Carcassonne. Neuroshima Hex. Samurai. Settlers of Catan... just some of the great iphone adaptations of board games. I'm sure the fans of boardgaming here on TA are happy there are digital versions of some of the best games around. Not only that, but these games also open up the world of board games to the casual iphone gamer. And how can we not like that?? I love boardgamegeek.com. Heck if it wasn't for others mentioning in on here I would've never known about it. That site seems to be the ultimate board game site on the internet. I've learned so much about board gameing just from the past few months of visiting BGG. The best part is learning about new games. Some of the games listed on there seem so amazing. It gets me thinking, who doesn't want to see more of these games released?? There are a LOT of titles out there that could do very well on the iphone/ipad. So, to the general TA public, I ask you, do we need more of these awesome games on the iphone/ipad? If the demand is there, are there fans out there looking into making these? What games would you all like to see? Oooh just think of the possibilities. Dominion? Ticket to Ride? Pandemic? Power Grid? Race for the Galaxy? C'mon folks, let's here from you all!
Well we have, Boggle, Scrabble, Monopoly, Cluedo, Yahtzee, Jenga, What other board games do you need?
LOL @triggywiggy seriously he doesn't mean those kind of board games. He's talking more about "euro games". No it doesn't mean games from Europe. @ohbobol Tikal just camme out, from the iOS publishers of Ra and Medici. You could buy and show your support Anyway I think board games is much easier on the eyes with the the iPad. Also, for card games which require an unexposed hand I think it's hard to port. Unless it's pass and play, which I think reduces the level of interactivity board games are supposed to have. I've been really enjoying Ra and Keltis Oracle with my friends on the iPad, but both games are universal.
He mentioned board games, He was on about digital remakes of board games and i gave a list. He did not mention any other kinds of board games.
@triggywiggy Ah yes, sorry. What I was trying to say is those games you listed isn't exactly what he's looking for based on the games he cited.
@triggywiggy Yes, like spyky said, I did mean games that are more like Euro-games (or as some of the geeks call it, eurotrash). Not that Milton-Bradley crap that you'd find in any toy store I gave a few examples of what has been released, and what games I'd be overjoyed to see as well. I don't know what types of games you enjoy. Have you tried the ones I mentioned? @spyky Hah, just after posting this last night, I saw that Tikal was released. While I have never played it before, I have heard of it. So I'll have to check it out! I find it easier to convince myself to buy an app since it's a game that already exists in a physical form. And, I understand your point about the unexposed hands/pass and play. Yes that could be an issue for some titles. A lot of the eurogames have such varied play mechanics, so it's hard to say which ones would be more difficult to implement mulitplayer for. My post was to get people thinking about what titles they would love to see on here. There's also a part of me hoping some developer out there would come in and make mention of something they're working on. Because some of these titles seem to appear out of nowhere. Example, Kingsburg. Never heard of it before it came out, never saw any mentions of a developer working on it. But it did seem to just appear one day several months back. It only took a couple of early reviews and some discussion on BGG, to convince me to get it. So, let's hear some thoughts!
I would love to see some of the old Avalon Hill board games made for iOS. Some that I used to play include Advanced Squad Leader, Richthofen's War and Titan. Milton Bradley has had some great strategy games as well with Dogfight and Conquest of the Empire. I would absolutely lose my mind if I opened itunes one day and saw Milton Bradley's Dark Tower.
Yes Agricola would be nice! And just a heads up, Sage games will be brining Puerto Rico to iOS on May 19th Less than a months time!
You'd have to talk to Hasbro about most of those. Advanced Squad Leader is a bit more of a mess, it seems that "electronic rights" are currently held by someone other than Hasbro or Multiman Publishing... If we could get the Java Runtime Environment, then VASL and JASL would be options.
