Our story
Games were never
meant for a screen.
OTB helps you find real board games with real people near you — and brings the simple joy of playing face to face back into everyday life.
It started with two strangers at a board.
Years ago, I was the kid sitting alone at an outdoor table, hoping someone would sit down across from me. One day, someone did. We played a couple of games, talked, laughed at the bad moves — and I walked away with something I've never shaken.
Playing in person just hits differently. Online is easy, but the real magic — the tension, the eye contact, the laugh after a blunder — only happens across a real board. And almost everyone who's felt it wishes they did it more often. That's the whole reason OTB exists.
“The thrill of the winning move, the laugh after a mistake, the eye contact across the board — none of it happens behind a screen.”
Online made games easy. It also made them lonely.
Apps connect players in seconds — that's brilliant, and part of why so many games are thriving. But playing on a screen isn't the same as playing in person. The tension, the emotions, the shared laughter across the table — that's the part we quietly miss.
OTB fixes the hard part. It makes finding a real game, with real people, as easy as finding one online. Chess, Catan, D&D, backgammon — any game, over the board, near you.
Bigger than a game.
This was never only about chess, or even only about games. It's about reconnecting people — the way a stranger reconnected with me at a chess table all those years ago. Off the screen, into a café, a park, a club. That's the whole idea.
Real boards. Real people. Real games.
Come play over the board.
Find a real game near you, or start one and let players come to you.
Made in Zürich 🇨🇭