Digital Board Games For IOS

 Board games have a significant drawback: you need to allocate time and space for them, as well as gather the appropriate company. It is problematic to play a game even at a fast table when you are standing in a traffic jam, riding a bus or having a snack. Mobile versions of your favorite games come to the rescue. In this selection, I have collected 10 board games for iOS that I personally liked, do not require an Internet connection, and play well for one player. The selection is purely subjective, and the article is informative.

10. Neuroshima Hex!

 Not only the desktop, but also the digital version of the game became a classic. Many factions are fighting in the ruins of post-apocalyptic America. These are the supercomputer Moloch (which destroyed the old world), the remnants of the military, and gangs of savages. All factions have their own sets of combat units and orders and generally feel different.

 In terms of gameplay, this is a quick and simple wargame with a random arrival of cards into the hand. All players take turns fielding soldiers and applying orders until a battle card is played. At this moment, the Mexican duel begins - and usually it becomes more free on the field. Each side has a base of 20 health, whoever has more HP left at the end of the game wins. From 2 to 4 players fight, there are bots, it is possible to play from one phone and via the Internet.

 Some time ago, the creators of the digital version decided to upgrade, as a result, the graphics changed and only 4 basic factions remained. They promised to return the rest, and to those who bought it for free, but so far Steel Police and New York have returned it.

9. Mystic Vale

 In ninth place is a non-standard, but very nice deck building strategy. Each player initially has 20 cards, each slot with 3 upgrades. In 9, one of the slots is occupied by cursed earth (+1 to filth and +1 to mana), in 3 inserted by improvement +1 to mana and 8 are empty. This deck will be pumped by the players during the game. Laying out the cards is similar to the game "21", only you can't sort through the dirty ones. The player opens the cards one by one, for each withered tree icon on the map he receives +1 to filth, for each growing tree icon -1. The maximum amount of defilement is 3, if it is more - the move is missed. Everyone decides for themselves whether to risk or open new cards when taint = 3. Then we collect mana and runes from open cards and use them to buy inserts in cards and valley cards. The latter are bought for victory points or small effects and are laid out in front of the player until the end of the game, reminiscent of investments. Inserts into cards give more mana, more runes and victory points, and the deck is pumped.

 There is really no interaction between players, there is no need to follow the progress of other players. The account is always on the screen, the card market is small, and if rivals bought something, new cards will simply be added. For a board game — a significant minus, for the electronic version digging in one's own deck the whole game is not so terrible. The pictures are pleasant (they even move when hovered over), the process is meditative and relaxing. From the minuses, the parts are quite similar to each other, there is nothing memorable here, not even close

 There are two paid expansions to the game that add new maps, hero mechanics, and amulets. If the process has started, it is worth looking closely, otherwise there are not so many cards in the database and they will quickly get boring.

8. Potion Explosion

 We arrange explosions, cook potions, become the best student. A fairly simple game, more on attentiveness, although a little logic will not hurt.

 Each turn we get one ball, higher balls fall down. If balls of the same color collide, they also fall into our cauldron, and other balls fall into the vacated place. We pour potions from the cauldron, we get points, and the potions themselves can be used to get the necessary balls.

 2-4 players participate, you can play with one phone. It is worth noting the high level of bot play: it is interesting to play against them and it is not always possible to win. A little variety is added by the choice of 6 types of potions out of 8 possible, although you don't really go wild here.

 The application allows you to choose up to two professors who give indulgences to students or punish them for neglecting components. A new white essence is added, which plays the role of a joker both when collecting components and when brewing potions. There are also 4 new recipes, we are already choosing 6 out of 12 potions per batch.

7. The Castles of Burgundy

 It's time for a classic euro about the Middle Ages. From 2 to 4 participants rebuild the duchy. Each turn, the player throws 2 dice, these are his actions, and there will be 25 such throws in total, that is, 50 actions per game. For example, a 4 was rolled on the die, we can:

• take a token from market position 4 into reserve;
• place a token from the supply on the area with the number 4;
• sell goods with the number 4 from stock;
• take two workers (the value of the cube does not matter).

 Each worker can adjust the die by ±1, which reduces the impact of randomness. Reduces, but does not completely eliminate, and here every move is important. Tokens please with variety, each with its own effect, especially yellow ones, which give a bonus until the end of the game and set the vector of development. The release of tiles on the market also has elements of randomness: one of the players collects chickens, and the other sheep, and what will appear for sale in the next rounds - you can't guess. In general, the rules are quite simple, and there is a good training, after which there should be no questions.