One word: Talisman. Now THAT'S a board game I want to see on iOS. Follow it up with Arkham Horror for an encore. Release the expansions for both as IAP and allow wifi/BT local and online multiplayer. Use iPhones/iPods with a Talisman/Arkham Horror Character app and use an iPad as the board. Would be the bomb with the iPad hooked up to a TV/projector. Well, that's what I would like to see released for iOS. I've still got my Talisman First Edition with all the First Edition expansions. Played that game for 24 hours straight in a single game from hell with every single expansion out on the board. By the 10th hour I was deliberately attempting to kill off my character but the damn thing was like a frickin' zombie, it just would not DIE! I aimed for wherever Death landed on the board but still couldn't die. I think it took another 4 hours to get my character killed off. Best. Game. Ever. Talisman, kids. That game is the $h!t.
Two words: Dungeons & Dice Was originally a follow-the-path game, now plays almost exactly like Talisman. (Which actually makes it a little weaker of a single-player game, but multiplayer is fantastic!)
Milton Bradley is owned by Hasbro as well. I'm not talking to them about anything. Besides, the EA Mobile goons wouldn't let me in the front door.
I totally agree! The iPhone and iPad lend themselves perfectly to board games and I wish we saw more of them! We are currently working on an adaptation of Robo Rally called RoboArena (you can see our post about it in the upcoming games section). If this game works out as well as we hope, then we plan on developing more awesome board style games that take full advantage of everything iPhone and iPad has to offer! So you can count this developer in for making board games! Keep the ideas coming and we'll see what we can do!
Yes! I'm glad you started this thread. Yes. Yes! YES! We need more modern board games (Euros and Ameritrash if you prefer those labels) ported over to the iPad and iPhone! My colleague Brad Cummings and I are blogging everything about iOS Board Games over at BoardGameGeek.com. Check it out at http://www.iosboardgames.com We too are very interested to hear from developers who are working on porting these great print board games over to iOS. In fact this is the first we had heard of Bravado Waffle and their work on RoboArena. Can't wait to check it out more closely and mention it in our blog!
Hey thanks for your interest! Contact me if you have any questions, or want more info (stephen [at] bravadowaffle [dot] com). I realize that the initial trailer makes the game seem like more of a top down shooter, but I'll be making a walkthrough in the next few days that shows the strategy side of the game where you pre-program your robo to carry out the set of moves in advance, and then watch the action unfold. In single player, it becomes something of a puzzle to solve. In multiplayer mode, this turns it into something like an exciting chess game where you try and anticipate your targets moves, lay traps for them, and try and sneak around without them realizing you are hunting them. Great blog by the way! I just found a mint edition Tikal at a garage sale a few days ago. I had no idea it was coming out on the iPhone too!! Sorry for jacking the thread, I'll return it to it's originally intended purpose now.
I wasn't completely sold on boardgames for the iphone until I got my hands on Carcassonne - tons of fun. Sometimes I worry when we start to create a digital alternative for the actual action of sitting down with people, moving pieces of a board game in a tactile manner. Are we replacing these moments with iphone game board games, or is it simply an addition? Is this the same as developing a baseball game for the iphone app, where people play this instead of actually going outside to play baseball. As a developer this gives me pause. Thoughts?
Ahh, so glad to see all these responses! @blindspot Awesome job with your blog! It's exactly what I was hoping to see. Definitely will be reading it a lot. @takiyah You're right. Carcassonne is what also sold me on the whole board gaming thing initially. Before that, I couldn't have cared less. Carcassonne changed that. Which leads to my other point, these iOS versions of boardgames are additions, not alternatives. A week after downloading Carc, I bought Big Box 2! Played the hell outta it. Got my friends interested in it. So, these digital versions are a GREAT way to sell people on the box version. It's a good way to spread boardgaming love! @bravadowaffle No, you're not threadjacking, because my intent was to get the good folks of TA talking about this. @tyra Never heard of those titles, so guess I gotta look them up! Don't own an iPad... yet. Think it might be time to pick one up!
I'm a tech geek/junkie and Ive been struggling with this recently-trying to decide if i want to take advantage of the monopoly and scrabble sales on right now. Seems like a no-brainer...visually its more pleasing, infinitley more portable, the details are handled by the ai etc. (look at solitaire-who doesnt play it on their phone/tablet and appreciate the fact that the cards are already set up) BUT games nights are one of the rare times where people still 'unplug' so does the ipad version defeat that. Is this just an evolution and im being resistant to change or is this too far with the digital stuff.
