Tabletop Games Blog · November 10, 2026 · 10 min
Screen to Table - translating digital game ideas into board games (Topic Discussion)
While digital games and board games often use similar themes and mechanisms, they offer very different experiences to the people who play them. A computer manages all of the hidden information, resolves calculations, and animates a whole world without interrupting a player's action. In board games, those things need to be handled by the players. Translating a digital idea means deciding what is vital to the experience and what is algorithms and code. In this article, I explore how designers choose how best to translate from one medium to the other while capturing the essence of both. Read the full article here: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2026/11/10/screen-to-table-translating-digital-game-ideas-into-board-games-topic-discussion/ Useful Links Paper App Dungeon review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2024/05/18/paper-app-dungeon-saturday-review/ What are Paper Apps? Q&A with Tom Brinton : https://gladdendesign.com/blogs/toylike/what-are-paper-apps-q-a-with-tom-brinton Rogue video game Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_(video_game) Sea of Thieves: Voyage of Legends review: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/2024/05/25/sea-of-thieves-voyage-of-legends-saturday-review/ Sea of Thieves designer diaries: https://steamforged.com/en-gb/blogs/brands/tagged/category_sea-of-thieves Challengers! designer diary: https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/152306/designer-diary-challengers Final Titan designer diary: https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogpost/190773/designer-diary-final-titan Richard Garfield and Christian Kudahl on Final Titan : https://www.mojo-nation.com/designers-richard-garfield-and-christian-kudahl-on-the-surprises-chaos-and-variety-of-final-titan/ Music Intro Music: Bomber (Sting) by Riot ( https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/ ) Music: Bensound License code: NYVJIPDHOKAMFYB7 Artist: : Benjamin Tissot Music: bensound.com License code: N2IWADTAI8BQUOLX Artist: : Benjamin Tissot Support If you want to support this podcast financially, please check out the links below: Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/TabletopGamesBlog Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tabletopgamesblog Website: https://tabletopgamesblog.com/support/ (Photo by David Valentine on Unsplash)