Hexagonal interactive OLED gaming tiles likely to cost a bundle, would sure spice up our Wednesday nights

We've seen plenty of ways for board games to be revitalized with large touchscreens, but a new concept from the Human Media Lab at Queen's University in Ontario puts the screens and interactivity onto the gaming pieces themselves. The idea would be to use slim, networked touchscreen hexagonal tiles with edge-to-edge OLED displays. The proximity of the tiles to one another, along with gestures performed with the tiles, provides the interactivity, and the occasional branching touchscreen menu selection keeps play humming. Unfortunately, that enabling tech isn't all there yet (at least in university-affordable forms), but the video demo after the break is pretty convincing in its presentation of these ideas in a top-down-projection simulation. Certainly promising, but we're sure not expecting to see this sort of gaming priced within reach of your average Sorry! board anytime soon.

[werty1432k Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:25PM]

Oh man, these would kick ass for Settlers of Catan and Knights of Catan!

[gittenlucky Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:29PM]

@werty1432k

Seafarers too.

[werty1432k Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:30PM]

@gittenlucky lol yeah, I didn't want to go through all of them, there are more too! :P

[jvlivscaesar Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:33PM]

@werty1432k That is exactly what I was thinking about. Custum tiles and animated volcano eruptions

[acslater017 Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:34PM]

@werty1432k

That's exactly what I was thinking

[michaspi Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:38PM]

@werty1432k:
Don't forget Fishermen of Catan.

[werty1432k Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:52PM]

@michaspi I got "Settlers of Catan: Traders and Barbarians" for Christmas.

[DeFlanko Posted Jan 26th 2010 10:08PM]

Or. RISK disk.

[TonyMontana2367 Posted Jan 26th 2010 11:23PM]

@werty1432k

or command and fucking conquer!!!!

[OriginalJosh Posted Jan 27th 2010 12:14PM]

@werty1432k
love that game, exactly what i thought when i saw the pic

[xKNGx Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:28PM]

um, cool...i guess

[Hazdaz Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:29PM]

Cool idea.

I like the thought of integrating analog items with digital technology since I think that both sides benefit. Purely digital interfaces tend to suck due to their lack of physical interaction (perfect example are touch screens), while injecting digital technology to an analog device can vastly increase it's usefulness (like the digital instrument cluster on the new Ford Fusion Hybrid).

[jincongz Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:34PM]

Age of Empires III FTW!
But this would be cool of it was played with a Pico projector.

[Stereotype Posted Jan 27th 2010 9:39AM]

@jincongz Agreed! That game is awesome...

And I would love to be able to see the entire map on an interactive surface/tiles.....it would make it easier then scrolling. :P And way cooler. :)

[jol Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:36PM]

This will make setup for Twilight Imperium a couple hours shorter..

[ijames99 Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:41PM]

A post about something besides the Apple tablet? Incredible.

[kojo87 Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:47PM]

i think every static image in the universe should be replaced with some form of LCD (or newest display technology) Your newspaper, posters, billboards, maps, textbooks, your home's art, everything. feasible? maybe not but awesome? i think so

[Hazdaz Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:53PM]

@kojo87
yeah, great and the world's demand for electricity jumps by 1000000x

Brilliant!

[werty1432k Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:53PM]

@kojo87 I predict some heavy headaches if that happens!

[Deyanimay Posted Jan 26th 2010 10:51PM]

@werty1432k use e-ink

[Gregorian Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:52PM]

All very Minority Report.

When/if thin cheap video disposable "video paper" becomes a reality, the world will get rather freaky.

[werty1432k Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:55PM]

@Gregorian The entire world as a "house of mirrors" lol.

[SPENone Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:53PM]

I dunno what was cooler,...The game ideas themselves (which were awesome!) or the pr0no music in the background!

[jrm125 Posted Jan 26th 2010 9:58PM]

reminds me of siftables

http://sifteo.com/

[tylersmyler Posted Jan 26th 2010 10:32PM]

@jrm125

wow. those are amazing. can't wait til they come out!

[Gregorian Posted Jan 26th 2010 10:05PM]

To makes things fun, make the tiles display 3D video.

[Dante of the Inferno Posted Jan 26th 2010 10:11PM]

Card games never looked so good.

[Drais Posted Jan 26th 2010 10:52PM]

Just think what this could bring to Warhammer 40k and Fantasy Battle. Especially if the produce 3D images!

[gotwillk Posted Jan 26th 2010 11:05PM]

omg catan please

[ralpheazy Posted Jan 26th 2010 11:11PM]

Zoo Tycoon?
is that you?

[jir0 Posted Jan 26th 2010 11:18PM]

Game changer for desktop RPGs and RTSs! No more staying inside the bat cave, time to see the light! :D

[sinai Posted Jan 26th 2010 11:25PM]

depending on prices, it might be cheaper to hire D-list actors.

[einhanderkiller Posted Jan 26th 2010 11:36PM]

I thought this was by Art Lebedev at first for some reason.

[shinrasboy Posted Jan 27th 2010 12:23AM]

I've never played a table top game in my life. But if this get's released, I will suspend myself head first into it. It's beautiful....like a new world! so vivid!!

[mabhatter Posted Jan 27th 2010 12:23AM]

We could finally play a real game of Sabacc... maybe I can win the deluxe Lego Millennium Falcon of somebody in a game!

[viet0wnage Posted Jan 27th 2010 1:04AM]

Sadly this is not gonna happen within the next decade, and especially not at a affordable price for christmas. Some of the technology may be there, but ask yourself if there gonna spend billions to invest this technology in developing a board game. Sorry to be the pessimest, but anyone can be "creative" and come up with idea like this, but why waste time if you don't have the resources or capabilities to make partially possible. Anyone can come up with a silly futuristic idea such as stickers with gps sensors or shoes with voice recognition that straps itself, but why can't these same people do more practical things like making Solar Energy more viable or dish washers more efficient?

[Atlantian Posted Jan 27th 2010 1:37AM]

yep Pokemon and card battles will never be the same

[HTCHD2 Posted Jan 27th 2010 1:37AM]

Yeah! just like the Microsoft Surface...

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/

[Faceless Troll Posted Jan 27th 2010 2:41AM]

I'm thinking these would make some righteous Magic decks. Or even Yu-Gi-Oh if I were feeling generous.

[Hacker Posted Jan 27th 2010 3:40AM]

Where is OLED? The images are projected onto the tiles in the video.

[Alex Arnz Posted Jan 27th 2010 4:31AM]

@Hacker which part of "a top-down-projection simulation" did you not understand?

[Hacker Posted Jan 27th 2010 4:50AM]

@Alex Arnz ah indeed, you are right, thanks for pointing it out to me.

[genomecop Posted Jan 27th 2010 6:08AM]

Finally. Candy Land, the MMO.

[RafterManFMJ Posted Jan 27th 2010 6:26AM]

I cast Fog, and your attack fails! My precious life stones allow me to conjure another turn!

[AnastasiosAntoniosToulkeridis Posted Jan 27th 2010 6:53AM]

what happens if u separate the tiles while the avatar is midway?

[janubiszero Posted Jan 27th 2010 8:27AM]

Looks pretty similar to "siftables":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JP0w9lZoLwU