The Board

The Board is a 24-inch anti-glare touchscreen console that lies flat on a table so players sit around it rather than facing it. Its PieceSense system reads conductive glyphs printed on the base of each physical piece, so the display identifies what a piece is and tracks its position and rotation in real time, with no RFID and no controllers. It measures 25.7 x 13.9 x 1.5 inches, supports 2 to 6 players depending on the game, and runs on dual-band WiFi 6 with 64GB of onboard storage, dual stereo speakers, USB-C and microSD. Seven games ship in the box, including Chop Chop and a six-title retro arcade collection, with all required piece sets and no subscription. It comes from Board, the New York company founded by Brynn Putnam, who built the Mirror fitness display.

It's still a screen, but everyone's around it instead of behind it. The games are genuinely fun, a lot of them are educational, and the rest of the lessons come free with sitting at a table: taking turns, reading the room, losing to your sibling without flipping the board. You've also got folks like Jesse Genet who's started building custom games for her own kids.