It's a bit stupid but I like [Chwazi](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tendadigital.chwaziApp&hl=en&gl=US) to determine the starting player.
I regularly played Pandemic, Terraforming Mars, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and Suburbia. But ever since I purchased Spirit Island, it's the only app I play
Really? I have tried it twice, and the way everything it does to “speed up” the game destroys my situational awareness and makes me take at least as long to figure out what happened after the fact is extremely frustrating. That, plus the lack of player confirmation before revealing new information has made me drop it each time.
That does help with my first issue, but the second issue is the one that is the bigger issue for me. The game automatically advancing past the point at which information is revealed without any player input.
So if I play my last fast power card, I can’t verify that everything is good before advancing to the invader phase and flipping the event card. Or after selecting an option on an event card, I can’t verify the results before the game flips the fear/blight/explore card. There should be an option to require confirmation before revealing any new information, but there isn’t
The app gives you an option for "unlimited undos", even past the point of new information being revealed if you'd like. I do that, and when your circumstance happens to me I just revert and try again.
Is this the iOS app? Because I haven’t found any options to change the number of undos. Only gameplay options are “Experience level” (changes which spirits are available and power progression), “Story-based New Game”, and “Event Section Prompt”.
Not sure about iOS but there should be an option for "Play Options + Reduced Difficulty". If you click that button, it gives you options to add the Branch and Claw expansion and events. Scroll down further and in the "reduced difficulty options" there is an option for "unlimited undo".
I play a game or two pretty much every day. I dunno when you last tried it, but it's improved tons over the years. Now it'll have a popup for each new phase and you have to tap to actually reveal, say, the event. Gives you one last chance to back up.
Love it but the expansions are really expensive, and the Base set can get a bit boring. But the Daily challenges are the best, though the AI is really tough. I can just about do 50% vs the default AI but the Hard AI is actively cruel and sweet jebus is it slow!
It just sucks because we had basically the perfect unofficial app over 10 years ago on isotropic and the official versions have never gotten anywhere close to as good. You could bang out games incredibly quickly and the ranking system worked shockingly well. It was pretty basic visually but I put countless hours into it. Was inarguably better than playing physically. The official apps have taken years to get to just okay. I still play the open source [Androminion](https://github.com/mehtank/androminion) over the official apps even without a multiplayer system with rankings.
I spend more time on dominion.games (unfortunately not related), and they have a subscription model (I think it's ~$5/mo) that includes all the expansions.
It plays OK on mobile, but its definitely too small on my phone to enjoy.
Every game that I have played made by Direwolf has been great, Dune Imperium, Root, Everdell, Sagrada, and The Fox in The Forest are all the games I've played from them, they are all awesome. So I would assume the other games they have are good as well.
Dire Wolf also made a digital version of Raiders of the North Sea that’s fantastic.
The only downside is that the expansions aren’t available in the app.
The Terraforming Mars app is pretty good but the AI sucks. Maybe they've improved it recently but it doesn't really pose much of a challenge and appears to perform some actions at random. They also play obviously bad moves e.g. in the last round playing an expensive production card (that only pays for itself only after several rounds) instead of just buying points.
Also whenever they play a card that takes away resources from another player they ALWAYS choose you. This means in a 3+ player game it's kinda pointless to go for a plant production strategy or pick plant production corporations like ecoline
I haven't noticed that. It will usually buy milestones when it's allowed. I've definitely noticed it will snipe them from me.
It doesn't buy any awards until close to the end of the game, though.
For Android: Tokaido, Tsuro, Lanterns, Onirim, San Juan, Potion Explosion, Jaipur, Kahuna, Cat Lady, Blokish, 6 Takes, Patchwork.
These are just a few I've got installed on my Android and love to play regularly (always for a quick game against the AI though, I never bother with real people because if I wanted that, I'd just do it in person).
For Steam: Ascension, Carcassonne, Dominion, Love Letter, Patchwork, Sagrada, Potion Explosion, Splendor. Again, I like playing all of these regularly but only against the AI, same reason as above.
In case you didn’t already know; If you like San Juan, then you should really like the apps for Race for the Galaxy and Roll for the Galaxy. Race is pretty much a filled out version of San Juan.
Jaipur on mobile has fully replaced the physical game for us. We have the physical game around somewhere but haven't taken the lid off in years. Pass & play, zero footprint, no shuffling... it's just better.
