Gadget Guru

A Head So Packed With Knowledge It Could Explode at Any Moment.

This issue 

How can i link my board games with tech? i need something to do with my hands! why doesn’t this USB charger work? new speaker, a new amp or new cables? my trousers snag my bike chain. help! what should i look for in a ski jacket?

Q. OWEN DAVIES, WREXHAM

What can I do to link my board games with tech?

A. Although GaGu’s ‘unsportsmanlike behaviour’ has seen him banned from board game night at Guru Towers – it is apparently not acceptable to bring weapons to the Snakes & Ladders table – he is happy to report that the ever-creeping purple miasma of tech is seeping quickly from the real world into the cardboard one.

You may have heard of Monopoly Ultimate Banking (around £28), one of the six million Monopoly variants which, this time, removes all the fun of hiding half your paper fortune under the board or cannily palming an extra 500 from the bank by using little virtual credit cards. But don’t play that: Monopoly is rubbish, and your family agrees. You may also have heard of digital versions of many popular games hitting platforms like the iPad – no dealing with components, setup or flagrant rule infractions, but the tactile pleasure of sitting around a table is completely lost. Some games also have scoring apps to help you keep track if your skill with pen and paper is that of a three-year-old hopped up on Skittles; GaGu is solidly OK with these.