We built a pair of interactive Catan boards that let people enjoy the classic board-game experience even when they’re not in the same room. Instead of staring at a screen like in traditional online play, each board looks and feels like a normal Catan set, but stays synchronized in real time. When a player places a settlement, builds a road, or rolls the dice, that action instantly appears on the other board through LEDs and hidden hardware. Both boards highlight the numbers rolled to streamline resource collection and track the robber’s position with a simple button press. To simulate pausing an in-person game and returning later, we implemented a persistent save-state system that restores the full game state even after the boards are powered off. Each board also supports local multiplayer for up to four players, allowing any combination of players to be split across the two boards.
What makes this project unique is its blend of the convenience of online play with the tactile, social feel of a real tabletop game – capturing the fun of sitting around a board together, even from across the world.
