The story behind it

It started with half an hour of waiting

A tapas restaurant in Pollença, Mallorca. The table was set, the order was in — and in between sat that half hour which, to a child, feels about as long as an entire afternoon.

So I thought: a simple game of tic tac toe. Nothing more. Two kids, one phone, nine squares. How hard can that be?

Hard, as it turned out. The first app showed an ad before a single move was made. The second was free — for three rounds, and then came the prompt to buy. The third pushed a video between every game that couldn't be dismissed for thirty seconds. The fourth wanted an account. By the fifth I stopped counting.

Somewhere between downloads, something else became obvious: nearly all of these apps were built for one player. Child versus computer. Child versus screen. And yet there were two children at the same table, sitting across from each other, needing nothing more than a board between them.

The food arrived. Nobody had played anything.

What came out of it

TableDuel has no computer opponent. Not because it would have been too much work, but because it would have been the wrong thing. There are two players, and they sit opposite each other.

That is where the face-to-face mode comes from: the phone lies on the table between the two of you, and the second player's side is turned upside down. Nobody has to hand the device over, nobody reads over anyone's shoulder. Both see the same board — and, inevitably, each other.

It is also why the games are sorted by waiting time, like a menu. Snacks under a minute, starters for the gap in between, mains for when the kitchen is in no hurry. When the plates arrive, a game simply ends. Nothing is lost, nothing has to be finished.

And what is deliberately missing

No ads. No in-game purchases. No account. No internet. No tracking. No reward loops, no daily bonuses, no streaks you mustn't break. The app is not trying to hold on to anyone — it should bridge a wait and then get out of the way again.

These are old games: Nine Men's Morris, Dots and Boxes, tic tac toe, four in a row. Games that work just as well on a paper napkin. They are on a screen here only because you have the phone with you anyway, and the napkin you don't.

Moritz Goebel · Ginvest GmbH
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