So - go on then - what IS this all about?

 This little blog is to chart the progress (if any) of a project that's been off-and-on (and off and on again) for many years; an electronically enhanced, internet connected boardgaming platform.

It's seen many iterations, each building on the last.
The basic premise has always been an array of hall sensors, that can detect the presence (or not) of magnets immediately above them.

By starting a game in a known state, it's possible to track the playing pieces as a player picks them up and moves them across the board. Whenever a sensor goes from "magnet detected" to "no magnet detected" we know that a playing piece has been picked up.

Similarly, whenever a sensor goes from "nothing detected" to "magnet detected" we know that a playing piece has been put down. We can write some software to keep track of which piece has just been picked up, such that when a "put down" signal is detected, we can confidently say which piece has been put down in which square.

It is on this basis that a variety of different variations on the same theme have been developed over a great many number of years. It feels like what has held the project back - at every stage - has been the desire to build a marketable product (with an affordable target price point).

Freed from the shackles of being "affordable" or "commercially viable" it's time to have some fun with this, and see what we can come up with....

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