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)
• Ravensburger Digital Announces THE aMAZEing Labyrinth HD • Slitherine/Matrix to Release Battle Academy • Queen announces iQueen Division • Tiny Token Empires Released • Summoner Wars Business Model Revealed • Trivial Pursuit Master Released • Gamebook Adventures: Temple of the Spider God Released • UbiSoft Announces Assassin's Creed Recollection Board Game App • Wizard Hex On Sale • Ticket To Ride Wins Guldbrikken Award • iPad for King of Dragon Pass Considered • Necronomicon Updated and Reduxed • Elder Sign: Omens Released • Frozen Synapse coming to iOS • Poker Pals Released • Kard Combat Update • Reiner Knizia's Tigris & Euphrates Coming November 14th • Phantom Leader Coming in Late Spring 2012 • Lead Wars Updated • Starbase Orion Updated • Reiner Knizia's Battleline Updated
• Ravensburger Digital Announces THE aMAZEing Labyrinth HD - October 24 On November 9th Ravensburger Digital will be releasing their iOS implementation of The aMAZEing Labyrinth, which is now in its 25th year of existence and celebrating its silver anniversary. This award winning board game that has sold over 13 million units will now be available on the iPhone and iPad with all new game modes and puzzles.
In addition to the classic 2-4 player game, the app will also feature new modes of play including:
Single player Puzzle Single player Time Duel Multiplayer Local Labyrinth Multiplayer Local Duel Multiplayer Online Labyrinth Multiplayer Online Duel
We've not yet heard word on price, but we know the app was submitted last Friday and was approved this week. Now you can look forward to it on Wednesday.
• Slitherine/Matrix to Release Battle Academy - October 25 Eddy Sterckx, contributor to wargamer.com and long time BGGer, posted an article over on wargamer.com (an excellent site for digital wargamers) covering his visit to Essen. The article features a couple shots of an iPad playing a game known as Battle Academy, which is a turn-based strategy digital wargame published by Slitherine/Matrix currently only available for PC and Mac. The app looks to be releasing for the iPad "in the very near future."
Battle Academy caught Eddy's eye and ours too because we're always on the lookout for an answer to the oft-repeated Grognard lament, "Aren't there any good wargames on the iPad?" We certainly think Battle Academy looks promising.
We'll stop here, but the rest of Eddy's article does go on to talk about the influence that board game innovations are having on wargames. It's a very good post-Essen read with an interesting angle.
• Queen announces iQueen Division - October 25 Did I say we'll stop there? Well, we couldn't resist. Eddy's article also mentioned an interesting bit about Queen Games that we just couldn't not repeat here.
Eddy Sterckx wrote:
"Everyone seems to be jumping on the tablet bandwagon these days. Queen games, one of the major German boardgame publishers, announced an iQueen division responsible for porting their boardgame portfolio over to the iPad. Various other companies were showing off iPad versions of their boardgames too, with particularly Small World looking great."
Q might stand for Queen, but it also stands for Quality. If you've ever played a Queen board game, then you will know what we mean. To learn that they too will soon be delving into iOS games is certainly an exciting development. We'll be eager to learn more.
• Tiny Token Empires Released - October 26 Developer Bulkypix released an odd duck of sorts into the App Store last week. It's called Tiny Token Empires and it is being met with a bit of early skepticism. Imagine if you will, a strategy board game where you play one of the major ancient empires of Rome, Greece, Egypt, Persia or Carthage on a 3D map dividing the Mediterranean Basin into 75 territories. You start with one territory and expand your empire gaining territory that provides revenue that powers your war machine with different units. Each time a battle breaks out between two empires in a territory, you have to play a game of bejewelled.
Read that again. I told you it was odd. Yes...
Quote:
when a battle starts between two armies, the game goes into Puzzle Mode in order to bring the confrontation to an end. A puzzle is presented in the form of a grid of 9x9 boxes. Each box contains a token. The armies and the 5 units that each of these armies can contain are displayed on both sides of this grid.
