Board Games of the Future!

Reported November 2006

EINDHOVEN, Netherlands (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Scrabble, Monopoly, Clue ... They are the games of life, but your mom and dad's board game is moving into the 21st century.

"It's the combination of the physical world that meets the virtual world," Gerard Hollemans, a senior scientist of User System Introduction at Philips Research in Eindhoven, Netherlands, tells Ivanhoe.

Entertaible is a computer-generated board game. It combines the excitement of computer games with the interaction of board games.

"It is similar in the sense that you still sit together," Hollemans says. "You can see other face to face."

Entertaible is a 30-inch LCD screen, just like a laptop, only it lies flat, with a sophisticated touch-screen-based detection system. The LCD screen is mounted in the table is surrounded by a special touch detector, so people can basically sit down and play a game like they used to.

Players can take turns or move all at once.

"The detection is done in this rim. There are infrared LEDs and infrared sensors, and they determine where the pieces are located," Tom Bergman, of Visual Experiences at Philips Research, tells Ivanhoe. When there's a break in the invisible sensor, the computer knows a piece has been moved.

In its prototype game, everybody is a taxi driver in Manhattan. Players pick up passengers, deal with traffic jams, lights -- even police.

Hollemans says, "You really have a physical interaction with the virtual world. That creates this kind of magic that keeps you bound to the table," and keeps families playing together.

Entertaible is still being tested. It will first be marketed to casinos, bars and restaurants, and then will hopefully move into homes.

When the product is available, it will be showcased on Philips' Web site.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

Philips Consumer Electronics
(888) 744-5477
http://www.usa.philips.com

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