Each week, we spotlight a cool innovation recommended by some of the industry's top tech writers. This week's pick is a board game/video game hybrid.

As board games have made a comeback, closets have been filling up with stacks of boards. Now one company wants to replace them with a digital tabletop console, said James Holloway at NewAtlas​. The company, appropriately named Last Gameboard, is raising funds for a device that combines "the social and tactile aspects of board gaming with some of the added benefits of video games."

(Courtesy image)

The 15.6-by-15.6-inch multitouch LCD screen can read data and interact with real physical pieces through embedded radio-frequency identification tags. The console can also, "via a network connection, allow gamers to play against each other at different locations." Eventually, Last Gameboard hopes to become a platform for trying out games, with "its own dedicated games library."