To be honest, I've not yet played the app and it would probably be unfair to judge it further until I do. It obviously has some high production values. Perhaps we can hear more about gameplay from those who have already plunked their $8.99 down for the iPad version or from those who bought the $0.99 iPhone version followed by $7 more worth of In-App purchases. What do you all think?
• Summoner Wars Business Model Revealed - October 27 Colby Dauch, in Plaidhat Podcast Episode 23 discusses the pricing model for the upcoming Summoner Wars. From it we understand that you are going to get the app for free and you get to pick one of the 8 starting factions. And then you can purchase the other 7 faction for $0.99 each. Or you can just purchase all factions for $4.99. Which will you go for?
• Trivial Pursuit Master Released - October 27 Some will disagree, but most of us would not put trivia games at the tops of our lists of favorite ways to spend an evening. Yet trivia is the very stuff of high geekery! Which is to say that maybe print board games aren't the best approach to trivia? Perhaps all of the benefits of a mobile platform like iOS can help a geek use (and possibly gain more of) all of that useless knowledge in more efficient time frames? Or perhaps you want to run from this one quickly as you can? In any case it's the latest from EA for this property.
• Gamebook Adventures: Temple of the Spider God Released - October 27 Since we loosely cover iOS implementations of tabletop gaming experiences, we thought we would mention Gamebook Adventures: Temple of the Spider God by Tin Man Games and simply note the increasing popularity of gamebook apps like from the Fighting Fantasy and Gamebook Adventures series.
• UbiSoft Announces Assassin's Creed Recollection Board Game App - October 28 Last week Kotaku.com posted about a press release from video game publishing giant, UbiSoft. They were a bit mystified, but it seems that Ubisoft's monster-hit Assassin's Creed property will get its own "iPad board game". The app will be known as Assassin's Creed Recollection and will be a real time virtual board game that sees you collecting a gallery of character cards with which to do battle. There's apparently an 8-10 hour single player campaign as well as a multiplayer mode.
iOS board game apps being the niche within a niche that they are, we don't usually follow the "Bigs", but apparently even they are paying attention to the rising popularity of board games. There's a YouTube teaser, but I didn't post it because it is incredibly short and nearly empty of any useful information about the game. We'll post more as we hear it.
• Wizard Hex On Sale - October 31 The Trouble Brothers really want you to try Wizard Hex, the born-digital abstract strategy game where as a wizard you vie for control of the hexagonal game board manipulating the powers of the six magical elements. The app plays 1-6 people and features online play, Game Center support, and voice chat (a very unique offering).
The Trouble Brothers had dropped the price to free this past week and have currently settled in at $0.99. They've made a heart-felt appeal to users on BGG to try out the game and letting them know how much they are supporting the ongoing development to make their apps better and better.
• Ticket To Ride Wins Guldbrikken Award - October 31 Denmark's Game of the Year Awards gave the Juryens Digitale Specialpris (Jury's Special Digital Game Prize) to Days of Wonder's Ticket To Ride app. Congratulations!
• iPad for King of Dragon Pass Considered - October 31 Earlier this week we learned from the blog of A Sharp, developer of King of Dragon Pass, that an iPad version is being considered. So far there is a lot of uncertainty regarding whether or not to go Universal or just do a separate iPad version. David Dunham of A Sharp also writes about the question of whether to do a free "Lite" version so that people can try out this excellent but pricey app to see if it is something they will like. It's a pretty open and honest blog, so if you've got something to say to A Sharp, you might consider dropping by. Also, as of this writing, the app is still marked down to a more-than-reasonable $5.99. Get it while it's hot!
• Necronomicon Updated and Reduxed - October 31, November 2, 3 Lucidsphere Media, makers of Necronomicon, the single-player role-playing and card game of arcane horror and mystery, have updated the original app to version 1.3.1 and additionally released a new separate app named Necronomicon Redux. The new app is meant for devices with 960x640 and 1024x768 screens, while the original app will still support older devices. Gameplay-wise, they are the same.
• Elder Sign: Omens Released - October 31, November 2, 3 This past week Fantasy Flight Games released their second game app title, Elder Sign: Omens. The game was released near simultaneously for 4 different devices, including
We'll have a review coming up soon. In the meantime, you can check out the 15 minute video about it below or read the positive reception the app is getting here on BGG.