 As a result, we have a sound euro, without long calculations in advance, with a large influence of chance. The competition for tokens and goods is intense throughout the game, the bots play at a very decent level. You can complain a little about the pale design, but you get used to it in one game.

6. Small World

 I have to admit that I adore this game. The combination of simple gameplay, high replayability, excellent scalability and low turn waiting time is a rarity for games of this genre. My personal preference is the design: feral hobbits, elf flower children, beer-swilling dwarves - it's a pleasure to look at.

 Before the game, two stacks are shuffled: races of peoples and abilities of peoples, the combination of which gives many combinations. So nomadic ghouls, diplomatic orcs or heroic rats can turn out. Since the world is really small, there will not be enough room for everyone and conflict is inevitable. It is worth noting that bots play quite aggressively, but, unlike live players, they are not offended by attacks and do not sweep the game off the table. Conflicts inevitably undermine the fighting potential of the chosen people, but no problem: a weakened race can be put into decline and a new one can be chosen by missing a turn.

 For additional money, there are 5 mini-additions to the game, but unfortunately, they only add new races and abilities. No "Riverlands", "Sky Islands", "Necromancer Islands" or "Leaders" were imported. However, the game is great even with computer opponents (though with live people it's even better).

5. Terraforming Mars

 One of the most famous Eurogames, flattered by both critics and the most ordinary players. The bottom line is that several corporations (by the number of players) are terraforming the red planet, namely creating oceans, green zones, raising the temperature, building cities. Each corporation has its own specialization: one skillfully builds mines, another is better at planting forests, the third specializes in expensive projects, and so on. The arrangement of Mars occurs by drawing cards of projects that differ in cost and effect; yes, the card allows you to reserve one cell for future construction, it costs 1 credit, to build a power plant - 8 credits, and Open City - 23. Many projects give profit in the long run, for example, Migrant City costs money, but it does not bring profit, but it increases your income when any player builds a city. And pets give victory points for built by all players of the city. We add a project that gives 2 credits for each new city on Mars, and we get the rest of the party passive income. It is on such simple combinations that the well-being of the corporation is built.

 You can play on the same phone, with bots or online - and unfortunately, all three options have a cover. When playing from one phone, the already slow game takes a long time, and I'm not a fan of this process. But it doesn't compare to playing online. All my opponents thought about each move for an incredibly long time - and I wanted not to win, but to end this torture. Having played three games online, I am not going to repeat this experience again. Well, bots... when you start playing, they are normal, then, unfortunately, they have few chances to win.

 Only the Prologue application has been released for the game, and it is strictly recommended for purchase, allowing you to choose 2 of the 4 proposed powerful and free projects at the start, which speeds up the boring start. Well, the new corporations and the solo mode, in which you need to colonize Mars alone, will not be superfluous.

4. One Deck Dungeon

 Next we have a cube puzzle. Although the name of the game, classes of heroes, names of skills and monsters will try to mislead you and pretend to be a dungeon crawler, you should immediately understand that the adventures here are tight, but the tasks, on the contrary, are good.

 Before the game, we choose the dungeon we will go to (they differ in overall difficulty and the final boss, the rank-and-file enemies in the deck are the same) and 1-2 heroes. If the hero is alone, he is almost twice as strong, even a couple of personal skills are strengthened; in my opinion, it is more interesting to play as a pair of heroes. After that, you have to go through three levels of the dungeon with increasing difficulty and defeat the boss. Time (each tier is limited) and health are spent on research. In each room, whether it's a trap or a monster, you need to close as many cells as possible with cubes, for those that are not closed - a penalty in terms of time or health. Heroes roll their dice according to characteristics (strength, agility, magic) and can change both the value and number of dice with skills. For example, Grief Strike turns one Strength die into a six, and Backstab allows you to roll two Strength dice with a Dexterity die. For a cleared room, heroes can raise a characteristic, learn a new skill or take experience to level up.

 Comfortable and enjoyable to play, the game greatly alleviates the fuss with components, fixing one of the main problems of the desktop version. Well done leveling at the end of the campaign (not necessarily successful), when the heroes are given small bonuses for the next campaigns. These enhancements are especially effective at the beginning of dungeons, until characters have gained skills in the process.