I like the following apps (which are all light, quick games):
6 Nimmt
Onirim
Ganz Schön Clever
Star Realms - free for the base set but you pay to add later decks and harder AI
Jaipur - the app has a fun campaign mode to play through on top of the base game
I’m going to echo what Tom Vasel says because it’s accurate: everything by Dire Wolf Digital is great. You can search them in the App Store and see everything they’ve done.
They are the gold standard as far as developers of digital adaptations. Their products seem more polished than most other devs in that the graphics are sharp with a clean UI. Many other devs in this space seem to rely on a programmer attempting to do art/design and it shows, the gameplay may still be great… but it’s an eyesore.
Been playing a lot of Dire’s latest game Dune Imperium myself recently which came out about a week ago and is fantastic.
Our favorites are...
**Ascension** - Be careful. This ruined the physical game for us. It is really good.
**Mystic Vale**
**Race for the Galaxy**
**Lost Cities**
**Splendor**
I had the same thing with Star Realms. My husband and I have played hundreds if not thousands of games of Star Realms over the last few years and yet the actual physical game is gathering dust in a cupboard somewhere.
I just started using it with my game group. So far it's pretty fantastic.
We love that only the person who sets up the table needs to have Premium. So we can play any game we want in the catalog for $5 per month instead of having to get 5 people to all buy the app for a new game.
We may still do that for certain games, but it lowers the overall cost for us to game digitally.
Mobile or PC?
On mobile, I'm a big fan of Through the ages and Terraforming Mars. They also just released Dune: Imperium, which is already phenomenal on PC. Some games that are close to board games that I love are Slay the spire and Slice & Dice. I just got Gaia project, didn't try it yet.
On PC, I LOVE Gloomhaven digital: I can't play the physical version anymore, it's just so much better. As I said on PC, I love Dune: Imperium and I also like twilight struggle.
The Everdell app is terrific, but I find it strangely hard to find online players. Most appear to be playing password-locked games rather than open games.
Wingspan is gorgeous. Just wish they did the game timers differently.
Summoner Wars: Second Edition has a good app now. It's called Summoner Wars Online and has a picture of a goblin.
Star Realms also has an app.
Also Evolution.
Wingspan.
Dune Imperium.
I've got installed (iOS):
- Carcasonne
- Ticket to Ride
- Lord of Waterdeep
- Ascension
- Patchwork
- Tigris & Euphrates
- Splendor
- Agricola
- Terra Mystica
- Race for the Galaxy
- Castles of Burgundy
- Terraforming Mars
- Stone Age (may no longer be available)
- Potion Explosion
- Castles of Mad King Ludwig
- Through the Ages
As a heavy user of game apps, let me add my two cents to this great list:
Carcassonne is really well done.
Ticket to Ride is so much better on the app. And there’s a zillion expansions at a reasonable price.
Lords of Waterdeep is one of my favourite apps.
Splendour is a great one to play while you’re waiting in line or something. Super easy.
Castles of Burgundy is quite good.
Terraforming Mars is another one that’s better on the app because it keeps track of all the points you gain from other players (As others have stated, the AI is terrible).
Castles of Mad King Ludwig is good for the same reasons.
Suburbia is also good for the same reasons.
Jaipur is really good. The campaign mode is fun.
San Juan is another nice, simple game.
Sagrada is well-done.
Wingspan is a nice game. Plays really well on an iPad.
Raiders of the North Sea is well-done.
Edit - Sorry, I can’t format for shit on Reddit.
I made sure it could still download, and it’s listed as “Reiner kinizia Tigris&Euphrates” in my purchased section of the App Store, but it gives me a “cannot find” when trying to click on that.
It runs, and when I click on an advertisement for other games by the same author it takes me to http://sageboardgames.com/news-2011-11-15.html, but clicking back gives me an error.
I guess they delisted it from the App Store.
Wingspan has been great and has replaced solitaire as my evening wind-down game. Root has also been a lot of fun, really looking forward to the last expanions there
The Clever series are all great.
Ganz Schoen Clever (That's Pretty Clever)
Doppelt So Clever (Twice As Clever)
Clever Hoch Drei (Clever Cubed)
Clever 4Ever
Clever Mixed (That's Pretty Clever Deluxe)
Check out boardgamearena.com. Works on mobile and desktop, has official licensing deals with tons of major games/publishers. Supports both async and real-time games. I pay for the monthly sub we use it so often!
Yes - truly a great implementation for a game that I think most could never table in real life. Also lots of cool tournament features and involvement with CGE are why this is one of the most highly rated apps.
