Lego's AR-themed Hidden Side set coming to SA stores

Integrating augmented reality (AR) with physical construction to reveal a hidden world of interactive play, the set includes a series of eight ‘haunted’ buildings in the imaginary town of Newbury, each loaded with additional functionality accessed via a mobile app. The sets come alive once the AR app is activated, bringing the models to life and revealing a hidden world of mysteries and challenges to solve.

Each model can be built as it appears by day – a school, house, bus, or graveyard, for example – and has transformative functionality to become the haunted version of itself.

Gameplay prompts kids (of all ages) to hold their phone up to the physical Lego models and interact with various elements, or “points of possession,” which release virtual ghosts that one must then capture in the AR game to stop the haunting. Numerous scenarios create gameplay that requires players to keep one hand in each world to progress.

“The Lego Group has always been invested in tactile play, but massive leaps in AR technology have meant that the company could create an exciting experience that moves fluidly between physical and digital worlds,” says Robert Greenstein, co-founder of the Great Yellow Brick Company, license holders of South Africa’s Lego Certified Stores.

“These sets offer new ways to enhance Lego play with new action and master elements, in a new type of creative exploration where the physical world influences the AR layer, rather than the other way around,” he adds.

The Lego Hidden Side app will be a free download from the App Store and Google Play, and the sets will be available at the Lego Certified Stores in Sandton City and Menlyn Park, or online at www.greatyellowbrick.co.za on 1 August 2019.