brick play with app-based mobile games for kids ages 7 and up. The Fusion collection will include four sets: Lego Fusion Town Master, Lego Fusion Battle Towers, Lego Fusion Create & Race, and Lego Fusion Resort Designer, featuring Lego Friends characters and themes.


Each Lego Fusion kit consists of a distinct set of Lego bricks, a corresponding free downloadable app, and a unique Fusion capture plate, which is a small brick-building plate featuring a printed design that enables a smartphone or tablet’s camera to identify the size, colors, and layout of the Lego bricks built onto the plate. The apps will prompt kids to build a 2-D façade of a building onto the capture plate any way they like. Then, kids can import the façade into the app and transform the creation into a full 3-D building on screen. Once a Lego brick creation has been imported into the game, a series of challenges and interactions will require kids to turn away from the screen and build another façade with their Lego bricks to progress in the game. Each game encourages this back-and-forth between physical and virtual worlds.

All four Lego Fusion sets will be sold exclusively at Lego Stores and Toys “R” Us in the U.S. Town Master, Battle Towers, and Create & Race are set for release in August, while Resort Designer will launch in September. Also in September, Lego Fusion will allow players to access their digital Lego creations anywhere using their Lego ID. Players can sign in using any compatible device and access their gallery from within the Lego Fusion app. The apps incorporate Qualcomm Vuforia technology, which enables the app to recognize the Lego bricks and transition them from the physical to the digital space. Developed by TT Games, makers of the Lego video game franchise, all four apps are free to download from the App, Google Play, and Samsung App stores for both iOS and Android devices.