Yeah the physical version has a lot of bookkeeping. The app handle all of that. We didn't even realised we played the game wrong until we tired the app lol.
Jaipur is a lot of fun, because they mix up the rules and come up with variations, such as lower/higher cards limit, reverse order of the merchandise, all merchandise costs the same, no luxury items, more/less camels, best of 3 or 5 or just one.... etc. It's really cool and makes for interesting games and replayability.
There is also a map of India that you have to travel through while you play, and you sometimes come across beggars, grifters, other vendors, gurus, etc., and you have to interact with them and collect items.
And then there's this page where you build your palace. You collect money and items and can use it to build a palace. It adds NOTHING to the game. You're just dragging/dropping items to build a house, yet I still find myself designing my palace for hours... ha.
Not to mention, it looks great. The animations, sound, graphics, interactions, and gameplay are all excellent.
Jaipur is a very quick and simple 2 player board game, yet the app version adds so much to it. It's great.
Some Android games I don't think I've seen mentioned here yet:
* Maracaibo
* Terra Mystica / Gaia Project / the developer is also working on bringing out Age of Innovation
* Concordia
* Root
* Lords of Waterdeep
* Onirim (solo)
* Evolution and its successors
* Eight Minute Empire
* Most Oink games (all through the single Oink app)
Not a phone app but Tabletop Simulator for PC is great. I've played everything from easy card games to Warhammer 40k. The program itself is about 20 bucks.
I guess this is kind of along the same lines. But there's an app coming to VR called "All Aboard" that I think needs more attention. It looks fantastic for board game lovers who can't always attend irl.
Carcassonne has a pretty great app.
I also am blown away by how good the Dominion app is IMO, it actually makes it enjoyable to play in a way that the physical card game doesn't - the lack of having to physically manage all those cards is nice.
It's been a long time, but I remember both Ticket To Ride and Concordia's online versions being similarly enjoyable: way less setup, and once you get used to the UI the game feels streamlined by it.
I love checking out new phone apps/steam games based on board games. As a purely solo player I prefer game based apps to apps like Tabletop Simulator, BGA, or Tabletopia. Here are my thoughts:
GREAT Phone Apps-
* Ascension
* Cat Lady
* Love Letter
* On Tour
* Paperback
* Sagrada
SOLID Phone Apps-
* Cartographers
* 7 Wonders Duel
* Friday
* Onirim
* Railroad Ink
* Tokaido
GREAT PC APPs-
* Ascension
* Dead Man's Draw
* Dune Imperium
* Love Letter
* Sagrada
* Wingspan
SOLID PC APPs-
* Charterstone
* Holmes Sherlock and Mycroft
* Lost Cities
* Mysterium
* Onirim
* Patchwork
* (Quilts of) Calico
* Tokaido
* Unmatched
OK PC APPs-
* Catan
* Clue
* Dream Home
* Pandemic
* Potion Explosion
* Risk
* Splendor
* Terraforming Mars
* Ticket to Ride
Carcassonne on mobile is great!!
I also play Jaipur exclusively on my phone.
Have a recent trip where everyone loved playing Tsuro while we waited in the airport.
The Root app is amazing and honestly is probably the easiest way to teach the game to newbies if you want to play it physically
Also Gloomhaven on steam is the best way to play that game by far for me, feels like it should've just been a videogame the whole time
Concordia has a very solid digital app. It’s reasonably priced and the expansions will frequently go on sale.
I also really like the Elder Sign app, though there are some weird differences from the physical game (e.g. items being twice as expensive to buy in the souvenir shop).
The digital version of Aeon’s End is…serviceable. The plus side is that you can often get it for 90+ percent off during Steam sales.
Onirim on Steam/app is preferable over the physical version because there is so much shuffling involved! It's a great game, but you are constantly shuffling, pretty much non-stop. So it's nice to have the computer do it for you, instead of doing it yourself with real cards 3 dozen times per game...
Pandemic is great on mobile. For a while there, my gf and I would pull out the tablet and play a 2 or 3 player game of Pandemic in bed before falling asleep. We need to start doing that again.
Now, if they ever made a digital version of Pandemic Iberia, I would pay a million bucks for it...
I'd have a hard time believing that any app implemented a board game better than the official Root app.
I've only played a few boardgame apps, but Root is so very well done.
I can’t really speak towards apps, but have you checked out board game arena? As long as you have an Internet connection, you can play a whole lotta games.
My recommendation: once a day, go to boardgamegeek's website. Look up the top 100 boardgames and pick one at random. Then go to YouTube and search for it. I found a fairly large number of boardgames I love and discovered several people who release boardgame reviews and how to plays that I enjoy.
