Tabletop Teleporter: evaluating the immersiveness of remote board gaming

Communication with remote persons over a video link is common today, e.g. to connect with family members abroad, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, social activities such as board games are rarely shared in this way, as common video chat software does not support this scenario well. However, interactive tabletops provide inherent support for natural tangible interaction with items on the tabletop surface. We present the Tabletop Teleporter, a setup designed to merge two remote locations into a single shared interaction space. We evaluate the system using a board game, focusing on the perceived immersion and connectedness of participants. Our evaluation shows that most measures for the social quality of a remotely shared game are not significantly different from one played with co-located participants, and that players prefer our setup over a pure videochat scenario.