Best Toys and Gadgets For 2024 — Stuff I Played With In 2023
There is a big difference between a ‘cool gadget’ that is fun for a week or two on the one hand and a true evergreen game or toy that you continuously use throughout the year on the other. In 2023, there were two of these evergreens that my family and I played with on a near-daily basis. Both of these gadgets achieve what is very hard to do: Use software and purpose-built hardware to bring a traditional game to the next level, without detracting from the core experience of said game: Darts and chess.
Before jumping in it is important to note that I have absolutely no ties to either one of these companies and neither are they aware of this article.
Gran Board 3S: App-Controlled Dartboard
Before Jan 2023 I had played maybe 10–15 games of darts in my life. Darts was a repetitive and mostly boring game to me that required constant attention to counting and remembering scores. I also had no idea of how to get better and no way of tracking progress. Therefore, I was just not interested.
Why Gran Board Is Great
Strangely, buying a Gran Board for the kids (10 and 12) turned me into a daily dart player/addict. Between conference calls I often take 5 minutes to play a quick game and afterwards look at my latest stats and rankings.
Gran Board’s charts nicely visualize progress by showing averages over time, high scores, wins and losses, and so on. This is quite addictive. And all of this happens without having to count points or calculate where to throw the dart next. Points are shown on the wirelessly connected phone or tablet, while the recommended next target is indicated via LEDs directly on the board. Then there are lots of extra games that you can play for practice, against an AI, or against another human player in front of your own board or online. Tracking high scores and averages for these games is quite motivating, while at the same time makes you a better player, without even noticing.
Play Online
Online playing is another very interesting aspect of the Grand Board experience. You can buy the official camera for the board or just use the cam of any phone or iPad to show your board to your online opponent, and if you want, use a second camera to show yourself. There are always lots of players in the lobby and increasingly frequent tournaments to participate in.
The Hardware Is Great
Without any of the above described digital functionality, the Gran Board would still be an excellent dart board for soft tip darts. There are very few ‘bounce outs’ (instead of sticking to the board, the dart is deflected) and the board includes a large ‘outer circle’ that catches darts that would otherwise entirely miss the board. Darts hitting this ‘outside’ part of the board register as a ‘miss’ and so do darts that hit the wall behind the board. Gran Board uses an adjustable vibration sensor to make this happen, which is not rocket science, but it is an awesome feature that works very well. Here it is also important to mention that darts always register correctly with the board. In thousands of games this year, we have experienced one miscounted dart and very few that were not counted despite hitting the board. The latter issue is not a real problem, as you can then just give those darts a little ‘pat on the back’ so that the board will register them. You can also adjust the sensitivity of the board’s sensor matrix and of the vibration sensors that pick up misses, but we have never had to touch that setting.
You Need A Touchscreen: Use What You Have Or Buy The Cheapest Android Tablet
While I initially used my iPad to connect to the Gran Board, I quickly found that it is much more convenient to use an old iOS or Android phone or tablet and stick it right on the backboard with double sided tape (see photo above). While I chose to create a backboard from cherry wood and add a nice dart light, neither of these additions is necessary. I recommend using something as a backdrop for the board, as otherwise there will be small holes in your wall (soft tip darts have no problems penetrating drywall). A piece of plywood or one of the commercial backboards work just fine.
BYOD: Bring Your Own Darts
While any soft tip darts will work, I highly recommend to follow Gran Board’s guideline of using darts that weigh under 18 grams or less. While Gran Board may have built in some margin so that you can probably get away with 19 or even 20 grams (no guarantees), I can tell you that after a year of playing probably a few thousand games with 18 gram darts the sensor matrix and the board segments look like new.
Repairability: It’s Modular
After about 10 months of use, the LED strip that indicates where to throw the next dart went out. This is one of these things that are pretty unlikely to happen, but if it happens it is easily fixed. I spent $40 and ordered two LED strips online. After 2 days of waiting for the package to arrive and 15 minutes of unscrewing the back of the board, removing the old strip and adding the new one (via double sided tape), the board was fine again. In the unlikely event this happens again, I now have a spare strip (as I ordered two of them). Way beyond replacing LEDs, you can buy any part of the Gran Board separately, as needed. This is great, as it basically guarantees that you only need to make the initial $300 investment once.
Make Your Life Easy: Get One Piece Dart Flights
I highly recommend getting one-piece dart flights that let you omit the constant reattaching, adjusting and replacing of traditional paper flights. These all-in-one flights are made of flexible plastic and can be used for hundreds of games before needing to be replaced. Considering that a box of those flights is about $8, they are actually cheaper than using paper flights and fiddly little metal rings to more or less reliably attach them to the shaft.
Final Tip: Watch “Dynamite Dave”
While I do not know him personally, Dynamite Dave is a semi-pro darts player who taught me how to throw darts consistently, in not much time at all. His videos are quite entertaining and he has a playlist that just teaches you the basics. Dave also offers online classes via video link.
Conclusion: Gran Board Did What Is Hard To Do
Gran Board does one of the hardest things for any digital gadget to do: Take an existing game and make it better, without adding annoying overhead to it. It is fascinating to see how people who have hardly ever played darts try out my board and are hooked. That is probably the biggest compliment for any manufacturer of smart devices.
ChessUp: Making Chess Accessible for Everyone
To enjoy chess you have to first go through a painful period of ‘learning the basics’. This period goes way beyond understanding legal moves and includes learning how to play and respond to different types of openings, how to protect your key figures while at the same time improving your position on the board, and finally, how to use an advantage to actually pin down the opponent’s king and win the game.
Many kids and adults, including myself, shy away from this type of commitment and therefore never get to enjoy the great parts of this game. This is exactly where ChessUp comes in and makes chess a lot more accessible for everyone.
Take The Hint: Touch-Based Assistance
ChessUp lets players touch any one of their pieces and shows all of this player’s options to move. In the highest level of assistance, perfect for absolute beginners, the board warns of blunders, mistakes, and inaccuracies by coloring individual squares and also shows moves that are good, excellent and the best. This is great as it equals the playing field between skilled players and beginners. ChessUp allowed me to play against my, then 9 year old, daughter on an even footing, simply by enabling a few hints in the form of colored lights on the board for her, while turning off all assitance for me. When teaching kids you will be surprised how quickly you can lower their level of board-assistance down to just pointing out mistakes and blunders. This motivates even very young kids and can get them excited about chess.
Play More: Chess.com and Lichess Integration
The ChessUp board now supports both standard chess platforms for online play: Chess.com and Lichess. All it takes is a phone or iPad connected via bluetooth and you can play anyone on these platforms, without the opponent needing to also have a ChessUp board. I found this very motivating and am often playing a quick 10 minute game over breakfast.
Classes Are A Work In Progress
The board offers a number of different interactive classes via integration between a video on a tablet or phone and the board itself. This is an excellent concept that works well, but I am unclear if the ChessUp guys are still planning to expand the range of these classes. I think, they should, but they may have other priorities.
Conclusion: ChessUp Makes Chess Accessible To Everyone
ChessUp got me into chess, which is no small achievement, as I have always been interested, but put off by the learning curve. This board allows me to play the children, each at their own level, without having to adjust my own game. Finally, I love playing a quick game online against someone with a rating similar to mine, as this is a completely different experience compared to playing the AI.
