A portal device for a video game includes a pad with different zones that can be illuminated by selectable colors, a toy sensor (e.g., an RFID tag sensor) associated with each zone, a controller and acommunications port for communicating with a video game process executing on a game machine. The colors of each zone can be configured to one or a combination of three primary colors during game play, based on the game process. The portal device reacts to placement of tagged toys on zones and the color of the zones during play, and provides sensor data to the game process. The game process controls the game state in part based on data from the portal device and in part on other user input.