•GMT Update On Electronic Versions - November 1 In GMT Games latest update, news breaks down like this:
Products that are Coded and Undergoing Testing: Dominant Species continues improvement. More testers added. Will add more testers and evaluate major systems and AI over next month or two.
Products with agreements but still in early stages, not ready to test: Manoeuvre (iOS, with an Android conversion planned) Empire of the Sun (iOS, with other conversions planned) Nightfighter (PC and then iOS) Dominant Species: The Card Game (iOS) Winds of Plunder (iOS) Pacific Typhoon (Android) Space Empires (iOS and Android) The Caucasus Campaign (iOS)
Agreement in principle for the electronic rights (but no final annoucement yet): both Commands & Colors series of games
Looking for Development partners: A long list of games which you can read on the GMT Web site.
• Frozen Synapse coming to iOS - November 2 Frozen Synapse is a "simultaneous turn-based" indie video game currently for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Developer Mode 7 announced on Wednesday that the highly acclaimed game will be coming to iOS in 2012.
According to TouchArcade.com, Mode 7 says Frozen Synapse is currently entering into a beta on the iPad. Final details on price and release date will be announced next year. Looks like we will have to content ourselves with the PC version for now. Here's a trailer for that in case you are interested:
• Poker Pals Released - November 2 Massive game app developer Chillingo has released this app which appears to be a mix of Poker and Scrabble into something entirely new. But wait! Could it possibly be an app implementation of 1978's Crosshand Poker?
We don't know for sure yet, but we can tell you this one's got game modes that include single player (against the computer AI, with 3 difficulty levels), online multiplayer, which includes an option to play a random online opponent, pass and play, and desirable asynchronous multiplayer of unlimited number of games.
There's a free lite version that only limits you to three simultaneous games in progress, has in-game ads, and locked content.
• Kard Combat Updated - November 3 Hothead Games has given its free card dueling game app a big exciting update to version 1.3. Here's the latest:
Hothead Games wrote:
★★★★★★★★★ 1.3 update information ★★★★★★★★★★
1.3 update includes support for iOS 5. This update takes advantage of new features in iOS 5, implementing an asynchronous, turn-based multiplayer games mode using Game Center.
Players can now also earn new powerful cards for their decks by recruiting their friends to the game, using the in-game friend referrals system. There are 3 new cards to earn:
★ Baphomet card - Increases the damage from all the owners spell cards by 50%. ★ Vassal of Water card - Heals 10 life to owner when summoned. Water mana growth +1. Attack equals water mana. ★ Traitor card - Destroys targeted opponent’s card.
Additional new 1.3 features include: ★ A new 'Pass and Play' multiplayer mode for playing against friends on a single device ★ Option to auto-complete all of the mage sets for players who purchase the full unlocked game
• Reiner Knizia's Tigris & Euphrates Coming November 14th - November 4 We have confirmed that the release date for Reiner Knizia's Tigris & Euphrates, developed by Sage/Codito will be November 14th. We hope to do a preview in the coming week. So stay tuned!
• Phantom Leader to be Released in Late Spring 2012 - November 4 We were able to confirm with Dan Verssen Games that Phantom Leader, the solitaire Vietnam-era air war game will be coming to iOS and Android in 2012. DVG is hoping for a late Spring release. We hope to have screen shots to share in the coming months.
• Lead Wars Updated- November 4 One of my favorite apps, Lead Wars, an app that recreates nostalgic pencil-flicking war game fun, has been updated by DemonStudios to version 1.3. The new update adds asynchronous online play for up to 30 games at once through Game Center. My folder of async games has more than doubled in the last few weeks thanks to Game Center improvements to many apps with the release of iOS 5. More and more I'm picking up my phone to find that it's my turn in some async game or other. And the updated Notifications feature of iOS 5 really keeps these organized and noticeable.
