EntertainmentgamingGame Releases
New Board game console blends physical pieces with digital screen.
After entrepreneur Brynn Putnam cashed out her smart fitness startup Mirror to Lululemon for a cool half-billion in 2020, she found herself in a classic pandemic-era bind: stuck at home with five kids ranging from a toddler to a young adult, desperately seeking a way to get the whole squad to actually engage with each other. The usual options were a bust.Classic board games like Candyland were a snooze-fest for the older kids, while trying to play modern video games just meant getting absolutely smoked by the teenagers who'd logged thousands of hours mastering complex controllers. This frustrating family dynamic sparked the 'aha' moment for her next venture, a company simply called Board.The concept is a total game-changer, literally—a 24-inch console that looks like a massive iPad but functions as a hybrid gaming table. It merges the tactile, face-to-face joy of physical board games with the dynamic, interactive world of digital video games, allowing players to use real, physical pieces on top of a responsive screen.Launched on October 28th with a holiday price tag of $499 (a steal compared to its standard $699), Board comes packed with 12 exclusive titles and supports up to 10 players, and it's already blowing past initial sales forecasts. The real tech magic, as explained by Chief Technology Officer Ryan Measel, was overcoming the inherent limitations of standard touchscreens, which are typically designed to recognize only ten finger touches and are completely useless for identifying objects.The Board team had to build a custom driver from the ground up, bypassing the restrictive programming layers of commercial platforms like Android and iOS to gain full access to the console's sensor array. This was paired with an embedded AI model trained to distinguish between accidental hand brushes, intentional finger taps, and the unique conductive traces etched onto the bottom of each of the 49 proprietary game pieces.Durability was also a non-negotiable, especially with a target audience that includes six-year-olds; Putnam herself joked about her two-year-old using everything as a weapon, leading to rigorous factory testing that involved submerging the device, dropping it from heights, and brutal scratch tests. The game library, curated by Chief Creative Officer Seth Sivak, is designed to be wildly inclusive, offering everything from 60-second arcade blitzes to a 90-minute escape room epic.In one standout title, 'Chop Chop,' players choose different utensil pieces that assign roles, meaning a toddler can joyfully clean the virtual kitchen as a 'sponge' while an adult strategizes over order tickets and layout changes. It’s a brilliant solution to the modern parent's dilemma: leveraging technology to handle rule enforcement and scorekeeping without sacrificing the crucial, screen-free social interaction of a classic game night. With the team now developing more original IP and planning to release a software development kit to third-party creators, Board isn't just another gadget; it's a legit attempt to redefine the living room entertainment ecosystem, proving that the right kind of screen can actually bring people together instead of pulling them apart.
#Board
#Brynn Putnam
#family gaming
#hybrid console
#physical games
#digital screen
#featured
