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I thought this needed its own dedicated thread as it’s a dedicated board game console.

Not sure how I feel about this and I know it will definitely rub some people up the wrong way. I love mansions of madness second edition but this looks like it will cost a small fortune and could get damaged quite easily. I do love solo play though and this may give a better solo experience. Less chance the older models will be compatible with this new game though which is a shame as I have every character model and promo releases to date.

CMON and Xplored are teaming up to bring players the next evolution in board gaming. Teburu is a gaming console that seamlessly integrates the physical and digital worlds, keeping players focused on the board and its components while the system takes care of game rules, enemies’ behavior, and storytelling events.

Groundbreaking technology senses where figures representing heroes, monsters and other gameplay elements are anywhere on the board. This information is transmitted seamlessly to any compatible tablet or computer running the Gamemaster App – no more hunting around in the rulebook. Make your move and the Gamemaster tells you what happens next.

Players can keep track of their own characters on Companion Apps running on their own smartphones networked to the Gamesmaster App, which is able to throw surprises at players with a malevolent intelligence never before seen in boardgames. What’s behind the door? The Gamemaster knows…

Roll the wireless dice anywhere, and Teburu does all the heavy lifting, taking into consideration player and monster statistics, equipment and other modifiers and displaying the final result instantly. No more math, just shoot zombies (with your dice)!

The first game on Teburu will be Zombicide Evolution – Las Vegas. It’s the game millions of Zombicide players the world over know and love, but evolved – faster, enhanced, and with a great campaign full of meaningful choices that will carry over a series of gaming sessions.

CMON’s CEO, Chern Ann Ng commented, “We are excited to bring new technology and gameplay innovations to tabletop games in the form of the Teburu. We expect this will both excite existing tabletop gamers and draw a whole new audience into tabletop gaming.”

Xplored’s Founder and CEO, Davide Garofalo noted, “CMON immediately understood the groundbreaking potential of our technology applied to board games, allowing us to bring an ambitious product to life. We strongly believe Teburu is the paradigm change this market has been looking for.”

Players will get their first chance to try the Teburu gaming system at Gen Con this August at the CMON booth (#417). Participants will be able to try out this new, fully-integrated style of gaming with demos of Zombicide Evolution – Las Vegas.

I saw this on Facebook. Clever concept, but 100% not for someone like me. All I see when I look at that is hundreds of "points of failure" where this concept simply won't have a long service life. Also...four phones + a tablet is well beyond what I'm interested in bringing to a tabletop experience.

All I see is more expense for all the electronics.

That play pad sensor is smaller than 90% of Zombicide scenarios.

ecurtz wrote:
That play pad sensor is smaller than 90% of Zombicide scenarios.

I am sure they will give you the option of buying multiple sensors so you can play a normal sized game

(Hopefully that’s just a draft and the real version is larger, I am concerned that the board tiles need markers to tell you where to place models, hopefully that’s just a visual guide rather than the sensor board only having sensors in certain spots)

I play board games to get away from screens. It seems like every other year somebody with vc money tries this same "but computers can take away everything unique about playing a physical game so you can focus on what's left" pitch.
If I wanted a digital game, I'd play a digital game.

I'm curious how playable it will be without all the sensors and such. I'm just seeing flashbacks to Golem Archana.

 Gallahad wrote:
I play board games to get away from screens. It seems like every other year somebody with vc money tries this same "but computers can take away everything unique about playing a physical game so you can focus on what's left" pitch.
If I wanted a digital game, I'd play a digital game.

That's my personal disinterest, more or less. But that's just my "initial" gut response. When I think about it longer, it just falls apart even more.

Personally, I can't wait to buy dice that is 12x more expensive and can break.

 Elbows wrote:
I saw this on Facebook. Clever concept, but 100% not for someone like me. All I see when I look at that is hundreds of "points of failure" where this concept simply won't have a long service life. Also...four phones + a tablet is well beyond what I'm interested in bringing to a tabletop experience.

Yup. I never get this kind of thing myself: "Hey there, tabletop gamer - how'd you like to play tabletop games without actually having to play them? Just set up the board and do what the app tells you to do, and you can have plenty of time free to chat gak with your mates - it's like the game isn't even there!"

I think companies see how well video games, and party apps do, then look at how popular board games are, and say "If we could figure out how to combine the two, we'll be RICH!!!!$!!!!!"

But as several of you have mentioned, board games are a way of getting away from our screen for a moment. Plus, I don't like the idea of being tied to a tablet & multiple phones like that. it'll have a high price point, and probably wont be supported for very long (at some point you have to upgrade the software/hardware because a competitor will make one much better), so you're stuck with lots of iterations, and people whining that they can't play old games on newer boards. There are rare instances when games can cross genres, Skylanders & Amiibos, Pokemon Go, those 'Nightmare' computer/VHS board games. But, I don't think there's a lot of call for these, so, it seems like a long shot to me.

Although, you can sell people these 'Legacy' games now, where they destroy the board cause they'll only play through it once, so... who knows?

Using that sort of thing for a board game at least seems more feasible than doing that for wargaming.

Although, to be honest, I don't think it has a snowball's chance in hell unless they open it up to hobbyist programmers/modders to build their own games with.

