Philips unveils mad thingy

By Ellie Gibson Published 4 January, 2006

Let them Entertaible you.

Videogames. Board games. Tables. Just three of our favourite things. But if only there was a way to combine them all into the same object...

But wait! NOW THERE IS, thanks to the crazy tech wizards at Philips. Ladies and gentlemen, meet... The "Entertaible."

As you can see in the pics, the Entertaible features a 30-inch horizontal LCD touch-screen which has been designed for use in all lighting conditions. "Multi-object position detection" means it can tell where real life playing pieces such as pawns and dice are, and the electronic nature of the whole thing makes for "dynamic playing fields and gaming levels", apparently.

At the moment the Entertaible is still in the prototype stage, and Philips will be showing it off at the Consumer Electronics Show tomorrow. They're initially aiming the product at bars, casinos and the like, but if it takes off a home version will follow.

According to a statement issued by Philips, "Entertaible owes its name to the social entertainment experience it encourages and the tabletop form factor it is built on," in case you hadn't worked that out.

"Its capabilities could breathe new interactive life into conventional multi-player board and electronic games. This may include, for example, using a portion of the touch screen to allow private tactical information to be shown to specific players only."

Other advantages could involve on-screen explanations of the rules as you play through a game, the ability to save your progress mid-play and the option to store loads of board games without needing loads of space for all the pesky boxes. Plus you might be able to hook the thing up to the Internet and download trials of new games some day.

The Entertaible is the brainchild of a Philips research team located in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The team is led by scientist Gerard Hollemans, who probably has crazy white hair and is never more than a foot away from a mysterious glass container with all dry ice coming out of it.

"Entertaible offers the means to reinvigorate established board game classics," Hollemans said, probably in a really overexcited fashion using lots of hand movements.

"However, in the longer term, Entertaible could be used to invent brand new games offering unprecedented levels of user interaction - games that would never become predictable or ever quite 'feel' the same twice, however often you played them."

"Perhaps most important of all, Entertaible will host electronics games that promote invaluable social interaction within groups and families. This contrasts completely to the solitary, isolated environment encouraged by some contemporary console-based electronic games."

So there you have it - videogames are yesterday's news, The Future is all about rowing with your brother over whether or not he did indeed roll a six during the battle for Irkutsk before the dog ate the dice, only round an electronic table. Or rather, an Entertaible. Hurrah!

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Salaman #1 6 years ago

    Can you spell CDI?


    Oh and
    F
    I
    R
    S
    T
    \0/

    edit: that said, I remember some late 80s early 90s arcade games that were somehow worked into a table top instead of the classic arcade cabinet and those where quite neat. So the idea may have some merit.
    Edited by 1 at 04/01/06 @ 16:11

  • dbeamish #2 6 years ago

    Im sure the warhammer 40k people are already going nuts.. but tbh.. I think a grand or whatever is going to be is a lot of money to spend on a board.. and I wouldn't want to spill my pint over it that's for sure!

    Also children wouldn't be allowed to touch it and anyone that left greasy finger marks on it would get a slap.

    niceish idea tho!

  • reality_cheque #3 6 years ago

    I was just thinking how nice it would be to be able to save a game of WH40K half way through...

  • Eldritch #4 6 years ago

    When are they doing that hologram chess thing from Star Wars?

  • kangarootoo #5 6 years ago

    "They're initially aiming the product at bars, casinos and the like"

    I can see a squidgy touch sensitive table top lasting about 3 minutes in a lot of pubs before someone cuts its open and steals it jellied treasure (or in my home town, cut open by people trying to steal the "pretty pictures";).
    Edited by 1 at 04/01/06 @ 16:22

  • Beano #6 6 years ago

    "Can you spell CDI? "

    yes.. and DOA also :)

  • TipTop #7 6 years ago

    Risk!

  • SeesThroughAll #8 6 years ago

    This is awesome innovation... a dedicated board-game "console"... the fusion between board games and video games... I love it!

  • Kostabi #9 6 years ago

    I hope it does make it as far as a home version, it's utterly genius.

    Imagine the space saved if all your favourite boardgames came on a disc and you only had to worry about the playing pieces.

  • Eldritch #10 6 years ago

    Should be great fun, when your little brother jumps on it, because he's lost at Risk again.

