For board game buffs, the most difficult part of playing might just be finding time to get together, but this allows gamers to play remotely.

• Vorpal Enterprises raised more than $15,000 in 48 hours
• Playing cards can be scanned into the program
• The system is expected to be delivered to backers by Christmas

James Lang and Thad Casey are behind Vorpal Board, where Lang is the CEO and Casey is the chief manufacturing officer. They also work with co-founder Mike Moede.

“We have an arm that mounts to the table that holds a smartphone, an app runs on the smartphone, and takes very high resolution photos and streams them to the remote players,” Lang said. 

His platform allows a host to stream a tabletop gaming session and a scanning box digitizes playing cards.

“The remote players can see in very, very good detail what you’re looking at, and it lets them zoom in on the board,” Lang said.

It is built to work with complicated games like Dungeons and Dragons, but can easily handle simpler games such as Chutes and Ladders.

“Our goal is that you can play your favorite games on the platform,” Lang said.

Manufacturing is located at the Tech Valley Center of Gravity in Troy, where they are producing pieces with a laser cutter. Casey also runs the manufacturing incubator there.

“I really liked the CEO and knew he was someone who could bring it to market,” Casey said.

Casey says the market for tabletop games is much larger than you might think.

“Last year alone it was the biggest segment on kickstarter [with] $165,000,000 worth of brand new games,” Casey said.

They are trying to raise $50,000 and hope to deliver Vorpal Board to backers by Christmas.

The system would likely cost $125 with a $5 monthly fee for the host. Lang hopes his invention allows others have fun doing something that is socially fulfilling.