Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagon Lights Review
I turned my Nanoleaf Shapes hexagon lights into a giant game of Simon, and it pulled the whole family in. Here's how the touch game holds up.
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I did not buy these to play a game. I bought a wall of lights and found a game hiding inside them. Once you start it, the Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagon Lights flash a pattern across the panels, and you have to tap them back in the exact order. Miss one and you’re out. The longer you survive, the higher your score climbs. It’s Simon, but it’s the size of my wall.
Quick Verdict
I turned my wall of hexagon panels into a giant game of Simon and lost a solid half hour before I remembered I was supposed to be reviewing them. The touch game is the sleeper feature, I didn’t expect to care about it, but it’s what hooked my whole house.
Buy if you:
- Want wall lights that double as a touch game the kids will fight over
- Already live in the smart home world and want RGBW panels you can script
- Care about screen mirror and music-reactive scenes for movie or game nights
- Like the idea of expanding a design panel by panel over time
Skip if you:
- Expect the game to be a full app with levels and modes, because it’s one simple Simon-style pattern
- Don’t want to deal with mounting adhesive and cable routing on a wall
- Just want plain ambient lighting and don’t care about the smart features
| Panels included | 7 hexagon panels (Smarter Kit) |
|---|---|
| Colors | 16M+ RGBW |
| Expandable to | Up to 500 panels |
| Smart features | Touch control, music sync, screen mirror |
| Compatible shapes | Hexagons, Triangles, Mini Triangles |
My Wall Started Playing Simon Back at Me
What surprised me is how fast it turned competitive. My plan was to test the feature for five minutes and move on. Instead I kept restarting to beat my last score. Then the kids saw it and that was the end of my quiet evening.
What You Get in the Shapes Hexagon Kit
The Smarter Kit ships with 7 hexagon panels. Each one is a touch-sensitive RGBW light that links to the next, so you build whatever shape you want on the wall. Nanoleaf lists over 16 million colors, screen mirror mode, and music-reactive scenes through the app. The modular part is the fun bit for tinkerers, because the system scales all the way up to 500 panels if you keep buying expansion packs.
The hexagons also mix with the Triangle and Mini Triangle shapes, so you’re not locked into one look forever. Everything here is the same family, just different geometry.
The Touch Game Is Better Than It Has Any Right to Be
The pattern speeds up as your score climbs, and that’s what makes it stick. Early rounds are easy. Tap two, tap three, tap four. Then the sequence gets longer and your brain starts racing to memorize which hexagon lit up first. I kept smacking the wrong panel by half a second and groaning about it.
The panels register a tap cleanly, which matters a lot here. If the touch were laggy the whole game would feel unfair, and it doesn’t. When I hit the right hexagon it responds right away. That responsiveness is the difference between a gimmick and something you actually replay, and this landed on the replay side for me.
It’s marketed as a fun feature for kids, and yeah, my kids loved it. But I was clearly having just as much fun trying to beat them.
The Game Is Simple, and You Should Know That Going In
This is one pattern game, not an arcade. If you’re picturing a menu of mini-games with levels and unlocks, adjust your expectations. It’s Simon. You watch a sequence, you repeat it, you try to survive longer than last time. That’s the loop.
If the game is your whole reason for buying these, one Simon pattern will get old fast. But if you’re already sold on the lighting, the screen mirror, the music sync, the modular wall design, the game is the thing that makes guests stop and ask what these are. That’s a useful extra, not a reason to skip.
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Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagon Lights
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Who This Setup Actually Fits
Families with kids get the most out of this. The touch game gives a wall of lights a second life as something the whole house crowds around, I had two kids arguing over whose turn it was within about ten minutes of showing it to them. If you’ve got a game room or a playroom, this is a better use of wall space than a poster.
They also fit the gamer and movie-night crowd. Screen mirror bounces your display’s colors onto the wall, and the music-reactive scenes turn a song into a light show. So even when nobody’s playing Simon, the panels have jobs to do. The hexagon lights aren’t a one-trick wall.
Hexagons vs Triangles: Which Shape to Grab
The choice comes down to tap target size and wall geometry. Hexagons pack into a honeycomb that reads clean from across the room, each panel is wide enough that you can slap it confidently mid-game. Triangles give you sharper, more angular designs and tighter detail with the Mini Triangles, but you’re working with smaller hit zones when the Simon sequence speeds up.
For the Simon game specifically, the hexagons give you nice fat targets to tap, which I liked. Bigger panels are easier to hit fast when the pattern speeds up. If you want a more intricate wall and don’t mind smaller tap zones, the triangles are the more expressive shape. And since they all connect together, you don’t have to pick just one forever.
What I’d Tell You Before You Mount These
Plan your layout before you stick anything to the wall. The adhesive mounting is meant to hold, so peeling a panel to reposition it later isn’t something you want to make a habit of. I’d lay the hexagons out on the floor first, get the shape you love, then commit.
Start with the 7-panel kit and expand later if you’re hooked. You can always add panels, and the system scales huge. There’s no reason to buy your whole dream wall on day one when you can grow into it.
Pros
- The Simon-style touch game is legitimately fun and pulls in the whole family
- Panels register taps quickly, so the game feels fair instead of laggy
- 16M+ RGBW colors plus music sync and screen mirror give the panels multiple uses
- Modular design expands panel by panel, up to 500
- Hexagons and triangles connect together for flexible layouts
Cons
- The game is a single simple pattern mode, not a full suite of mini-games
- Adhesive mounting means repositioning panels later isn’t easy
- Getting the most out of the smart features means living in the app
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Simon game come built in or do I need to buy it?
The touch game is a feature you access through the panels and the Nanoleaf app, not a separate purchase. Once your Shapes hexagon lights are set up, you can start the pattern game and play right off the wall.
Do the hexagon lights need an app to work?
Yes, the Nanoleaf app is where you unlock scenes, music sync, screen mirror, and the touch features. You can control basic lighting other ways, but the smart stuff lives in the app.
How many panels come in the kit?
The Smarter Kit includes 7 hexagon panels. You can expand from there with additional packs, all the way up to 500 panels if you really commit to a wall.
Can I mix hexagons with triangles?
Yes. Nanoleaf Shapes hexagons, triangles, and mini triangles all connect within the same system. You can mix and match shapes to build whatever design you want.
Will the panels react to music and video?
Yes. Rhythm scenes make the lights dance to sound in real time, and screen mirror mode reflects your display’s colors onto the panels for movies and gaming.
Are these good for kids?
They’re a hit with kids thanks to the touch game and the color changing. Just remember the panels are wall-mounted with adhesive, so plan placement where little hands can reach the fun without pulling on cables.
How are the panels mounted?
They mount to the wall with adhesive mounting tape that comes in the kit. Plan your layout before sticking anything down, since repositioning a panel afterward isn’t as simple as peel and move.
Can I start small and add panels later?
Absolutely. The 7-panel kit is a solid starting point, and expansion packs let you grow the wall over time. The system scales up to 500 panels, so there’s plenty of room to keep building.
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Get it now
Nanoleaf Shapes Hexagon Lights
Get the best price on Amazon →As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
