The Summer Fun List: Gear, Gadgets and Toys That Come Highly Recommended

Utter kitchen chaos unfolded when Brynn Putnam and I got together a week or so ago and she suggested a round of “Chop, Chop,” a collaborative restaurant simulation game created by her startup, Board. Even under her close supervision, I still nearly burned the grilled cheese—then left the tomato soup unseasoned until the very last minute. And I cannot imagine my cleaning skills would score high marks from the city health department. Had it been an actual restaurant, a Gordon Ramsay type would’ve taken a cleaver to me.

Despite such meager sous-cheffery, Putnam nevertheless managed to guide us to a reasonable score on “Chop, Chop,” one of a dozen-plus titles available from Board to play on its innovative new gaming device ($399), which appears among the 41 items highlighted below on our debut Summer Fun List, a shoppable guide of gear, gadgets and other diversions for all ages.

Board is part videogame, part traditional tabletop game, using physical pieces to direct the action on a 24-inch touchscreen. (“Put that little chef down,” Putnam instructed at one point, gesturing for me to place a thumb-size, toque-clad figurine onto the device and use it to accelerate our cooking.) And once we’d finished with “Chop, Chop,” she next introduced me to the Bloogs—tiny, blueberry-shaped aliens whom players must shepherd through peril in “Save the Bloogs,” propelling them via cannons and bungee cords. Like every Board game, “Save the Bloogs” is ostensibly for children and their families. Still, I found delight in playing it—with Board’s unconventional combination of physical and digital mechanics—that I hadn’t experienced since the fledgling days of “Angry Birds” on an iPhone 3G.