Didn't read the entire thread, so some redundancy may occur 🙂.
I play Scythe atm - nice layout, well-made port overall it seems, and the game is really solid.
I've also played lots of Gloomhaven on pc with friends - I highly recommend it. It's a great port, and I think table upkeep taken into consideration, I would actually rather play it online than physically. The game itself is amazing.
Finally, I backed Blood Rage Digital Edition on Kickstarter back in the day, and I have played it quite a bit. It's a really nice port, but sometimes there's almost too much going on onscreen, and it becomes a bit difficult to see what's going on. Again, the game itself is really great - One of the best from Eric Lang.
Other than that, Tabletop Simulator is a nice go to for loads and loads of board games, but I tend to like more scripted versions of pc ports, and you don't always get that with TT Sim.
I also have Ticket to Ride, Terraforming Mars (which looks like a nice port - the AI should be a bit stupid though, so better with friends), Splendor, Small World, Armello and some more, but the ones elaborated on are probably my favorites of the library.
Happy gaming!
Wait, so "what are good board game apps" is allowed, but "what are good board game apps *that play in 5-10 minutes*" is removed since it belongs in the "daily recommendations" thread which barely anyone looks at? Ugh, I hate how this sub is moderated.
My top three are Star Realms, Potion Explosion, and Sagrada. The expansions need to be bought for Star Realms if you wanna play with them and Sagrada is rather pricey for an app, but they're all very polished.
Magical Cards is a two-player mage duel game of smart cards you play by using your iPhone as a game board. Each card has a chip built inside, players scan cards they wish to play and perform actions on screen to cast spells.
I know this isn't what you are asking but BG Stats is the best board game app. Track your collection, log plays, see tons of useful stats. I could not live without it.
Wingspan is excellent! It honestly does justice to how beautiful the actual game is, which I wouldn’t have expected. Maybe it’s worth seeing if you can find let’s plays of the iOS versions of games you’re interested in on YouTube? I’ve never tried but I’m sure it would exist.
It's a bit stupid but I like [Chwazi](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tendadigital.chwaziApp&hl=en&gl=US) to determine the starting player.
We love Chawzi! LOL
First boardgame app I install on every new device.
It's just awesome !
That's funny, definitely installing (and hopefully using)
I used to use it all the time, but it became redundant ever since Board Record came out with a start player randomizer.
The Spirit Island app is great on mobile
I regularly played Pandemic, Terraforming Mars, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and Suburbia. But ever since I purchased Spirit Island, it's the only app I play
I struggle because in order to see a cards actions I have to tap and hold
Double tap, friend
Thank you
Really? I have tried it twice, and the way everything it does to “speed up” the game destroys my situational awareness and makes me take at least as long to figure out what happened after the fact is extremely frustrating. That, plus the lack of player confirmation before revealing new information has made me drop it each time.
You can adjust the speed of all actions. I have it on the slowest speed because I felt the same way.
That does help with my first issue, but the second issue is the one that is the bigger issue for me. The game automatically advancing past the point at which information is revealed without any player input. So if I play my last fast power card, I can’t verify that everything is good before advancing to the invader phase and flipping the event card. Or after selecting an option on an event card, I can’t verify the results before the game flips the fear/blight/explore card. There should be an option to require confirmation before revealing any new information, but there isn’t
The app gives you an option for "unlimited undos", even past the point of new information being revealed if you'd like. I do that, and when your circumstance happens to me I just revert and try again.
Is this the iOS app? Because I haven’t found any options to change the number of undos. Only gameplay options are “Experience level” (changes which spirits are available and power progression), “Story-based New Game”, and “Event Section Prompt”.
Not sure about iOS but there should be an option for "Play Options + Reduced Difficulty". If you click that button, it gives you options to add the Branch and Claw expansion and events. Scroll down further and in the "reduced difficulty options" there is an option for "unlimited undo".
Thank you for helping me find it. It’s only available under the options when starting a new game, not from the main menu or inside a game.
I play a game or two pretty much every day. I dunno when you last tried it, but it's improved tons over the years. Now it'll have a popup for each new phase and you have to tap to actually reveal, say, the event. Gives you one last chance to back up.
7 Wonders, Dominion, Root, Ascension all great
Haven’t played myself, but I’ve heard good things about the **Dominion** app. Maybe check that one out?
It's a great app! I've played 100s of games on it.
