If we weren't in the middle of a pandemic, I'd decry this product; but now it's easy to see why the Infinity Game Table is the latest Kickstarter smash.

The Infinity is essentially table with an HD touchscreen for the tabletop. Developers Arcade1up have licensed a slew of popular classic boardgames--Scrabble, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Battleship, etc., totaling more than 50 games--and programmed them all into the Infinity.

If that was all it did, I'd hate it; boardgames offer simple, tactile family entertainment without the need for electricity, and they need no technological upgrade.

However, the brilliance of the Infinity is that it's of course connected to the internet. This means that in the age of social distancing, you can now play Scrabble with family members across the country.

Doing so requires that all parties have an Infinity, of course, and the units aren't cheap. Even with the Early Bird pricing knocking $100 off of the $599 retail price, you're looking at a minimum $1,000 buy-in to remotely play games with one other party. But the high price hasn't stopped backers: At press time they were up to $603,854 in pledges on a $50,000 goal, with 45 days left to pledge.

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