Computer Supported Accessible Dexterity-Based Board Games

Michael James Heron's work addresses a gap in board game accessibility: dexterity-based games such as Crokinole, which depend on fine and gross motor control, precision, and positioning, appear to have no accessible design for players with severe physical impairments. Drawing on the Meeple Like Us database of over 230 game teardowns, the research argues that these physical demands effectively exclude a significant population of players, and it proposes a computer-supported alternative in which the physical act of flicking is replaced by a single button, key, or switch press.

The proposed system is a technical proof of concept built around Crokinole. A webcam positioned over the physical board captures game state, and OpenCV identifies discs by colour and shape through masking, erosion and dilation, and contour-based minimum enclosing circles. A Unity physics engine then simulates player-initiated flicks, after which the physical board is resynchronized before play continues. The approach extends to a hybrid model in which players with differing accessibility needs share one game, with Ice Cool under development as a further title. Direction and power are set through click-based controls rather than physical flicking.

The work is explicitly a feasibility study. No user testing was conducted, so evaluation rests solely on functional requirements, and the authors acknowledge that the system translates rather than replicates the tactile experience of physical play. Calibration is sensitive to lighting and depends on known board geometry, which limits home use. Future needs include configurability, a supporting game library, and reverse, digital-to-physical state reconfiguration, which remains unsolved. The authors nonetheless present the approach as a promising bridge between physical and digital play, one that addresses an intersection they view as difficult to reach through conventional design alone.