Minus -100 points, though, for naming the thing not-quite-properly-spelled Table in Japanese phonetics.

Zombicide Evolution? What the... ?

It's not the Zombicide you need to concentrate on - that's just a spin-off title they got from CMON to help launch the platform.

I'm sure they'll sell some to whales who are so bored they're looking for something to blow money on for an evening's entertainment, but this thing screams "waiting to break"

-You need a tablet and four cell phones to run this?
-So...if your tablet breaks or someone forgets a cell phone...or the app won't update...
-Imagine getting replacement parts if your figure or your dice have a bad sensor
-If a cell phone runs out of charge in the middle of the game, do you just stop?
-Does it rely on internet connectivity? Well guess you won't be using it at the beach or at the cabin in the mountains...
-What if any component of the actual mat goes bad? How fast will they replace it? A board game shouldn't need a warranty...
-How long will the app and updates be around? This fails the "put on the shelf for 5-10 years" test. You won't be popping this open to play a decade from now...the upkeep to make it happen would be ridiculous. Trying to find old apps that run on new phones/tablets etc.
-As pointed out, very limited play space, and unfortunately it does look like there are only "X" points hooked up to register the miniatures.
-There is very little "hey I'll bring over Zombicide" to this....because it becomes "hey can you all download this app and make sure it works so we can play the game?"

If you have a tablet and four phones...why not just make a fun app game or similar game like this that just runs on the devices? Why use special and expensive tablets, dice, and figures loaded with gizmos?

I know the world is digital and I'm quickly becoming a dinosaur but there's something to a non-powered game or book that will still be there...10-15-20 years from now assuming you don't throw it out or lose the pieces. Something about tossing a boardgame on the front seat of my car and driving over the buddy's house without having to involve chargers, phones, tablets, USB cables, etc. That sounds a bit like my idea of hell (and I own an expensive gaming rig, lol).

If you ditched all of the phones, and made some really slick tablet-only games that used this tray I'd maybe understand it. A simple interactive board game would be okay. But tech'ed out dice etc....just seems way too over the top and cumbersome.

So if this does well and they remake a version of every one of their games when CMoN eventuall gets to the newly announced Dragonball remake will they call it Dragonball Evolution and will the be required to model everything off the horrible movie?

Personally I like the idea but it'll be so very expensive imo.

Like many I play wargames / boardgame in order to get away from electrical devices for a while. It's why I hate PDF rulebooks and apps for army building.

If I wanted to play a computer game, I'd go play a computer game.

Not gonna lie, I hate this.

To me a better option would be a video game that I can scan my painted models and put it into the game. That way I can still paint my models for the boardgame AND have a travel game with my models in it.

I have to be honest. I was hoping it would lead us to Gundam Build Fighters, plus it would bring me back to Zombicide. Instead, I see two things:

1. The app will shut down and unless there are paper cards(which could be in limited quantities), those models could be completely useless.

2. There is an episode of Rugrats where this group of kids is playtesting a robot, but quickly focused on only the ball that came with it*. #1 could happen if you replace the ball with Heroquest or, like most mini computers nowadays, a Raspberry Pi with a SNES emulator.

*I tried looking for a video. This explanation is the best I can do.

Two Words:

Golem Arcana

Not my cup of tea, but it does look interesting.

Those dice, though... For all the discussions we get about precision in dice manufacturing, here's a set of dice that are literally weighted!

Granted, it might not make much of a difference, but for those already concerned, I can see this being a huge turn-off...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 parakuribo wrote:
2. There is an episode of Rugrats where this group of kids is playtesting a robot, but quickly focused on only the ball that came with it*. #1 could happen if you replace the ball with Heroquest or, like most mini computers nowadays, a Raspberry Pi with a SNES emulator.

I love that episode! The toy robots shoot rubber balls out of their chests, but the kids only want to play with the balls.

It's such a great analogy for over-designed complication, when sometimes consumers just want simple fun.

They definitely went a different direction than when we were experimenting with it a couple years ago. I don't like the idea of needing extra phones though, our initial design just involved on iPad. It was ultimately a design we borrowed that was using RFID in terrain for miniatures games for blind movement or even 'play by email/internet' style games. The issue we encountered was making it universal enough that it was adaptive. I didn't think about having a base playmat which housed the electronics that you overlaid terrain/boards on. We were looking at a base that went into terrain but wasn't cheap either so we stopped looking at electronics and tried to focus more on the software side, that I passed on to programmer friends where the project has remained stalled.




It has potential but unless it is generic enough or easily adapative then it becomes like Dized Companion App... decent idea, but not able to roll out it for all the games in an effective or quick format.

Another attempt at a digital boardgame table. Another fail.

We've been seeing these for years now, and none of them stuck. Apps which hide information (eg. Mansions of Madness), save game state (eg. Gloomhaven), or save us from looking up rules are about it. Dungeon tiles with LED's have been well-received, but that's about it. I've also seen virtual tables and overhead table projectors for RPG's. But if a digital board only goes halfway (afaik, it's only sensors and you now have to learn how the UI works) and I have to lay down bits on a table, that's not something I'm interested in. The storytelling could go either way. It's could be an interesting immersive experience, or a bunch of lame bland cut scenes that I'm looking for the SKIP button for.