• Starbase Orion Updated - November 4 I've been having a lot of async fun with this one as well. After kind of a rough launch, Chimera Software seems to have righted the spaceship with a pair of quick updates. The lastest shows that the developer is really listening to his users and making necessary changes. Version 1.0.4 has quite a bit for an incremental update:
Chimera Software wrote:
What's new
*** Most Notable Changes and Improvements in v1.0.4 ***
- Many user requested features and improvements (chronicled on the forums)
- AI improvements and fixes. Be prepared for much more aggressive opponents!
- Game balance changes
- Empire statistics summaries; tap on the command points, credits, food, and research stat fields on the map screen to see.
- Stability and performance improvements, especially for low memory devices such as the original iPad
The app launched with a special launch price of $4.99, but will be going up to $7.99 soon, so get it before the price goes up.
• Reiner Knizia's Battleline Updated - November 6 Rational Brothers have just given Reiner Knizia's Battleline an exciting update to version 3.0. It would appear that the app now has full Game Center integration as well as the ability to log on to Gourmet Gaming. Here's the info:
Rational Brothers wrote:
What's new
Updating to this version is required to play online. Full Game Center integration. Log on to GourmetGaming with Game Center credentials, use Game Center invite friends to live or asynchronous GourmetGaming games. Game Center Turn Based Gaming supported.
Avatar submission fixed Live game Chess Clock fixed Several bugs with asynchronous games fixed. Fog / Mud fixed. Scout card rule correction. Achievements fixed for consistency.
Tactics cards played counts now reflected on the user avatar, last played cards now shown in asynchronous games.
Because of several changes to asynchronous game functionality, existing asynchronous games from previous versions are temporarily unavailable, we are working on correcting this so previous games can be resumed as soon as possible.
For the record, I'm a hardass when it comes to games I consider worth having, especially digital games. Starbase Orion is worth well over $5. Get it now.
I'm intrigued by the "adventure book" style games - Fighting Fantasy and Blood Sword were holiday staples growing up! I'm curious to see if they've aged well. Can anyone recommend one?
The Tiny Token Empires battling sounds very similar to the model that Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords and other games follow. It's a proven(?) match-3 system with extra powers that people seem to enjoy.
Elder Sign is really well done. The information is presented very clearly and help is always a tap away, so despite an initially overwhelming amount of information to absorb it was very quick to get comfortable. It isn't as punishing as Ghost Story, I managed to beat it on the 3rd attempt. But the variety of investigators adds to replay value.
Colby Dauch is awesome. Very time he sells me something it is structured in such a way that I feel like I'm getting a present. He understands his customers perfectly. ___________________________________________________________________
Whoop whoop warning there is another app called Space Empires for the iPad coming out:
Thanks for the MASSIVE update! I'm really excited about Summoner Wars. It's an auto-buy for me, so I don't care about the free app part. I'll be tossing in the $5 for the full 8-army set immediately.
Regarding Tiny Token Empires:
blindspot wrote:
Each time a battle breaks out between two empires in a territory, you have to play a game of bejewelled.
Read that again. I told you it was odd. Yes...
It's not odd. Puzzle Quest used this formula and met with blockbuster success years ago. GameSpy awarded it the "Best Xbox Live Arcade Game" of 2007. In 2010, IGN ranked the game as the 6th best Xbox Live Arcade game of all time. The game and its sequel have appeared on 9 different digital platforms, always garnering high marks.
The only thing I find odd is that the formula hasn't been copied more often than it has.
Also, you know you've made it big when Penny Arcade spoofs you:
It's not odd. Puzzle Quest used this formula and met with blockbuster success years ago. GameSpy awarded it the "Best Xbox Live Arcade Game" of 2007. In 2010, IGN ranked the game as the 6th best Xbox Live Arcade game of all time. The game and its sequel have appeared on 9 different digital platforms, always garnering high marks.
The only thing I find odd is that the formula hasn't been copied more often than it has.
Thanks Chris for enlightening me to the success of Puzzle Quest types of video games on consoles and handhelds. I'll admit that my angle is usually as a print board gamer approaching touch screen horizontal video gaming and I was not familiar with Puzzle Quest.
So as someone with more than a passing familiarity with these kinds of games, how do you think Tiny Tokens Empires compares to its console and handheld brethren?
