I love board games, but I don’t get to play them as often as I’d like. When I lived in Utah, I had a fellow board game junkie who lived just a few minutes away. Better yet, he had time when I had time–a key ingredient to successful gaming. (You sure you don’t want to move out to Maine, Dan? What if I try and get a guarantee that you get a fluff calling for the first year? Hymnal Coordinator? And don’t feed me any garbage about Brandon and your writing group all being there in Utah still. Have them move, too.)
Anyway. Now that I’m in Maine, there are still some gamers around, but my time is significantly diminished. House projects, full time jobs, revisions–all of that gets in the way of what’s really important: proving strategic superiority in life via a succession of games that involve far too many small plastic pieces and dice rolling.
Enter my iPad.
I can play asynchronously against people across the country. I can play against the computer. I can play against myself. When I want, how often I want–you name it. Better yet, the games I like are usually expensive. $50+ per game, easy. On the iPad? Less than $5. Oh yeah. So what do I have? (Warning: I’m going to get quite geeky here for a second, name dropping board games I don’t expect you’ll have heard of. I’d take a minute to explain them . . . but I don’t have time. If you’re a fellow afficianado, you should recognize all of these. If not, then go to boardgamegeek and start checking them out. Then come play against me.)
- Viking Lords–A clone of BattleLore. I’ve just started it, but so far I’m really liking it.
- CatanHD–Settlers of Catan on the iPad. I’ve got Seafarers, too.
- Blokus
- Neuroshima Hex–really good version of it
- Ingenious–I haven’t sprung for the HD version yet. Just have the iPhone one.
- Carcassonne–Great version
- Small World–Fantastic. Just wish you could play with more than 2 players.
- Samurai–Good from what I’ve tried. I need to get into this one some more
- Scrabble–For playing against the computer
- Words with Friends–For playing against friends
- Boggle–For playing solo and unsuccessfully trying to play against friends
- Yahtzee
- Conquist (Risk clone)
- Life (for the kids)
- Parcours.robo (RoboRally clone–the first bit’s free. I haven’t paid for the upgrade just yet)
and with the resale market for original iPads from people who do decide to upgrade so they can take bad pictures (at least according to Endgadget link you tweeted) maybe even less than $350.
Very true. Honestly, I think I might have still considered selling my original iPad to upgrade, but my wife really wants my old one, and so I couldn’t exactly sell it to recoup the cost. Besides, iPad 3 will be here sooner or later, most likely with a better screen resolution, better cameras, and the ability to make donuts and clean the dishes. If I upgraded now, I’d just want to upgrade then, too.