iOS Board Games

Among the best things in life is playing printed games in person with family and close friends. When those are not convenient we like iOS Board Games. News, reviews, previews, and opinions about board gaming on iPhones, iPads, iPods and even Android devices. (iPhone board games, iPad board games, iPod board games, Android board games)

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iOS Review: Ubongo

Posted by Brad Cummings

iOS Reviews

05 Oct 2011

Brad Cummings

(thequietpunk)

United States

Connecticut

The Stats:
Compatibility: iPad only.
Current Price: $4.99
Developer/Publisher: Korner Entertainment
Version: 1.0
Size: 26.7 MB
Multiplayer: Tablet play.
AI: Yes, several difficulty levels.
Itunes link:http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ubongo/id464270175?mt=8

Conclusion:
Ubongo is a well designed and produced app. It knows it audience and really caters to them. It has a few flaws but its single player campaign and art style really show what is capable with iOS board games.

Rating:

3/4 Good

17 Comments

Wed Oct 5, 2011 1:23 pm

Post Comment

Alain Baum

(DukeOfEarl)

Luxembourg
Grevenmacher

I'm sorry, but the iTunes link seems erroneous:

Quote:

Itunes link:http://www.hulu.com/watch/283003/terra-nova-genesis

This redirects me to a video of the first episode of Terra Nova by FOX and isn't even viewable from outside the US.

Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 1:31 pm
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Samuel Hinz

(abodi)

Australia
Brisbane
Queensland

lol, I noticed that immediately myself.

Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 1:47 pm
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Dave Seidner

(remus)

United States
Willow Grove
Pennsylvania

In another time's forgotten space, your eyes looked through your mother's face. Wildflower seed on the sand and stone, may the four winds blow you safely home.

App looks decent, but I'm waiting for a price drop.

Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 1:51 pm
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Todd

(xjohncandyx)

United States
North Attleboro
Massachusetts

All glory to the Hypnotoad!

DukeOfEarl wrote:

I'm sorry, but the iTunes link seems erroneous:

Quote:

Itunes link:http://www.hulu.com/watch/283003/terra-nova-genesis

This redirects me to a video of the first episode of Terra Nova by FOX and isn't even viewable from outside the US.

I hope it's a more entertaining mislink next time! whistle

Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 1:51 pm
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Brad Cummings

(thequietpunk)

United States

Connecticut

xjohncandyx wrote:

DukeOfEarl wrote:

I'm sorry, but the iTunes link seems erroneous:

Quote:

Itunes link:http://www.hulu.com/watch/283003/terra-nova-genesis

This redirects me to a video of the first episode of Terra Nova by FOX and isn't even viewable from outside the US.

I hope it's a more entertaining mislink next time! whistle

Hahahaha. So sorry about that. Serves me right for multitasking.

But hey...dinosaurs!

Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 1:59 pm
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Tony Archer

(aPilgrim)

Turkey
Atatürk Mah
Balıkesir

Comment about a possible iPhone version...

Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 2:19 pm
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Dominic Crapuchettes

(domcrap)

United States
Bethesda
MD

This overtext is brought to you by the abstract strategy game Battle of LITS and the number 20.

4 people can play at the same time ON THE SAME DEVICE?!! Wow, that is awesome. Count me in.

Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 3:36 pm
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Nate Scheidler

(950Rav)

United States
Chicago
Illinois

domcrap wrote:

4 people can play at the same time ON THE SAME DEVICE?!! Wow, that is awesome. Count me in.

The best 4-player simultaneous play I've seen on the IPad is Marble Mixer. Technically fits as a boardgame for the iOS too. Its easy to play (even with total strangers), and since the interaction is limited to short flicks you don't worry about bumping into other players.

I also picked up multi-bong for 4P simultaneous, but the play area is tightly constrained.

I'm hoping to try 4P UBongo out soon. My only real frustrations with the game are the AI (well stated in the video, it should just be a timer til the computer finishes assembling the puzzle) and the mirror function (double tapping often enough just spun the piece twice). I don't see how 4p fixes the latter, but it certainly gets around dealing with the AI.

Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 4:50 pm
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Nate Scheidler

(950Rav)

United States
Chicago
Illinois

domcrap wrote:

4 people can play at the same time ON THE SAME DEVICE?!! Wow, that is awesome. Count me in.

And Dom, anytime you want to set up Wits & Wagers multiplayer, I'm ready to add it to my IPad library.

Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 4:51 pm
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Chris Gray

(furtherbum)

United States
Erie
Colorado

I disagree that the AI sometimes taking a long time and sometimes taking a short time is a flaw.

One possible thing they could have done for AI is just to play against a clock: Easy gets the puzzle in 90 seconds, medium in 60 seconds, hard in 30 (or something like that). That's kind of boring, and doesn't feel like anything outside of timing yourself playing solo.

Something a little more nuanced (and lifelike) is a randomizer, where the odds of acheiving the solution in a certain time vary according to the skill level:

Easy has a 1% chance of getting the puzzle in under 10 seconds, 3% chance of between 10 and 30 seconds, 6% chance of between 31 and 60 seconds, etc. Expert would, of course, have some different figures here.

