The iPad might be the perfect board game platform.

Bumming around on the internet today, I came across an old Wil ("one L will do") Wheaton post.

http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2010/03/in-which-the-case-for-buying-an-ipad-is-almost-made.html

Ah ha! Like Wil - and no doubt many others - I had not been able to think of a single use for the iPad for which I would be willing to pay the asking price for it. And now I see Wil's very good suggestion (Are you listening, Steve?): playing old fashioned board games on it. And not just chess, Go, or Sorry either. Think Settlers of Catan, Risk, and Axis and Allies.

In fact, imagine being able to play Monopoly with others while having the iPad be the banker who doesn't cheat or get tired of keeping the records. The ipad would also be the referee who makes sure no one cheats and makes sure all the rules are followed. It would also be the guy who spends the time setting up the board and the pieces, as well as the guy who puts them all way when you're done. And as Wil points out, the pieces would not fly all over the place if something knocked your table over.

The iPad is the perfect platform for this kind of application. It might even give a new lease on life to computer gaming in general. I can even see the old hexagon favorites like Avalon's Hill's D-Day making a come back. Great old boardgames like these never really succeeded well on the PC because the computer itself was always stood in the way of the players.

Which brings me to another consideration. There is also the sociability factor. With a iPad flat on a table between you and another player, computer gaming would become a social activity in a way it has not been since people started looking at cathode ray tubes. The difference between the iPad and the PC is like the difference between having a conversation with someone versus watching TV with them. Its a difference that will make a difference. The iPad might even be a tool for helping extreme computer game addicts get re-integrated back into human society.

And lets not forget what it can do for children!