Each acrylic plate comes with a black, LED lit, round plastic base. The bases can be controlled by a finger touch, or with the supplied remote control. By the touch of a finger you can cycle through a 7 color solid pattern and a "fade" option that cycles through all 7 colors. With the remote control you can cycle through the 7 colors, pick more pre-programmed colors, select multiple color functions, turn power on/off, and increase/decrease the intensity of the light. The base unit can be powered with 3 AA batteries, not supplied, or the supplied USB power cable. So many possibilities, and combinations, wrapped up in these displays.