Meet Board, a $399 Touchscreen Console Aimed at Bringing Couch Co-Op Back
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
A hands-on look at Board, a $399 tabletop touchscreen console that combines digital gaming with bespoke physical pieces to revive local couch co-op.
Most of us spend our gaming hours staring at individual screens, even when we are hanging out in voice chats or sitting on the same living room couch. To bridge that gap between digital entertainment and in-room social energy, entrepreneur Brynn Putnam and the team at Harris Hill Products developed Board. Originally pitched with varying price points during development, the final device is a massive 24-inch flat-mounted touchscreen console retailing at $399. It is designed to sit flat on a table, offering a dedicated hub for face-to-face multiplayer that avoids trying to compete with the raw graphical output of a PlayStation 5 or an open PC rig.
What sets Board apart from standard tablet gaming is its heavy reliance on bespoke physical components. Each of the 12 launch titles ships with its own tailored physical pieces, ranging from tiny toy knives and sponges for the cooperative cooking game Chop Chop to specialized blocks and tokens for arcade style face-offs. The development team experimented with generic controllers before realizing that dedicated, game-specific physical items are vital for that authentic tactile feel. This design philosophy creates clear scaling hurdles, but it ensures that games like Strata and Save the Bloogs offer an experience that cannot be replicated on a standard phone or a traditional board game setup.
The hardware was born out of a very modern household problem, specifically watching family members retreat into individual phone screens or streaming queues while sitting in the same room together. Early hands-on impressions suggest the device hits its mark, successfully capturing the chaotic, communicative energy of cooperative hits like Overcooked while adding a physical layer that keeps everyone interacting across the table. For players who treat gaming primarily as a social lifeline and miss the days of local multiplayer, Board offers an intriguing alternative to standard platform norms.
For the full breakdown and hands-on testing details, check out the original report on Polygon.
Tags: Hardware, Couch Co-Op, Board, Tabletop Gaming, Indie Games
Original article: Polygon