GDC 2014 - Ravensberger Announces SmartPlay, Microminds, and Ravensberger Puzzle
Ravensberger has been busy! The board game/puzzle designers have been hard at work on several new projects lately.
The item on the list is the SmartPlay, which is an intriguing device that you can use in conjunction with your iOS device in order to make it act as the rule keeper/game master for a physical board game. You just attach your device to the stand so that the camera has a view of the board and the app will keep track of piece movement, dice rolls, rules, and so on. The SmartPlay will be releasing in Europe this September (so probably next year in the US) in conjunction with three games (one of them is a reprint of King Arthur!), and will most likely be adapted to work with older games down the line.
Microminds is a similar idea, only it's a self-contained game for kids. A bunch of little aliens have crash-landed on Earth and need help with fixing their ship and getting home. Kids will use the game board, cards, and tokens - along with their iOS device's camera - to find and scan the appropriate elements in order to create new ship components, and hopefully get the lost little guys back to their home planet in the process. Microminds is also due out in Europe this September.
Finally there's Ravensberger Puzzle, which is a rather large (and ever-growing) collection of digital jigsaw puzzles. You'll have your own personal collection to play around with, and the app will track your completion percentages and times for you. Lots and lots of puzzles are available across lots and lots of themes, and you can easily change the number of pieces used for a given image using a slider (all the way up to 500, with no duplicate shapes). Ravensberger Puzzle will actually be available as a universal release in the App Store next week on March 27, and will sell for $2.99.
