a system and method for allowing for distributed interaction in a computing scenario is presented . the system is powered by sandtable software . first and second items are respectively displayed on interactive screens of first and second surface computers . a first token is configured to be placed on the interactive screen of one of the computers and that computers reads its credentials . the sandtable software determines a first access level of the first token based on the credentials of the first token when it is placed on the surface computer . the first surface computer displays an image of an add item symbol when the first token is authenticated as a valid token . the sandtable software is configured to detect when the add item symbol is selected and to generate a menu of new items . sandtable creates a new item based on the new item selected from the menu .