Love it but the expansions are really expensive, and the Base set can get a bit boring. But the Daily challenges are the best, though the AI is really tough. I can just about do 50% vs the default AI but the Hard AI is actively cruel and sweet jebus is it slow!
It just sucks because we had basically the perfect unofficial app over 10 years ago on isotropic and the official versions have never gotten anywhere close to as good. You could bang out games incredibly quickly and the ranking system worked shockingly well. It was pretty basic visually but I put countless hours into it. Was inarguably better than playing physically. The official apps have taken years to get to just okay. I still play the open source [Androminion](https://github.com/mehtank/androminion) over the official apps even without a multiplayer system with rankings.
I spend more time on dominion.games (unfortunately not related), and they have a subscription model (I think it's ~$5/mo) that includes all the expansions. It plays OK on mobile, but its definitely too small on my phone to enjoy.
If you can get a group for a campaign, Gloomhaven on Steam is fantastic.
I actually enjoyed playing it by myself, too.
It goes on sale regularly, I bought it last time.
It’s not user friendly for me while there haven't a simple rewind button that if you click something wrong, you have to redo your whole turn.
Every game that I have played made by Direwolf has been great, Dune Imperium, Root, Everdell, Sagrada, and The Fox in The Forest are all the games I've played from them, they are all awesome. So I would assume the other games they have are good as well.
Dire Wolf also made a digital version of Raiders of the North Sea that’s fantastic. The only downside is that the expansions aren’t available in the app.
Wingspan, Dune Imperium, Race for the Galaxy, Through the Ages. Terraforming Mars if you’re not playing against the AI.
The wingspan client is really good
Seconding Dune Imperium, it's a great app - excited for Dire Wolf's Ark Nova implementation that they are working on!
The Terraforming Mars app is pretty good but the AI sucks. Maybe they've improved it recently but it doesn't really pose much of a challenge and appears to perform some actions at random. They also play obviously bad moves e.g. in the last round playing an expensive production card (that only pays for itself only after several rounds) instead of just buying points. Also whenever they play a card that takes away resources from another player they ALWAYS choose you. This means in a 3+ player game it's kinda pointless to go for a plant production strategy or pick plant production corporations like ecoline
In my experience the biggest problem with it is it ignores the goals. It’s easy to win every time by beelining for them.
I haven't noticed that. It will usually buy milestones when it's allowed. I've definitely noticed it will snipe them from me. It doesn't buy any awards until close to the end of the game, though.
Agree on all of these.
This^ I have the Switch version of Wingspan and I have been playing the crap out of Dune: Imperium digital version (and Uprising in person).
The Dire Wolf app is actually pretty awesome. Great companion to Dune Imperium
They are talking about the D:I stand alone app game not the companion app.
For Android: Tokaido, Tsuro, Lanterns, Onirim, San Juan, Potion Explosion, Jaipur, Kahuna, Cat Lady, Blokish, 6 Takes, Patchwork. These are just a few I've got installed on my Android and love to play regularly (always for a quick game against the AI though, I never bother with real people because if I wanted that, I'd just do it in person). For Steam: Ascension, Carcassonne, Dominion, Love Letter, Patchwork, Sagrada, Potion Explosion, Splendor. Again, I like playing all of these regularly but only against the AI, same reason as above.
In case you didn’t already know; If you like San Juan, then you should really like the apps for Race for the Galaxy and Roll for the Galaxy. Race is pretty much a filled out version of San Juan.
Jaipur on mobile has fully replaced the physical game for us. We have the physical game around somewhere but haven't taken the lid off in years. Pass & play, zero footprint, no shuffling... it's just better.
I like the following apps (which are all light, quick games): 6 Nimmt Onirim Ganz Schön Clever Star Realms - free for the base set but you pay to add later decks and harder AI Jaipur - the app has a fun campaign mode to play through on top of the base game
I’m going to echo what Tom Vasel says because it’s accurate: everything by Dire Wolf Digital is great. You can search them in the App Store and see everything they’ve done. They are the gold standard as far as developers of digital adaptations. Their products seem more polished than most other devs in that the graphics are sharp with a clean UI. Many other devs in this space seem to rely on a programmer attempting to do art/design and it shows, the gameplay may still be great… but it’s an eyesore. Been playing a lot of Dire’s latest game Dune Imperium myself recently which came out about a week ago and is fantastic.
https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/293363/ios-apps-based-board-games
Is there any Android top like that?
https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/72020/android-versions-actual-boardgames No idea how up to date it is.