I can play this with a 6 year old nephew and win most of the individual puzzles, but not all the time. Part of the fun of the game is that each puzzle is different, and you might just accidentally find the solution with the first combination you put down. The computer should be able to be "lucky" too.

Edited Wed Oct 5, 2011 9:31 pm
Posted Wed Oct 5, 2011 9:30 pm
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David H

(Knave)

Canada

Bah, I have no patience for video reviews

I'm also getting a little sad that pretty much every game is iPad only.

Posted Thu Oct 6, 2011 2:02 am
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Nate Scheidler

(950Rav)

United States
Chicago
Illinois

furtherbum wrote:

One possible thing they could have done for AI is just to play against a clock: Easy gets the puzzle in 90 seconds, medium in 60 seconds, hard in 30 (or something like that). That's kind of boring, and doesn't feel like anything outside of timing yourself playing solo.

The campaign isn't really much more than this though. The 4 second solve times are pretty ridiculous. And when it doesn't solve the puzzle very fast, its ridiculously slow. The whole point to the campaign should be just getting people familiar with the game... so setting the bar appropriately with fixed times is much better than frustrating a new player.

Some people are just better than others at puzzle games, but I'd be amazed to find more than 1 person in 100 that could consistently solve these puzzles in under 8 seconds or so... and that's including working the interface.

Posted Thu Oct 6, 2011 4:39 am
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Andrew Garttmeyer

(OnlyHuman)

United States
Warminster
Pennsylvania

Knave wrote:

Bah, I have no patience for video reviews

I'm also getting a little sad that pretty much every game is iPad only.

I completely agree, why can't we just have written reviews. Videos are long, boring, and annoying, especially at work.

Posted Thu Oct 6, 2011 1:16 pm
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Jay Bartelt

(GamerChef)

United States
Grayslake
Illinois

OnlyHuman wrote:

Knave wrote:

Bah, I have no patience for video reviews

I'm also getting a little sad that pretty much every game is iPad only.

I completely agree, why can't we just have written reviews. Videos are long, boring, and annoying, especially at work.

I agree. Also, why don't you give us an ice cream sandwich or some popcorn while we look at your posts? It's really boring and annoying to look at BGG from work without some sort of snack.

Posted Thu Oct 6, 2011 1:55 pm
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ackmondual

(ackmondual)

United States

Virginia

remus wrote:

App looks decent, but I'm waiting for a price drop.

Eh.... nowadays, I'm willing to fork over decent amount of $$ for a good, SOLID app. Case in point.... Carcassonne and Ascension have been worth $5 each to me. I'll admit that if Carcassonne was $10 at the time I was ready to purchase it.... I would've instead waited until the expansions also become available to buy it. In the meantime, the solitaire mode does eek out enough replay value for me to come back to it every now and then.

I've played $1 and $2 board game titles or "board game like" titles, and what I've discovered is, you end up getting what you pay for. Case in points with the following Knizia titles... Labyrinth, Topas, and Teocalli have all been fun to play. However, there wasn't much replay value in those games. Especially with Teocalli where if you quit the game, it does NOT save your progress, so you need to play 3 to 6 minute games in one sitting if you expect to finish the game!

Knave wrote:

Bah, I have no patience for video reviews

What I appreciate about video reviews is you get to see the game in action. There's only so much that written reviews can convey. Even reviews with screenshots can only go so far.

Knave wrote:

I'm also getting a little sad that pretty much every game is iPad only.

Indeed.... people complain that there'd be too much pinching, panning, and "splitting" with the smaller Ipod Touch screen. Well, them and Iphone users do that all the time with web browsing anyways.

Posted Fri Oct 7, 2011 6:07 am
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Stephan Koehr

(S.K. Lator)

Germany
Frankfurt

It would speed up the human player considerably if you could turn the tiles counterclockwise, too. It's tedious to tap thrice on a tile to get the right alignment, if one tap in the other direction would do the trick. How about putting and holding a second finger on the display while tapping to turn counterclockwise? With the iPad's multitouch capabilities it should work even on 4-player split screen. Another issue is that the playing field would not turn if you hold the iPad the other way around, e.g. when you use the smart cover folded. That should go without saying. And the noticable small lags when sometimes trying to manipulate tiles between the two "player areas" are very annoying.

The app is certainly not bad, but there's a lack of attention to detail I've come to expect from board game apps looking at my latest purchases like Puerto Rico, NS Hex, Carcassonne, Army of Frogs...

Edited Fri Oct 7, 2011 11:51 am
Posted Fri Oct 7, 2011 11:46 am
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Rick Baptist

(SlikkRikk)

United States
Redlands
California

Ugh, I don't think I would ever enjoy playing Ubongo on a device. It's such a hands-on game and even good players can get stuck on puzzles sometimes -- there's just no way for AI or a screen to simulate that kind of stuff.

Thanks for the review, Brad.

Posted Fri Oct 7, 2011 6:08 pm
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iOS Review: Ubongo

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