The forum "Jishi" APP, which is often visited by domestic board game players, can always see such a set of pictures when you open it for the first time. It expresses the evolution of board games with simple pictures, from simple stones and strokes 10,000 years ago. Line, to Go 1,000 years ago, and now, you can see all kinds of exquisite models and props in board game products. Products with more and more exquisite styles and more beautiful models emerge one after another. Then, you Remember the last picture shown by Jiishi?

Maybe in the future, we can play board games through AR (augmented reality) devices.

On March 21, AR tabletop gaming platform Tilt Five announced a new partnership with Asmodee Digital, a subsidiary of tabletop game publisher Asmodee Group, to develop a series of holographic tabletop games using AR technology.

Pierre Ortolan, CEO of Asmodee Digital, said in an official press release, "Asmodee Digital's goal is to bring more great game IPs to emerging platforms, and Tilt Five offers players a new type of gaming experience. We are very excited to be at the forefront of this emerging technology and have the ability to bring our players better new immersive experiences they've never experienced before!"

So now, is the future really here?

What can current AR products do?

Augmented Reality (AR) refers to a technology that allows the virtual world on the screen to combine and interact with the real world scene through the calculation of the position and angle of the camera image and the addition of image analysis technology. If a system is called an AR device, it needs to have three characteristics, one is the combination of the real world and the virtual world, the other is real-time interaction, and the third is accurate three-dimensional spatial positioning of real and virtual objects.

From the perspective of display technology, the current AR can be divided into the following three types. One is video perspective AR. You can understand that the real world scene is first recorded with a camera, and then virtual items are added to the video. Direct observation is the video under the combination of the two.

In some stories of the board game Unlock series, when you use the camera of a PAD or mobile phone to observe the cards, the patterns on the cards change, which is actually the video see-through AR.

Some early head-mounted VR devices were equipped with front-facing cameras, which also realized this form of AR to a certain extent. However, with the iteration of products, the front-facing camera function of VR devices has gradually become a design for user safety. And the restoration of the real environment by the video see-through AR device comes from the video signal of the camera. Its restoration of the real world has limitations in the function of the device, and there is also an error in the viewing angle, so this is not the implementation form of the current mainstream AR products.

The second is the projection display technology, which simply uses a projector to project a virtual image onto a real object. You may have seen this amazing picture:

But in fact, the current projection display technology cannot achieve such a shocking effect, but the most common may be like this:

Of course, this type of AR display technology is not just like the above. In 2009, Pranav Mistry, a genius scientist at MIT, created a new form of interaction with the device called SixthSense. This AR device requires only a projector and different colored rings on four fingers to interact.

But you can also see the limitations of the type of AR device, that is, the imaging need a physical object as the background, and the virtual objects presented are all two-dimensional planes, which is far from the AR in our fantasy.

The third is the optical see-through technology. The device is like a pair of glasses. You can see the real world through the lens. At the same time, the device will project virtual images into your eyes to realize the combination of the real world and the virtual world. This is also the mainstream technology type of AR devices at present. From the Google Glasses with few functions at the beginning, to the current Magic Leap 2, Microsoft HoloLens 2 and other devices, the technology has been greatly improved. It can memorize the placement and location of virtual objects, and observe virtual objects in three dimensions.

AR board game, how to do?

On September 24, 2019, tilt five logged into KickStarter, a crowdfunding platform. As a game specific device based on AR technology, tilt five responded well and completed crowdfunding in only one month. Jeri Ellsworth, CEO of tilt five, believes that they designed tilt five to "provide an amazing gaming experience".

Tilt five's accessories are composed of a pair of glasses, an Xe game board and a stick handle (or "magic wand"). Xe game board can be understood as a chessboard. Its AR virtual world is only displayed on such a chessboard. However, in fact, this is enough for players who play board games. Players will not generate virtual images when looking at other places. They can raise their eyes and communicate with players or take snacks. According to the officially released video, tilt five realizes the opponent's perception through the camera on the glasses, but I don't know whether it can realize the operation of picking up things by hand.

In addition, tilt five is not the only company that has brought emerging technologies to board games in recent years. As early as 2017, "Catan island" has been moved to the VR platform. Players can play a game of "Catan island" with other players in a virtual place through VR devices.

In addition to tilt five, several companies have devoted themselves to the development of AR desktop games. The route chosen by Mirrorscape and Ardent Roleplay is to start a wonderful journey of AR board games by downloading an app with the help of portable devices, such as pad and mobile phone. At present, the main direction of the two companies is the map of DND running group, which has not been involved in other board games.

Spatial is another route. In essence, it is also an optical perspective display technology, but similarly, it also needs the help of mobile devices. In terms of price, the price of four spatial is ¥1400, the price of a set of tilt five (a pair of glasses + a magic wand + an Xe board) is ¥2287, and the price of the software arcana of Mirrorscape is ¥191. Because Arcana aims to make a UGC platform similar to steam's creative workshop, it also comes with a digital version of the initial terrain, model, etc.

Will physical board games really be replaced in the future?

In 1901, Lyman Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of Oz, wrote a short science fiction novel, The Master Key, in which the little boy inadvertently summoned the electric spirit, who gave him many gadgets, some the functions are similar to today's automatic translators and wireless phones. In addition, there is a pair of glasses among the tools that the Electric Genie gives to the little boy. After wearing it, a "G" (Good) will be marked on the forehead of a kind person. "E" (Evil) will appear on the forehead of evil people, "W" (Wise) will appear on the forehead of smart people, and "F" (Foolish) will appear on the forehead of stupid people. Obviously, for today's people, "distinguishing loyal and traitor" is not an easy task, but "labeling" is easy. In glasses with current AR technology labeling a person is no longer difficult.

The Virtual Fixtures system developed by the U.S. Air Force Armstrong Laboratory in 1992 is considered to be the world's first AR system in the true sense. Since then, AR technology has continued to develop, and with the continuous upgrading of technology, AR technology has been continuously used. In various fields, for me, it was a very coincidental opportunity to know AR for the first time - "I am repairing cultural relics in the Forbidden City". 

The convenient operation and the very sci-fi appearance made me a novice fantasize about how powerful google glass is, but later I found out that the actual situation is nothing more than that, google glass has not many functions. Until I did this topic, my understanding of AR only stayed here. With the continuous understanding, I found that with the update of AR technology, the relationship between new technology and board games is getting closer and closer.

The emergence of new technologies has also brought more fresh blood to the board game design team. It is worth looking forward to what interesting developments this will bring to the industry.

On the other hand, board games are constantly being digitized. Just like the works of Company A have been listed on the Tilt Five platform this time, many games are gradually entering various platforms. One day in the future, physical board games will not be available. Will it be replaced?

The staff of Bolong Toys believe that this is the same as when e-books appeared, some people slammed paper books, and physical board games will not be completely replaced in a long time span, but this does not mean that the industry can be content with it. The status quo, with the advancement of technology, will not lead to elimination.

As for the future, leave it to the future to judge.