Gameboard-1 digital board game console launches Kickstarter campaign

The Last Gameboard has launched its Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the Gameboard-1, a digital board game console that blends physical, digital, and augmented reality gaming. The idea is to make it easier for folks to play tabletop board games, which have made a big comeback in recent years.

The Gameboard-1 is like a flat computer with a square touchscreen display, 16 inches-by-16 inches. It is thin, light, and portable, and you can expand it by connecting it to other Gameboard-1s. You can also connect a private screen, like your smartphone, to it so you can play a game like poker, where you want to hide the cards from other players.

Designed by Rob Wyatt, system architect of the original Xbox and the Magic Leap 1, Gameboard-1 offers an immersive board gaming experience that connects real physical game pieces with a digital library of games. Gameboard-1 is portable, lightweight, and an interactive game board.

The console uses patent-pending Sense Screen technology which understands inputs from multiple sources simultaneously. To increase screen real estate, the Gameboard-1 can connect multiple gameboards for a multi-screen gaming experience.

Real physical pieces can interact with the Gameboard-1 through tags embedded into real pieces that store encrypted data including the location, orientation, and type of piece as well as user data, such as a character's hit points or experience. The game pieces can be with or without batteries.

The goal is to give players a large library of games with their subscription.

"Our goal was to create a device and platform that will change the way we play games together - a device to teach new players faster, digitize set-up and scorekeeping, and allow users to try new games before they buy," said Shail Mehta, the CEO of Boulder, Colorado-based The Last Gameboard, in a statement. "But as any experienced gamer knows, I have my favorite characters like everyone else. With Gameboard-1 I can take that character and move their levels through whatever game I want. Who wouldn't want to do that?"

Last Gameboard technology is compatible with Unity and Unreal and will have a developer's edition that includes everything you need to start creating your own games, programs, and innovations for this platform. Wyatt noted that he is no longer working with Atari on its Atari VCS game console.

Gameboard-1 is expected to ship in the fourth quarter of 2020. Wyatt and Mehta have been out talking to tabletop game developers, and they are signing games for the platform.