This is like the third time that the item I'm most interested in came last in the write-up. Not complaining or anything; just an observation.
Battleline desperately needed a new online multiplayer solution, so the GC announcement is huge news for fans of the game. I'd never seen a more backwards online implementation and I really loathed having to sign up at the Gourmet Games site. Like my life needed another user name and password.
Other quick observations:
1. Summoner Wars: Day One full purchase. Every faction available.
2. Poker Pals is a blast, even though I seem to really suck at it.
3. Does anyone know if Trivial Pursuit has any sort of AI component? Or is it strictly pass-n-play among friends?
4. Setting aside all the pricing brouhaha, Elder Sign is fantastic.
Everytime I see an iOS News Bits update in my RSS reader I get both excited and scared. Excited because I LOVE these updates, and scared because it means I'm going to be spending money at the App Store a few minutes after reading the latest news.
Thanks Gabe!
P.S. I will be getting the full Summoner Wars the day it's released.
So as someone with more than a passing familiarity with these kinds of games, how do you think Tiny Tokens Empires compares to its console and handheld brethren?
Well now I'm going to have to get it.
"But honey, one of the BGG News guys asked me to try it out..."
Wizard Hex was actually free for a day or two there last week, I believe. Though $.99 is pretty much a must-buy price. The Trouble Brothers may have flubbed with their second app (I'd explain further, but I think we've already had enough of an argument about what an app needs to have, so I'll leave it at that) but they've been giving lots of love to Wizard Hex and it shows.
Summoner Wars, day one, all armies. Just put it out there.
T&E, day one. Please be as good as Puerto Rico with as excellent a tutorial.
Battleline update? Finally. I haven't tried it yet, but if their GC implementation is any good, that'll put it up there with Ascension as far as must own games go.
One of the guys at our board game club is the tester for Frozen Synapse. Thanks for highlighting his game, I know they try heavily on marketing, but the team/company is only 3 or 4 strong.
And I don't care what anyone says, that Assassin's Creed thing looks awesome. If the price point is reasonable, I'll get it just to look at it.
I agree entirely. The Assassin's Creed games have plenty of neat characters adapted/twisted from history and it could make a really cool CCG style game!
I'm intrigued by the "adventure book" style games - Fighting Fantasy and Blood Sword were holiday staples growing up! I'm curious to see if they've aged well. Can anyone recommend one?
I just finished the first Gamebook Adventure, "An Assassin in Orlandes" yesterday. There's a lite trial version that you can play up to a certain part of the story for free. I did that and really liked it. Then with the release of the newest book all 7 of them went on sale and I snagged them all. (Only played the first one, though.)
I think Fighting Fantasy has an app as well, but from the screenshots, GA has a lot more polish. The only downside is that I've been hearing about Destiny Quest, and find myself wanting different character classes for a bit more replayability.
I would not have heard of Frozen Synapse if it wasnt mentioned here, but I downloaded the demo, immediately bought it and now I am addicted and excited about an iOS version. I wonder if they could do the "buy one, get a free copy for a friend" they are doing now for PC/Mac.
If your orange juice doesn't burn on the way down, then you need more vodka!
I am excited to see Elder Sign Omens available to play on the Mac. I don't have an iPad (yet) so it is nice to be able to play one of these iOS boardgames. The game itself is alright and not really up my alley, but I bought it anyways to support the porting of these to MacOS.
First, I think Elder Sign: Omens is a great implementation and well worth the price. I am looking forward to the additions of allies and the other elder powers.
I cannot wait for Summoner Wars and especially, Dominent Species to come to an app. DS is by far one of my favorite board games.
I'm intrigued by the "adventure book" style games - Fighting Fantasy and Blood Sword were holiday staples growing up! I'm curious to see if they've aged well. Can anyone recommend one?
Tiny token empires is a big miss for me. The bejeweled part is just tedious and the game is YA (yet another) move many units one space at a time to fight a long way away. I think the AI is just trying to bore you to concede the game. It also seems very buggy when it comes to moving units. Sometimes the game reacts to a move attempt, sometimes it does not. And way too often it does something you did not intend. Verdict: Looks promising, is tedious.
Indeed!