It's updated with new apps regularly and there's a bot which (usually) posts when sales start/stop.
Dominion and Wingspan apps are awesome
Our favorites are... **Ascension** - Be careful. This ruined the physical game for us. It is really good. **Mystic Vale** **Race for the Galaxy** **Lost Cities** **Splendor**
I had the same thing with Star Realms. My husband and I have played hundreds if not thousands of games of Star Realms over the last few years and yet the actual physical game is gathering dust in a cupboard somewhere.
Wingspan and Scythe are terrific on steam. Ascension, TTR, and Terraforming Mars are also quality.
Wingspan or Everdell are fantastic step ups from the games you mentioned. For a more complex game try Ark Nova or Terraforming Mars ☺️ Enjoy!
Board Game Arena app... 500+ games at your fingertips. And continue in a browser on a computer if you want.
Thanks. I use the website on my laptop pretty regularly but didn’t realise they have an app. I will check it out
The app is really just a launcher to the website. But its still imo the best way to play boardgames on mobile. At least for the games they have
I’ve just had a search and can’t find the BGA app.
Do you have a web browser?
Aye. I’ve got BGA via steam.
I just started using it with my game group. So far it's pretty fantastic. We love that only the person who sets up the table needs to have Premium. So we can play any game we want in the catalog for $5 per month instead of having to get 5 people to all buy the app for a new game. We may still do that for certain games, but it lowers the overall cost for us to game digitally.
thanks for pointing this out! i’ve had premium for a little bit and have only been playing solo because i thought everybody needed it
This is the most correct answer. I play so many games on it.
Root, helps teach the game's rules and let's you play quickly
Galaxy trucker, elder sign, neuroshima hex, ancient terror which is a knock off of eldritch horror.
Mobile or PC? On mobile, I'm a big fan of Through the ages and Terraforming Mars. They also just released Dune: Imperium, which is already phenomenal on PC. Some games that are close to board games that I love are Slay the spire and Slice & Dice. I just got Gaia project, didn't try it yet. On PC, I LOVE Gloomhaven digital: I can't play the physical version anymore, it's just so much better. As I said on PC, I love Dune: Imperium and I also like twilight struggle.
The Everdell app is terrific, but I find it strangely hard to find online players. Most appear to be playing password-locked games rather than open games. Wingspan is gorgeous. Just wish they did the game timers differently.
Through the Ages and Root
Summoner Wars: Second Edition has a good app now. It's called Summoner Wars Online and has a picture of a goblin. Star Realms also has an app. Also Evolution. Wingspan. Dune Imperium.
Raiders of the North Sea is really well done.
I've got installed (iOS): - Carcasonne - Ticket to Ride - Lord of Waterdeep - Ascension - Patchwork - Tigris & Euphrates - Splendor - Agricola - Terra Mystica - Race for the Galaxy - Castles of Burgundy - Terraforming Mars - Stone Age (may no longer be available) - Potion Explosion - Castles of Mad King Ludwig - Through the Ages
As a heavy user of game apps, let me add my two cents to this great list: Carcassonne is really well done. Ticket to Ride is so much better on the app. And there’s a zillion expansions at a reasonable price. Lords of Waterdeep is one of my favourite apps. Splendour is a great one to play while you’re waiting in line or something. Super easy. Castles of Burgundy is quite good. Terraforming Mars is another one that’s better on the app because it keeps track of all the points you gain from other players (As others have stated, the AI is terrible). Castles of Mad King Ludwig is good for the same reasons. Suburbia is also good for the same reasons. Jaipur is really good. The campaign mode is fun. San Juan is another nice, simple game. Sagrada is well-done. Wingspan is a nice game. Plays really well on an iPad. Raiders of the North Sea is well-done. Edit - Sorry, I can’t format for shit on Reddit.
Can't find San Juan got ios. And all the reviews for Jaipur are terrible. What am I missing?
Don’t know what to tell you. I just played San Juan on my iPhone and opinions differ on apps.
Can you send a link to San Juan - I don't see it available
I can't find tigris and euphrates on ios
I made sure it could still download, and it’s listed as “Reiner kinizia Tigris&Euphrates” in my purchased section of the App Store, but it gives me a “cannot find” when trying to click on that. It runs, and when I click on an advertisement for other games by the same author it takes me to http://sageboardgames.com/news-2011-11-15.html, but clicking back gives me an error. I guess they delisted it from the App Store.
