Our story

A father, a daughter, and a table from 1985.

In 1985 my sister and I played Dig Dug on a cocktail table at a kiosk in Kristiansand. We loved it, taking turns, one player at a time. And I started to dream of a table where we could both play at once.

An old photo print: a Dig Dug cocktail arcade table in an empty Norwegian café in the early 1980s
A cocktail table like the one at the kiosk. We loved it.

Forty years later, my daughter Jeanne and I co-built it, to get that feeling back with everything that's possible today. Every part of FLATBOY is designed and made by the two of us: the walnut woodwork, the cabinet, the buttons and the electronics, and on top of that all the software, from the lobby to the games and Flatlabs.

Jeanne and I milled the wood on our own CNC machine, printed every part on our own 3D printer, and tested every game on it ourselves, late at night, one of us at each end.

An early prototype on the workbench, with four buttons a side and no spinner yet The walnut edge and the black base A stick and buttons

An early prototype in our workshop: only four buttons, and no spinner yet.

Made in our workshop

Made with love, in Norway.

It's meant to feel like a piece of furniture, not a gadget. So every detail gets the time it needs: the walnut, the edges, the way a button sits in the wood.

The top, taking shape in our workshop.
The stick going into its printed holder.
The finished top, before the screen goes in.
The tray that holds it all, printed in black, layer by layer. Timelapse.
A whole bed of button parts, printed overnight. Timelapse.
The long frame parts, a night on the printer. Timelapse.

The two of us.

Bjørn Ivar Knudsen

Bjørn Ivar Knudsen

Founder · the dad

I've spent more than 25 years making products and building companies, most of them a physical thing with its own software, from the first drawing to the day it's in someone's hands. For FLATBOY I designed, built and programmed everything together with Jeanne: the furniture, every printed part, the electronics, the lobby and the games.

  • Sound Business: built Europe's largest in-store radio system, hardware, software, production and installation.
  • QuickLog: founded Norway's largest digital driving log, more than 30,000 users, later sold.
  • SmplCo: partner in a product studio behind more than 125 products.
  • Sloydr: my own software for the CNC machine that mills FLATBOY's wood.
Jeanne I. Knudsen

Jeanne I. Knudsen

Game design · the daughter

Jeanne has a bachelor's degree in game design from Kristiania and UI design training from Noroff, and has taught game design at Kristiania. By day she's a product designer, working on interfaces, 3D and product animation.

On FLATBOY she's in on everything, from how a game feels in your hands to how the lobby looks across the table. I learned to play on a cocktail table in 1985; she has a degree in making games. Now we make them together.

Come and play.

The first fifty FLATBOYs are the Founders Edition, at the same price as every other.

Pre-order