Methods and apparatus are described for preserving and improving board games by changing the game board from a passive cardboard board to a dynamic computer controlled board while keeping the other tangible parts of the game unchanged—dice, game pieces, etc. The inherent values of board games are preserved, while improving the attractiveness of board games by using computing systems and advanced technologies.

This disclosure describes a tabletop game assistant system configured to ingest and guide tangible games (such as board games, card games, etc.) using natural language interaction and image capture/visual display components. The system can include features enabling a game developer to “teach” the system the rules of a game using natural language, such as written instructions, to reduce or eliminate the need for writing dedicated code. The system may process images of a game board and/or tokens such as game pieces and/or cards to further generate game data in the form of a logical game model. The system can use the game data to guide human players of the game and, in some cases, participate as a player itself. The system may further be configured to observe a game and detect invalid actions, answer questions regarding the rules, and suggest moves. The system may provide additional utilities such as generating a random output (e.g., rolling virtual dice) and learning to recognize new game pieces.

A customizable board game, including a game board, including a plurality of board locations to removably connect to each other, and a plurality of board fields disposed on at least a portion of each of the plurality of board locations, a plurality of removable tokens, each of the plurality of removable tokens to removably connect within at least one of the plurality of board fields, and a plurality of figurines to move around the plurality of board locations and represent a position of at least one player on the game board.

Techniques and systems for immersive interactions are provided. A first smart device available for interaction is identified by an interactivity system. A first physical game piece is detected by the interactivity system, and a first identifier of the first physical game piece is received, from the first physical game piece, via one or more wireless signals. A first set of predefined effects that can be performed using the first smart device is identified based on the first identifier. The first smart device is instructed to perform at least a first predefined effect of the first set of predefined effects.

Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose an apparatus and method for playing modified chess game. The apparatus includes an expandable game to operate between a conventional mode and a powered mode. The apparatus further includes two sets of playing pieces, visually distinguished from each other are configured to operate in the conventional mode. The at least two bishops, the at least two knights, the at least two rooks, and the at least eight pawns of at least one set of the two sets of playing pieces are provided with a toggle switch. The toggle switch is adapted to form corresponding powered playing pieces during the modified chess game. The powered playing pieces are operated based on a set of powered rules. The apparatus further includes a power zone provided on a portion of the expandable game board to regulate movement of the powered playing pieces in the powered mode.

An interactive group-specific player board game method comprising the steps of drawing a grid and labeling a plurality of blocks in a sequential process from 1 to n, wherein n depends on the size of the grid, rolling a dice by each player sequentially and recording a number on the dice until each box on the grid has a unique number, establishing a set of at least 6 rules by the group-specific players, each rule corresponding to a unique action to be performed by the players, rolling the dice by at least one player, moving the number of blocks on the board game corresponding to the number on the dice, receiving the action to be performed by the player based on the unique number on the grid established by the set of rules, determining the completion of the action by the remaining group-specific players.

A board game comprises one or more game objects such as a game board and game pieces, at least one memory device and at least one controller. Each of the game objects comprise a globally unique identifier and dynamic characteristic values associated with the unique identifier, stored in the memory device, that define the characteristics/attributes of the corresponding game object when used in the game. A user is able to play the game by utilizing the game objects according to their characteristic values. During the course of game play, the events of the game are able to dynamically change the characteristic values of each game object affected by the event. Similarly, outside of game play, external events are also able to dynamically change the characteristic values of a game object. These characteristic values are able to be kept and updated during and in between games.

A game board device is provided for carrying and identifying game pieces that are divided into different piece types. The game board device includes a board, a plurality of optically identifying modules, and a processing module electrically coupled to the optically identifying modules. The optically identifying modules respectively correspond in position to detection regions of the board. Each of the optically identifying modules includes a light emitter that can emit light toward the corresponding detection region and a light receiver that can receive light reflected by the corresponding detection region. When any one of the detection regions is in an unoccupied mode, the corresponding optically identifying module can emit an unoccupied signal. When any one of the detection regions is in an occupied mode, the corresponding optically identifying module enables an identification signal that corresponds to the piece type of the corresponding game piece to be emitted therefrom.

Methods and apparatus are described for preserving and improving board games by changing the game board from a passive cardboard board to a dynamic computer controlled board while keeping the other tangible parts of the game unchanged—dice, game pieces, etc. The inherent values of board games are preserved, while improving the attractiveness of board games by using computing systems and advanced technologies.

A game board (2) with a board surface (3) and a scanning display, the scanning display comprises display means for displaying a game board layout on the board surface (3), and detection means for scanning a code surface of a pawn (20) for detecting a pawn code when the code surface of the pawn (20) is directed towards the board surface (3). The game board (2) further comprises or is coupled to a memory (6) for storing a set of codes, and a processor (5) for comparing the detected pawn code to the stored codes to identify the pawn (20). The detection means preferably comprise a plurality of light sensors (12).