Dive Club 🤿 — Designing the First Ever Tabletop Game Console

Host: Ridd
Guest: Kevin Tuohy, Designer / Creative Director
Date: October 31, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features designer Kevin Tuohy, offering a comprehensive, behind-the-scenes look at “Board” (stylized as “Bored”)—the world’s first tabletop game console. The discussion delves into the product’s design, operating system, creative direction, game development, hardware prototyping, and the unique interplay between physical and digital gameplay. Listeners get an honest and enthusiastic perspective on the ambitious process of building a new design category from scratch.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to Board (00:00–01:24)

• Host Ridd introduces Kevin Tuohy and kicks off the episode with a preview video showcasing Board’s features.
• Key Features Highlighted:
  • Large, shared digital tabletop screen (not a TV).
  • Recognizes physical game pieces placed on the surface.
  • Variety of cooperative and competitive games included.
  • Focus on in-person, social play: “Games that bring people together, sharing experiences that were never possible before” (Kevin Tuohy, 00:20).

Project Genesis & Scope (01:38–05:27)

• Kevin discusses transitioning from a previous hardware project (“Mirror”), emphasizing the ongoing quest for meaningful human connection through technology.
• Quote:
  “We all know what devices and screen time are doing to our social bonds, and what are ways we could use technology to bring people together?” (Kevin Tuohy, 01:45)
• Kevin’s initial involvement focused on designing Board’s custom operating system, despite it running Android “deep under the hood”.
• All design assets, from merchandising to brand, are managed in a single Figma file:
  “I am committing every Figma sin in the book. There is no design system. All of Board is designed... in one single Figma file.” (Kevin Tuohy, 03:01)

Evolving Role & Creative Direction (05:27–08:54)

• Kevin’s scope expanded well beyond the OS: involved in overall creative direction, brand cohesion, interface, packaging, and product photography.
• The “Pieces” as Brand Hero:
  Realization mid-project that physical pieces should be front-and-center in marketing and product storytelling:
  “At some point we had the realization, okay, the pieces are the hero. They are the part that’s the most unique, the most different... and they can be the hero of a marketing story.” (Kevin Tuohy, 07:27)

Prototyping & Physical UI Challenges (09:06–11:46)

• Started with zero brand assets; began development with rough wireframes and parallel exploration of brand identity.
• Used Figma running on the actual hardware for real-time prototyping:
  “I’d be working on my computer here and I have the board over here and I can just look over and see the changes in real time.” (Kevin Tuohy, 10:13)
• Experimented with custom control devices for hardware-software prototyping.
• Pro-Tip:
  “For anyone prototyping hardware stuff, these little controls… are recognized as a keyboard and you can reprogram them… it’s a fun way to prototype hardware stuff using just a Figma prototype.” (Kevin Tuohy, 11:22)

Lessons & Similarities with Past Hardware Projects (12:12–15:52)

• Key insight: great products sit at the intersection of hardware, software, and content, all tightly interlocked.
• Early design decisions (especially those that ship at the factory) become permanent in hardware.
• Numerous “point of no return” moments for hardware, plastics, packaging, and print materials.
• Quote:
  “Everything that exists in the operating system up until that OTA point you will live with forever because they’re going to be flashed onto units... So that first cut... you’ll never be able to change.” (Kevin Tuohy, 13:21)

Project Timeline & Process (16:13–19:17)

• Project spanned over a year; parallel workstreams (OS, games, brand, packaging) ran throughout.
• Brand basics (logo, typeface) were produced by the firm Mythology.
• Describes the impossibility of an MVP for this type of product: Board’s core experience must come together at once before it’s truly testable.
• Memorable Moment:
  “I totally remember the moment that happened for Bored... to see all those threads clicking together.” (Kevin Tuohy, 18:59)

“It Has To Be Fun” – Testing With Family (19:17–22:04)

• Personal milestone: playing a prototype with his wife, transitioning from scrutinizing states and quirks to simply enjoying the game.
• Design Principle:
  Focus on creating gameplay that’s uniquely possible through physical-digital integration, not replicable via touch alone:
  “Try to focus on things that cannot be done with touch and can only be accomplished through that unique combination of physical digital interaction... That’s what I was getting at with the idea of something that kind of has no MVP.” (Kevin Tuohy, 21:42)
• Example game: “Strata” uses Z-axis interactions, only possible on Board.

Game Design, Third Parties, and Platform Vision (22:36–25:49)

• Core launch titles were developed with a mix of in-house and third-party game studios.
• Kevin contributed especially to user experience of certain games like Strata.
• Learned the importance of sequencing and timing in teaching gameplay: “If you do too many things concurrently, the player can’t learn… the turn order and the scoring system [need to be] more obvious without explaining everything through a bunch of tutorials.” (Kevin Tuohy, 24:07)
• Platform Future:
  Board aspires to become a platform for third-party developers, encouraging the creation of innovative physical-digital games.

