RFID Helps Broadcast Scrabble Games Online

Scrabble board using RFIDLike Scrabble?

Then you might be interested in how festival organizers in Prague are giving the competitive word game a technological overhaul using RFID (radio frequency identification).

Set to begin December 1, the Prague Mind Sports Festival will unveil a Scrabble board using custom RFID technology. RFID allows changes to the board to be read in less than a second, and transmitted to online viewers using custom software.

Organizers spent over 20,000 (British pounds) to upgrade the board, with the goal of bringing local Scrabble tournaments to a worldwide audience, and allowing viewers to see each move in virtual real time.

Consisting of nine RFID circuit boards housing 225 RFID antennas, the antennas read each square on the Scrabble board. And each Scrabble tile (100 in all) is embedded with an RFID tag, while the players tile racks include RFID circuit boards.

Tune in next week to see how the technology holds up. And leave a comment and tell us how you've seen RFID technology in action.