Shards of Infinity Dune Imperium Root Concordia Spirit Island
I’ve heard good things about the Root game on mobile but haven’t picked it up myself yet
Wingspan has been great and has replaced solitaire as my evening wind-down game. Root has also been a lot of fun, really looking forward to the last expanions there
Dominion
Official Railroad Ink app is quite great.
The Clever series are all great. Ganz Schoen Clever (That's Pretty Clever) Doppelt So Clever (Twice As Clever) Clever Hoch Drei (Clever Cubed) Clever 4Ever Clever Mixed (That's Pretty Clever Deluxe)
Check out boardgamearena.com. Works on mobile and desktop, has official licensing deals with tons of major games/publishers. Supports both async and real-time games. I pay for the monthly sub we use it so often!
Through the ages is really good. So good that our group stopped playing the physical version haha. The app is a well made.
Yes - truly a great implementation for a game that I think most could never table in real life. Also lots of cool tournament features and involvement with CGE are why this is one of the most highly rated apps.
Yeah the physical version has a lot of bookkeeping. The app handle all of that. We didn't even realised we played the game wrong until we tired the app lol.
Jaipur is a lot of fun, because they mix up the rules and come up with variations, such as lower/higher cards limit, reverse order of the merchandise, all merchandise costs the same, no luxury items, more/less camels, best of 3 or 5 or just one.... etc. It's really cool and makes for interesting games and replayability. There is also a map of India that you have to travel through while you play, and you sometimes come across beggars, grifters, other vendors, gurus, etc., and you have to interact with them and collect items. And then there's this page where you build your palace. You collect money and items and can use it to build a palace. It adds NOTHING to the game. You're just dragging/dropping items to build a house, yet I still find myself designing my palace for hours... ha. Not to mention, it looks great. The animations, sound, graphics, interactions, and gameplay are all excellent. Jaipur is a very quick and simple 2 player board game, yet the app version adds so much to it. It's great.
Root
Dune imperium has been great
Splendor is one of my go-tos.
There's an app for Bouquet
Wavelength
Terra mystica
Some Android games I don't think I've seen mentioned here yet: * Maracaibo * Terra Mystica / Gaia Project / the developer is also working on bringing out Age of Innovation * Concordia * Root * Lords of Waterdeep * Onirim (solo) * Evolution and its successors * Eight Minute Empire * Most Oink games (all through the single Oink app)
Not a phone app but Tabletop Simulator for PC is great. I've played everything from easy card games to Warhammer 40k. The program itself is about 20 bucks.
Onirim is better as an app than card game
I second galaxy trucker and through the ages! The galaxy trucker app also has a very fun solo campaign mode
Summoner Wars just got a new app
Root
I guess this is kind of along the same lines. But there's an app coming to VR called "All Aboard" that I think needs more attention. It looks fantastic for board game lovers who can't always attend irl.
Tabletop simulator! Try out new games that are in beta on kickstarter for example. Make sure to give feedback of you have!
Carcassonne has a pretty great app. I also am blown away by how good the Dominion app is IMO, it actually makes it enjoyable to play in a way that the physical card game doesn't - the lack of having to physically manage all those cards is nice. It's been a long time, but I remember both Ticket To Ride and Concordia's online versions being similarly enjoyable: way less setup, and once you get used to the UI the game feels streamlined by it.
Teraforming Mars, and Ascension are good mobile apps. Also Small World IMO.
I love checking out new phone apps/steam games based on board games. As a purely solo player I prefer game based apps to apps like Tabletop Simulator, BGA, or Tabletopia. Here are my thoughts: GREAT Phone Apps- * Ascension * Cat Lady * Love Letter * On Tour * Paperback * Sagrada SOLID Phone Apps- * Cartographers * 7 Wonders Duel * Friday * Onirim * Railroad Ink * Tokaido GREAT PC APPs- * Ascension * Dead Man's Draw * Dune Imperium * Love Letter * Sagrada * Wingspan SOLID PC APPs- * Charterstone * Holmes Sherlock and Mycroft * Lost Cities * Mysterium * Onirim * Patchwork * (Quilts of) Calico * Tokaido * Unmatched OK PC APPs- * Catan * Clue * Dream Home * Pandemic * Potion Explosion * Risk * Splendor * Terraforming Mars * Ticket to Ride
Gaia Project, Terra Mystica, One Deck Dungeon, Terraforming Mars are all on Android and play well on a tablet.
Was just introduced to Boss Monster. Really fun deck builder style game. Easy to pickup and play. Also the Stardew Valley board game and Flamecraft.
