A game that allows you to flip the board out of frustration and then just reverse it has a subtle genius to it. The two-person studio Berserk Games created Tabletop Simulator, which accomplishes just that. The dice tumble like they would on a real kitchen table, the cards shuffle with convincing weight, and the pieces fall realistically in this physics-based sandbox. However, nothing is genuine. And it turns out that’s not as important as you might think.
The concept began modestly. One of the founders of Berserk Games, Jason Henry, studied engineering in college while also creating game mods. Kimiko, his co-founder, began her career in community management before joining Torn Banner Studios. The two came together because they both believed that a board game’s tactile, physical, slightly chaotic energy could be transferred to a digital environment without losing its essence. The first spark came from a game called Desperate Gods. Their goal was to create something that could accommodate multiple tabletop games rather than just one.
About 1,800 backers contributed slightly more than $37,000 to their February 2014 Kickstarter campaign. By crowdfunding standards, it’s not a huge amount, but it’s sufficient. The game was available on Steam by June 2015, and things proceeded swiftly from there.
Tabletop Simulator’s refusal to force itself on you is what makes it truly fascinating. There are no built-in win conditions. There is no tutorial that pushes you in a particular direction. You select the table, spawn the pieces, and then solve the puzzle. The physics engine takes care of everything—pieces stack, dice bounce, cards fan out—and up to ten players can participate in a session. Chess, checkers, and poker are included in the game right out of the box, but they almost seem like suggestions. The Steam Workshop, which offers more than 3,000 community-made games for download, is the true attraction. A few are unique. Many are digital versions of popular board games that have been meticulously adapted—though, it should be noted, not always with the original publishers’ consent.
It’s worth pausing to consider that final section. In certain areas, the platform has developed into a sort of open library for tabletop games, including those that are out-of-print, pricey, or just difficult to locate. Depending on who you ask, that could be a problem or a feature. Even though the community occasionally operates near the line, Berserk Games has worked to create officially licensed versions of games like Cosmic Encounter, indicating an awareness of the line.
In January 2022, a transgender user was temporarily barred from the game’s global chat for simply identifying as transgender and gay, which presented the studio with another awkward situation. The situation rapidly got worse. Berserk Games apologized, took down the global chat function completely, and donated $10,000 to the National Center for Transgender Equality. Although the response was not without criticism—the game received negative reviews on Steam—it was also one of the most thorough admissions of failure made by a small game studio in recent memory.
Never before has Tabletop Simulator been the most visually appealing product on Steam. Seasonal battle passes and cinematic trailers are absent. Fundamentally, it is an excellent space where people congregate to play games. That seems almost archaic, which may be why it has persisted. After all, the people seated around the table have always been the focus of board games. The table is simply moved online by the simulator, which also occasionally allows you to flip it over when the situation demands it.
