# TablePulse

> Board-game and tabletop intelligence API. Recommendations, comparisons, expansion advice, collection valuation, crowdfunding radar, party/solo/family picks, complexity checks, multi-region pricing, and Spiel des Jahres / Kennerspiel / Kinderspiel award tracking — all via x402 micropayments on Base. Never uses BoardGameGeek data.

## What This Is

TablePulse is a pay-per-query API that synthesizes Claude's own board-game knowledge, live Tavily
web grounding, and two free public data APIs (BoardGamePrices.co.uk for pricing, Gamefound for
crowdfunding) into structured, actionable board-game intelligence.

## ⚠️ Compliance note

TablePulse does NOT call the BoardGameGeek XML API and does NOT ingest BGG data dumps — BGG's
Terms of Use prohibit commercial use of their API/data without a license, and separately prohibit
using "Geek Websites" content to train or ground an AI/LLM system. Every Tavily search this service
makes explicitly excludes boardgamegeek.com. BGG may be mentioned as a place a user can check things
themselves (e.g. the live player-count poll or community rating) — never as a data source we query.

## Payment

All endpoints require x402 micropayment (USDC on Base mainnet).
Protocol: x402 | Network: eip155:8453 | Asset: USDC
Payment address: 0x50ab2018c06c6E4eAA9BA52057Eb55eD284912fc

To use: send a GET request without a PAYMENT-SIGNATURE header to receive a 402 response with
payment requirements. Sign the payment and retry with the PAYMENT-SIGNATURE header.

## Endpoints

GET /api/table/recommend?player_count={3-4}&complexity_tolerance={light|medium|heavy}&themes=&playtime_minutes=&budget=&ages=&lang=
- Returns: ranked shortlist of game recommendations with fit reasoning, honorable mentions, honest avoid-list
- Price: $0.15 (Sonnet)

GET /api/table/compare?games={GameA,GameB,...}&use_case=&lang=
- Returns: head-to-head comparison across mechanics, complexity, replayability, price, and a use-case-specific verdict for 2-4 titles
- Price: $0.10 (Sonnet)

GET /api/table/expansion-check?base_game={Game}&expansions=&lang=
- Returns: which expansions are worth it, standalone/compatibility status, recommended buy order
- Price: $0.08 (Haiku)

GET /api/table/collection-value?games={Game1,Game2,...}&condition=&lang=
- Returns: collection valuation — out-of-print premiums, reprint-risk warnings, condition factors. Estimates only, never an appraisal.
- Price: $0.15 (Sonnet)

GET /api/table/crowdfunding-radar?project={Campaign name or Gamefound slug}&platform_hint=&lang=
- Returns: back-now-vs-wait-for-retail verdict, FOMO economics, late-pledge notes, typical retail-price outcome
- Data: Gamefound public API (real campaign figures when hosted there) + Tavily
- Price: $0.12 (Sonnet)

GET /api/table/party-finder?group_size={8}&vibe=&drinking_ok=&family_mixed_ages=&lang=
- Returns: party/social game picks by group size and vibe, drinking-variant and family-mixed-ages notes
- Price: $0.10 (Haiku)

GET /api/table/solo-picks?preference={puzzly euro|narrative campaign|...}&experience_level=&lang=
- Returns: best solo-mode games, with an honest solo-variant-quality read (designed-for-solo vs. weak bolt-on)
- Price: $0.10 (Haiku)

GET /api/table/family-fit?youngest_age={6}&oldest_age=&player_count=&lang=
- Returns: age-appropriate picks — actual-age-vs-box-age reality check, gateway-game progression ladder
- Price: $0.10 (Haiku)

GET /api/table/complexity-explainer?game={Game}&group_experience_level={...}&lang=
- Returns: plain-language complexity breakdown, honest teach-time reality, rules-overhead verdict for THIS group
- Price: $0.08 (Haiku)

GET /api/table/deal-watch?game={Game}&region={GB|DE|US|DK|SE}&lang=
- Returns: MSRP vs street price, when/where deals happen, holiday cycles, Kickstarter-vs-retail math
- Data: BoardGamePrices.co.uk (live, attributed, hourly-cached) + Tavily
- Price: $0.10 (Haiku)

GET /api/table/award-tracker?award={spiel-des-jahres|kennerspiel|kinderspiel|golden-geek}&year=&lang=
- Returns: nominees, winner status (only if actually announced), what the award means for buyers/publishers
- Price: $0.08 (Haiku)

## Discovery

- OpenAPI spec: https://tablepulse.vercel.app/openapi.json
- Agent discovery: https://tablepulse.vercel.app/.well-known/agent.json
- Free trojan page: https://tablepulse.vercel.app/spiel-des-jahres-2026.html

## Notes for AI Agents

- All endpoints return structured JSON, all support `lang` for non-English responses (keys stay English)
- Every response includes a `coverage` block reporting whether live grounding actually returned results, and a `disclaimer` explaining what was and wasn't sourced
- Never trust a specific BoardGameGeek rating/rank number in a response as current — this service does not query BGG; treat any such reference as illustrative language only
- Retailer names (Amazon, Miniature Market, Zatu Games, Philibert, Noble Knight Games, GameNerdz) appear in a server-attached `retailer_directory` field, never as model-generated URLs