The Table Is Broken — and Ready to Be Rebuilt

Tabletop gaming is one of humanity’s oldest technologies for connection. But in 2025, it’s still stuck in the past — fragmented, analog, and disconnected. Rulebooks live in PDFs. Expansions sit in boxes. “Digital companions” are isolated apps that barely understand the games they support. Meanwhile, the giants of play, keep circling the same ideas, launching short-lived experiments that never connect. The industry has no shared infrastructure, no intelligence that understands the table itself.

My love for tabletop began when I was learning English. Sitting around a table with friends, I found language through laughter, strategy, and storytelling. The table was my classroom — my first network of belonging. It taught me that play is more than entertainment; it’s how we learn empathy, logic, and connection.

Today, that same table has been left behind by technology. We’ve built engines for video games, but none for human play. We’ve built algorithms for engagement, but none for understanding. Every rule misread, every stalled turn, every broken setup — these are lost opportunities for connection.

What the world needs isn’t another app or accessory. It needs a foundation — a living, intelligent layer that understands rules, context, and players; that can weave through physical, digital, and hybrid worlds; that helps publishers design better and players stay immersed.

That’s why we built Ask Clay — the connective tissue of tabletop gaming. Clay is the Game Master for every table: a guide, an interpreter, and a bridge between cardboard and code. It learns from play itself — not to replace players, but to help them flow.

Because the future of gaming isn’t isolation. It’s connection. And the table — the oldest, simplest form of play — deserves to evolve without losing its soul.

We’re rebuilding that table now — one rule, one laugh, one story at a time.