There are swathes of neat little iOS adaptations of boardgames, but I can't say they all deserve their own post. Today, I'm going to look at a bunch of iOS adaptations that you may want to consider giving your time (and sometimes money!) to. Granted, phone adaptations of games usually lack the charm of a full blown physical version, but they are an excellent way to decide if you enjoy a certain game or mechanic, before dropping the double-digit dollars on the real versions.
Rather than some sprawling mega-post, I'm going to limit myself to a small selections in separate posts, grouped by theme. This time round, the ugliest iOS boardgames.
Pathology
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| Pathology |
This is a great little, unofficial adaptation of the excellent and speedy
Tsuro.
Tsuro is a very simple filler game, and
Pathology is a faithful copy of this. Players take the role of dragons in
Tsuro, or numbered tokens in
Pathology. Players take it in turns to lay tiles in front of their token, and these tiles have winding routes printed on them. Then the player's token follows this winding route as far as they can. If you go off the edge of the 6x6 grid, you lose. If you get close enough to other players, the tiles you lay can effect them, forcing them off the edge of the screen, so it's a delicate balancing act between staying safe and distant and getting up close to pull of your finishing move. The game moves quickly - usually over in a couple of minutes - and it's a lot of fun for while, though each game really is more of the same.
Pathology doesn't have the same charm of
Tsuro, which gets most of it's fun from player interaction, but I still say it's worth some of your time.
Hive Online
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| Hive Online |
An adaptation of the (sort of abstract) strategy game,
Hive. Player's each have a bunch of hexagonal tiles with different representations of insects on them. Each player takes it in turns to lay their tiles out on the table (there is no board, but instead, all tiles must touch along at least one side) or move their tiles around. Each different type of tile has it's own movement rules. Some can move any distance around the periphery of the insect cluster, some can leap in straight lines over other tiles, and so on. The ultimate aim is to surround the opponent player's queen bee. There is heaps of strategy in this game and it has a huge and dedicated following who formulate strategies as deep as many other abstract thinkers' games. The adaptation itself is a competent thing, with some low-res three-dimensional images and an online component. It's an excellent place to hone your
Hive strategies.
Labyrinth
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| Labyrinth |
This is not a physical boardgame, but is boardgamey and spirit and comes from the legendary boardgame designer, Reiner Knizia.
Labyrinth is single player and requires the player to lay tiles to create a maze structure. Over the course of building this maze, the player might encounter monsters, and find gems, treasure chests and weaponry, before heading to the exit. It's a surprisingly fun game with some lightweight strategising and push-your-luck mechanics.
Slay
Another game which doesn't have a physical counterpart, but is so boardgamey in nature that I want to include it anyway.
Slay is actually based on an ancient Windows game which I used to play a lot when I was a wee teenager. The player is trying to win control of an island by buying soldiers, conquering land to gain resources, building defenses and cutting down the enemy, all in a turn based manner. It's much more simple and shallower than it sounds, but it's a great little time waster, is quick to pick up (with a campaign lasting about ten minutes) and a butt-ugly interface. It has a demo version, which I particularly recommend colour-blind players to try first, because there are significant colour issues, even though alternate colour schemes are offered.
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| Slay |