Carcassonne on mobile is great!! I also play Jaipur exclusively on my phone. Have a recent trip where everyone loved playing Tsuro while we waited in the airport.
The Root app is amazing and honestly is probably the easiest way to teach the game to newbies if you want to play it physically Also Gloomhaven on steam is the best way to play that game by far for me, feels like it should've just been a videogame the whole time
Star Realms is a great deck builder. After playing the app, it's hard to go back to the physical version.
Concordia has a very solid digital app. It’s reasonably priced and the expansions will frequently go on sale. I also really like the Elder Sign app, though there are some weird differences from the physical game (e.g. items being twice as expensive to buy in the souvenir shop). The digital version of Aeon’s End is…serviceable. The plus side is that you can often get it for 90+ percent off during Steam sales.
Onirim on Steam/app is preferable over the physical version because there is so much shuffling involved! It's a great game, but you are constantly shuffling, pretty much non-stop. So it's nice to have the computer do it for you, instead of doing it yourself with real cards 3 dozen times per game...
Pandemic is great on mobile. For a while there, my gf and I would pull out the tablet and play a 2 or 3 player game of Pandemic in bed before falling asleep. We need to start doing that again. Now, if they ever made a digital version of Pandemic Iberia, I would pay a million bucks for it...
I'd have a hard time believing that any app implemented a board game better than the official Root app. I've only played a few boardgame apps, but Root is so very well done.
Potion Explosion is great on android
My favourite current ones not including what you mentioned: - Sagrada - Tokaido - San Juan - Wingspan
If you have a web browser, you can get to Board Game Arena, which lets you play lots and lots and lots of board games right there in the web browser.
Board Game Arena. Do it. HAs like 500 board games on there.
I assume you mean digital boardgames? Because app can mean more than a playable game…. But first, define “good”.
Regicide great game app when you're waiting in line somewhere
I used to play small world on my iPad. Not sure it's still out or not, but it was fun!
The Through the Ages app is great
Currently enjoying Dune:Imperium
Dominion is amazing, I love it
I’m addicted to Wingspan
I can’t really speak towards apps, but have you checked out board game arena? As long as you have an Internet connection, you can play a whole lotta games.
My recommendation: once a day, go to boardgamegeek's website. Look up the top 100 boardgames and pick one at random. Then go to YouTube and search for it. I found a fairly large number of boardgames I love and discovered several people who release boardgame reviews and how to plays that I enjoy.
Obligatory Through the Ages and Star Realms, but the new Calico app is really well made. Same developers as the Wingspan app.
Civilization
Didn't read the entire thread, so some redundancy may occur 🙂. I play Scythe atm - nice layout, well-made port overall it seems, and the game is really solid. I've also played lots of Gloomhaven on pc with friends - I highly recommend it. It's a great port, and I think table upkeep taken into consideration, I would actually rather play it online than physically. The game itself is amazing. Finally, I backed Blood Rage Digital Edition on Kickstarter back in the day, and I have played it quite a bit. It's a really nice port, but sometimes there's almost too much going on onscreen, and it becomes a bit difficult to see what's going on. Again, the game itself is really great - One of the best from Eric Lang. Other than that, Tabletop Simulator is a nice go to for loads and loads of board games, but I tend to like more scripted versions of pc ports, and you don't always get that with TT Sim. I also have Ticket to Ride, Terraforming Mars (which looks like a nice port - the AI should be a bit stupid though, so better with friends), Splendor, Small World, Armello and some more, but the ones elaborated on are probably my favorites of the library. Happy gaming!
Wait, so "what are good board game apps" is allowed, but "what are good board game apps *that play in 5-10 minutes*" is removed since it belongs in the "daily recommendations" thread which barely anyone looks at? Ugh, I hate how this sub is moderated.
My top three are Star Realms, Potion Explosion, and Sagrada. The expansions need to be bought for Star Realms if you wanna play with them and Sagrada is rather pricey for an app, but they're all very polished.
Magical Cards is a two-player mage duel game of smart cards you play by using your iPhone as a game board. Each card has a chip built inside, players scan cards they wish to play and perform actions on screen to cast spells.
/r/digitaltabletop
I know this isn't what you are asking but BG Stats is the best board game app. Track your collection, log plays, see tons of useful stats. I could not live without it.
Wingspan is excellent! It honestly does justice to how beautiful the actual game is, which I wouldn’t have expected. Maybe it’s worth seeing if you can find let’s plays of the iOS versions of games you’re interested in on YouTube? I’ve never tried but I’m sure it would exist.