Playing analog games is a lot of fun, but translating this experience through a screen using online alternatives (Chess.com or Catan online) is difficult, and that physical experience of moving or taking pieces is lost. We hope to bring this physical experience together with online play and allow users to play board games physically without the other player(s) present.
We want to build an automatic game board that is capable of playing board games physically with someone in a different location. Ideally, we would have two of these boards in distinct locations, and as a piece on one of them is moved by a player, and they click an “end turn” button, there is a camera connected above the game board/structure that uses computer vision (CV) to determine what has moved and to what coordinates. It then automatically makes the corresponding move on the 2nd game board, which would be in a different physical location. This automatic process would be done with either a claw extending from the structure, physically picking up a piece, and putting it down in the new location, or a translating magnet underneath the board that links to a piece and moves it to the new location.