Timebox - The Configurable Board Game Timer

We’re making Timebox, a digital smart board game timer that is designed to work with any board game in your collection, at any player count!

What is Timebox?

Timebox is a digital smart board game timer, and it is a lot more versatile than a regular chess timer. It is designed to work with any board game in your collection, at any player count. 

[GIF: Match cut between images of Timebox with different board games]

It is very quick to set up, and it can also be easily customized to any preferences you may have, for the specific game you are currently playing.

[GIF: App settings?]

You can set different times for different players. You can choose whether the timer resets each turn or keeps counting down throughout the entire game. You can also have a different timer setting for a communal phase of the game, such as an auction phase. It also supports more advanced timer types like Byo-Yomi and Canadian Overtime. 

[GIF: Timebox being passed to a different TimeTag]

Timebox automatically knows whose turn it is as you pass it around the table during the game, and you can very easily pause the timer when you need to. It also gives visual and audible feedback to let you know how much time you’ve got left on your turn.

[GIF: Timebox counting down]

How does Timebox work?

On your turn, Timebox is placed on top of your personal TimeTag. As soon as you place Timebox down, your timer starts counting down. Depending on the settings of your TimeTag, this will either be a completely reset timer, or a timer that continues from where it left off when your last turn ended. (Perhaps even a combination of the two!)

[GIF: Timebox placed on top of TimeTag, timer starts]

If you need to take a break, you simply move Timebox away from the TimeTag, and the timer will immediately pause.

[GIF: Timebox being removed from TimeTag, timer pauses]

When you only have a few seconds remaining, Timebox will give you an audible cue that intensifies until the time runs out!

[GIF: Timebox running out of time]

After your turn is done, you pass Timebox to the next player in turn order, who places Timebox on their TimeTag.

[GIF: Timebox being passed to a different TimeTag]

The timer state is tied to the active TimeTag, so everything works seamlessly even if the turn order changes mid-game.

How do you set up Timebox?

There are several ways to initially set up Timebox. The most versatile way is through the Timebox app, which works with both iPhones and Android phones.

Through the app you can define as many different individual timer settings as you want for any particular game. Most often, you only need to define one simple timer that applies to all players. Perhaps the game has a communal auction phase where you want to give all players a bit more time than on a regular player turn. However simple or advanced you want to set things up, the Timebox app can easily handle it. You can save and load different presets, so you don’t need to set this up manually each time you want to play a particular game.

If you don’t want to use the app, you can also set Timebox up using special preset tags. That way, Timebox still works just the way you want it to, even if you don’t have access to the Timebox app.

If you don’t feel like customizing any settings at all, your previous settings will always be remembered. So you can just get your Timebox out when you arrive at the next game night, and everything will be ready to go, just like the last time you used your Timebox, days or months ago.

When you are done customizing your settings, you scan the TimeTags with your phone (or with the Timebox itself, if you didn’t use the app). This writes the settings you made to each individual TimeTag. If you’d like, you can have different settings for every individual TimeTag.

After you’re done, simply hand one TimeTag to each player, preferably in their matching player color!

Hardware features

Timebox is charged using a standard USB-C port, and uses a regular replaceable 18650 lithium-ion battery. The battery inside Timebox lasts for many hours, so even if you’re playing all-day, there is no need to pause the game to recharge it.

You can remove the outer casing of Timebox by twisting it. This way you can access the battery compartment, and perhaps even more importantly…

…You can replace the outer casing with a different design! This way, you are able to customize the look of Timebox to something that best matches the theme of the game you are currently playing.

No matter how many players you are, how advanced or simple you want the timer settings to be, how often the turn order changes or how many different phases the game has, Timebox can handle it. And it does so intuitively and easily!

Who are we?

We are a company from Stockholm, Sweden. Huzi Development is founded by Christian Hellman, a board game lover who decided to start his own company to pursue projects related to his passion for board gaming. 
Timebox is Huzi Development's first product.

Why create Timebox?

Me and my friends love board games. However, we all have varying levels of time available to play together. Many of my friends have obligations, early bed times and other commitments that sadly do not include playing board games.

My group plays a variety of games and we especially like heavy euro games, which normally take several hours to finish. We have tried various methods of time control, like a verbal agreement of “let’s finish by 10pm”, or having someone do the game setup in advance, preordering dinner and committing to doing the cleanup immediately once the game is finished. Even with these precautions, players sometimes tend to forget that it's their turn or get lost in their own complex optimization scheme ("analysis paralysis").

Putting a sand timer in front of a friend felt rude and a somewhat crude attempt to make a game finish before bedtime. A sand timer does not give any gentle audible reminders, it does not understand turn order or game phases, it only represents a fixed time limit, and needs to be (sometimes slowly) reset every turn.

Hence, faced with this important dilemma, I have been developing Timebox. A board game timer so flexible that you can use it with any board game.

I thought it was important for Timebox to have a lot of features, without breaking immersion and interfering with the table presence of the game. I didn’t want players to have to pull out a phone to pass around the table.

I wanted Timebox to look like a board game piece. As it is supposed to be used for a variety of different games, it was important to make it blend in well. It can’t use a specific art style, and it shouldn’t look like a distracting piece of technology that takes focus away from the game. I also wanted the interface to be user-friendly and a natural part of the game. Not something you have to reach to press, flip around, or something that has cables.

So after a lot of tests with my group I realized that moving a piece around felt natural, as many games already do this with for example a starting player marker. I noticed that the timer sometimes needed to be passed around quickly. It couldn’t be brittle, hard to find, or hard to grab, so I eventually settled on a baton-shaped piece with a replaceable outer casing to fit in with whatever game is currently being played.

After testing the Timebox for a while we started to quite like it in our game group, and we use it with almost every game now. We use different settings for different occasions and game combinations.

We have all been backing more crowdfunding games than we could previously manage to play. This invention has enabled us to play a lot more games that had long been shelved due to concerns about time constraints.

So back in October of 2024, me, my sister, and a couple of friends took the device to Spiel Essen, where we showed the finished prototype to real board gamers (probably quite a few of you reading this saw us there).

After gathering feedback from several trade fairs, I have been working with partners and factories to get the device ready for production. In the meantime, playtesting and feature development has continued. The feedback from the fairs has been fantastic and encouraging.

I hope you will join me in realizing Timebox. It has helped me and my game group make board gaming more fun and more feasible.

/Christian

Timebox at a glance

• Works with any player count.
• Supports variable turn order.
• Supports different timer types.
• Visual and audible feedback when time is running low.
• Supports different playing phases (auction, voting, etc.).
• Swappable skins for customized looks.
• Rechargable with replaceable battery.
• Companion app:
  • Create custom timer configurations.
  • Save your favorite timer configurations for your game collection.

Note: All photos feature prototype components.