Here at TouchArcade, we like to keep our finger on the pulse of innovation, no matter where it might pop its head up. We were able to dig up some gems that really show creativity on display at Pax Unplugged this year and we wanted to share a few with you, dear readers. Pax Unplugged has grown every year and the convention center flow was awash in boardgame euphoria. Interestingly enough, the games that showed the most innovation have their roots in the digital world and we thought, how fitting.

Blinks
Our Pax Unplugged coverage usually covers either digital or physical adaptations as games cross the barrier from one side to the other. The really cool part of Blinks is that they comfortably straddle both sides simultaneously. Looking at a table set up for Blinks you could be forgiven for making the mistake that this is a simple game. This isn’t actually a game. Blinks is a game platform. Each puck you see on the table actually contains a different game that it can teach other pucks how to run if you connect them together. I was able to see the Astro action game and Mortals strategy games played during my time at the booth and even though you have the same physical components, each game has some very different goals and pacing.

The real meat and potatoes here, however, is not the individual games, and it’s not even the very cool LED display you see on the table top. What really excites me about Blinks is the potential a gaming system like this has for technol...