  • wattoo #11 6 years ago

    why do you need playing pieces?

    surely they'd be on screen as well?

    this could be marketed with a keyboard for games like scrabble.

    it could perform calculations for games like sudoku.

    people might start calling it a computer

    it'll never catch on though

  • Lagto_Soa #12 6 years ago

    It can't possibly catch on because it's called the 'Entertaible'.

    The team is led by scientist Gerard Hollemans, who probably has crazy white hair and is never more than a foot away from a mysterious glass container with all dry ice coming out of it.

    Marvellous.

  • Artemis_Matsas #13 6 years ago

    Wow that's a nice one!
    if they price it reasonably enough, maybe it will catch on. And why not use it as a TV set when your're not playing any games by using a clever stand for it???

  • Xerx3s #14 6 years ago

    Would be a bit expensive for an all-in-one chess board eh?

  • Markusdragon #15 6 years ago

    Definatly one for those super-nerds that buy those gold-plated D20s.


    Edit: From the shots, it looks just about the right size for a game of blood bowl.
    Edited by 1 at 04/01/06 @ 17:41

  • bdaggers #16 6 years ago

    Bagsy the hologram Boot !!!!

    However - imagine dead pixels on a screen of that size, that close ? oh shit .....

    Or the missus puts a vase in the middle of it when its not being used - which buggers up the touch screen ?

  • tenma #17 6 years ago

    THE REAL NEXT GEN!




    of board games. :\

  • Razz #18 6 years ago

    Wow what an amazing piece of shit!

  • Stu #19 6 years ago

    I think that's pretty good, actually

  • spliffhead #20 6 years ago

    Looks very similar to a Sony concept that utilised clear plastic tablets that interact with each other over a context sensitive table/surface.

    Can't remember what it was called but there is a video floating about the net somewhere, very Buck Rogers.

    Bidee bidee bidee Pwned spandex chick!

  • Carlo #21 6 years ago

    Who said gold plated D20s?

    Cheap bast!

    /can't wait to see where Phillips takes this...

  • MetalDog #22 6 years ago

    Sounds great. Talisman with spell effects going off around your character card! Entertain the childish flashing lights addict in me while keeping my board game playing pals happy.
    Homebrew possibilities too =)

  • FWB #23 6 years ago

    Japan has some mad arcade machines. One type involves collecting cards which you arrange on a board. The computer picks up these cards and which in turn affects the images on the screen. For example one game has players collecting cards to form armies. They then move the cards around the board to position their troops. Its kind of like Total War but without a mouse. You feel like Napoleon positioning ordering his troops around on a map. Cool stuff.
    Edited by 2 at 04/01/06 @ 20:52

  • Royal Fool #24 6 years ago

    This is amazing stuff. Now we can play that 3D chess game they had in Star Wars! Well... almost. But we're nearly there.

    But seriously, this thing is cool. My head is already overflowing with possibilities!

  • Xerx3s #25 6 years ago

    Just imagine spilling your drink over the table. 0_o

    "The team is led by scientist Gerard Hollemans, who probably has crazy white hair and is never more than a foot away from a mysterious glass container with all dry ice coming out of it. "

    Arnt all dutch ppl like this?

  • bionutz #26 6 years ago

    Briliant.
    Possibilities are virtually limitless. I can already think of many rpg board games. Next step: have the table screen actually made out of a hundred of small ones so that when using the spell "lift nature wall" there would actually be some squares which go up. Imagine the Final Fantasy Chronicles, with all the landscape (higher lower squares).

  • Ulgen #27 6 years ago

    Oh my god!

    /me gets starry eyes...

    All those ideas in my head, all those possibilities... Must... have... this... must... Whack!

  • bionutz #28 6 years ago

    must have this.
    Actually not. The board itself is useless without any good games!

  • Chaser #29 6 years ago

    You only actually need 3 lasers to create a true 3d holographic image - there are certian transparent polmer materials out there which emit light when they get hit with enough laser energy. You get the 3d image from where the indervidual lasers combine in space to generate a "point" of light, you can then draw whatever you want with it - color afaik is not yet possible, but should be in theory.

    The process is starting to get used in medical imaging, but its still FAR to expensive to be used for anything else at the moment.

    Star Wars chess is theoretically very possible.
    Edited by 1 at 05/01/06 @ 11:53

  • reality_cheque #30 6 years ago

    Yeah it'd be possible, but it'd have to be encased in a block, rather than just floating in mid-air.

    Unless phillips find a way to bend light.

  • boo #31 6 years ago

    Mental!

    I so want one!