Innovative Interactions & Design Decisions for the OS (25:54–32:03)

• Many innovative game interactions have emerged during development, such as “viewport” mechanics using physical pieces as digital lenses.
• Designing the OS required “future-proofing” for extensibility to support new game types and users (including children).
• Avoided reusing tablet design tropes; major challenge was making a custom, fully responsive keyboard: “If you slap the Android keyboard on top of one of these… it just really breaks the experience… So we decided early on, we have to build the keyboard. And building a good keyboard… is extremely hard.” (Kevin Tuohy, 29:06)
• Used nested UI panes and depth to maintain visual context and show layered game art, even in deep settings menus.

Creative Solutions to Constraints & Brand Moves (32:15–37:27)

• Found ways to turn hardware/software constraints into “brand moments” (e.g., Mushka the digital pet, whose boot-up animation covers for loading times).
• Notable Quote:
  “Many examples where we tried to come up with a creative design solution that turned a shortcoming into something fun.” (Kevin Tuohy, 33:40)
• Key “brand unlock”: realizing physical pieces could be mascots, introducing characters like Mushka and leveraging 3D models in both product and marketing.
• Used a mix of traditional and AI-powered tools (e.g., Visual Electric, GPT image models) for mockups, storyboards, and packaging concepts.
• Advice to Designers:
  "Try to embrace that sort of matrix style, I-know-Kung-Fu mindset. Don’t listen to the little voice that says, oh, I’m not that type of person. I don’t know how to use that software tool. Just open it up and use the tools available to you to get, like, one step further." (Kevin Tuohy, 39:04)

Notable Quotes

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------| | 00:20 | “Games that bring people together, sharing experiences that were never possible before with friends or with family, face to face.” | Kevin Tuohy | | 07:27 | “The pieces are the hero. They're the hero of the story and they're the hero of the marketing because they are the part that's the most unique...” | Kevin Tuohy | | 13:21 | “Everything that exists in the operating system up until that OTA point you will live with forever because they're going to be flashed onto units...” | Kevin Tuohy | | 21:42 | “Try to focus on things that cannot be done with touch and really can only be accomplished or experienced through that unique combination of physical digital interaction.” | Kevin Tuohy | | 24:07 | “If you do too many things concurrently, the player can't learn. So for this game, figuring out how to sequence things in the right way...” | Kevin Tuohy | | 29:06 | “Building a good keyboard is... extremely hard. It needs to be responsive. You need to design all the alt states of each key...” | Kevin Tuohy | | 33:40 | “Many examples where we tried to come up with a creative design solution that turned a shortcoming into something fun.” | Kevin Tuohy | | 39:04 | “Try to embrace that sort of matrix style, I-know-Kung-Fu mindset… Just open it up and use the tools available to you to get, like, one step further.” | Kevin Tuohy |

Memorable Moments and Stories

• “Show it to my wife” Litmus Test (19:25): The first time Kevin’s wife played a Board game prototype and got genuinely immersed: “We just start playing the game and having fun and, like, smiling and laughing.”
• Mushka Animation Hack (33:06): Turning a loading delay into an endearing branded experience with Mushka the virtual pet.
• DIY Figma Prototyping on Real Hardware (10:13): Iterating live UI changes, instantly visible on the actual Board console.
• Embracing the Unknown (39:04): Kevin’s philosophy of learning new tools “matrix style” and not being deterred by lack of experience.

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00–01:24 — Episode introduction, Board demo video
• 01:38–05:27 — Hardware design origins, Kevin’s role, initial OS challenge
• 05:31–08:54 — Expanding the role: creative direction, “pieces as hero,” branding
• 09:06–11:46 — Early prototyping, real hardware prototyping methods
• 12:12–15:52 — Hardware/software/content integration, irreversible design decisions
• 16:13–19:17 — Project timeline, challenges of validating Board as a new product type
• 19:17–22:04 — Testing the games, non-replicable physical digital moments
• 22:36–25:49 — Game design partnerships, user experience, and Board’s future as a platform
• 25:54–32:03 — OS design philosophy, extensibility, and unique UX problems
• 32:15–37:27 — Constraints into creativity, use of AI tools, packaging process
• 39:04–40:36 — Self-taught tool use, embracing creative challenges

Episode Takeaways

• Unifying Physical and Digital: Board is a landmark in fusing tangible game pieces with digital gameplay—a design space filled with unique challenges and creative opportunities.
• Every Detail Matters: From keyboard responsiveness to packaging, every element needed focused attention since Board’s value is realized only when the whole comes together.
• Iterating in Public: Kevin’s willingness to embrace new tools, tackle unknowns, and “learn Kung Fu” on the job is a model for modern designers.
• Branding Breakthrough: Making physical pieces the storytelling hero led to a distinct, engaging, and memorable identity for the product.
• Platform Potential: The vision goes beyond launch: Board aims to foster a thriving ecosystem of developers enabled by its unique technology.

This episode is a must-listen for designers, creative directors, product managers, and anyone interested in the intersection of physical and digital experience design.