 You can buy several add-ons for the game. The biggest one is "Forest of Shadows" - adds 5 heroes, 5 dungeons, new monster deck, poison mechanic. Abyssal Depths gives 2 heroes and 6 villains to add to any dungeon. If all this is not enough, you can buy 3 more heroes and a couple of dungeons.

As a result, a mediocre board turned out to be a great puzzle with flexible difficulty settings. And by the way, all the characters in the game are female, because some people are very confused by this.

3. Galaxy Trucker

 The only game on the list with a full story campaign. The only game on the list with a full and varied challenge mode.

 We play as a space pilot who transports cargo between planets. Since space travel is expensive, the ship is assembled from the necessary materials, but on the destination planet it is disassembled into parts. During the flight, you can transport several cargo containers along the way (if there is room for them), cover an abandoned ship (if there is enough crew on board) or shoot a pirate raider (if there are enough guns, or vice versa).

 The process of assembling the ship takes place in step-by-step mode or in real time. Truckers who want to fly are let into a garbage dump, where, digging in piles of garbage, they cook their starship. We put guns, engines, living and battery compartments, shields, cargo holds and try to fly with the least damage and earn something in flight.

 The campaign mode gradually opens new ships, new modules, throws up challenges. How about transporting a pair of weightlifters? We put more engines, otherwise the ship will stall. Transport 3 containers of explosives? Without problems, only an explosion can tear off half of the starship, and on the route, as if for evil, there are pirates with guns, combat operations and meteor showers. And all this is diluted with dialogues and humor. The game has a normal single game, modes on one phone and via the Internet.

 The app opens up a test mode in which new modules are tested: bidirectional guns, impenetrable armor, and a space catapult that shoots crew members are just a few of the new features.

2. 7 Wonders

 A card game in which the cities of the ancient world compete with each other. Military power, economy, culture and science all count in the race for the title of the greatest.

 Draft is in many card games, yes, in "Mars Conquest" it is recommended to use it for experienced players, but for beginners it just drags out the game. In "7 Wonders", the draft is the essence and heart of the game. Choose one card from your hand to use, pass the others to your neighbor. Use the map. Take a stack from another neighbor. Repeat until you run out of cards. Seems like everything is simple? But there are nuances: there should be more shields made of red military cards than neighbors; and green scientists increase the value depending on the quantity; brown and gray do not give victory points at all, but simply give resources to build other colors; blue ones, on the contrary, only give points; yellow ones help to fix the economy; and purple ones are highly dependent on your and neighboring buildings and can bring anywhere from 0 to 9+ points. And we constantly have to decide what to build and what to sacrifice. After all, we give the remaining cards to a neighbor who also wants to win. Each city also has its own miracle that gives bonuses after construction, such asymmetry.

 The electronic version has been updated to the new edition, in which everything is great, except for the Olympia changes. Two additions have been implemented - "Cities" and "Leaders", which add black and white cards. I personally cannot imagine the game without them - they are so beautiful. Unfortunately, there is no Armada and Wonder Pack.

 Of all the games in this top, I can recommend them for online play. Opponents are fast, the games themselves are not delayed, live opponents play more unpredictably than bots. Games with the latter are even faster: 6–7 minutes — and we find out who won. I highly recommend it.

1. Spirit Island

 In the first place is a puzzle about the protection of the island by ancient entities from European colonizers. There is no multiplayer here, unless you decide to pass the phone from hand to hand.

 Before the start of the game, we choose from 1 to 4 spirits and assemble an island from the same number of pieces. Once you get the hang of it, you can turn on the script or power up the invaders, but this requires experience. The game begins, and every turn scouts climb, who build villages, and those build cities. If the scout is easy to deal with for most spirits, it will not work to destroy the city without pumping. At the beginning of the game, our entities are weak and have 4 base powers and 1-2 innate powers, but each turn they can increase their presence, gain new abilities or regenerate powers. All spirits are different with their play style and specialization: some scare invaders, others cause direct damage, and others make it difficult to spread. The process of obtaining new powers is random: you need to choose a new ability from the 4 offered, so games even for the same spirit will go differently. Personally, I liked playing for several at once, although the time to consider the move increases significantly.

 2 sprites are included in the base game, you can also buy the "Twigs and Claws" add-on. It includes 2 new perfumes; new opportunities; tokens of beasts, discord, bushes and diseases; event cards. The latter are revealed randomly one step at a time and can help both invaders and defenders. I don't see the point in playing without this add-on, it's so good.

 In the end, I want to note that I liked the electronic version more than the desktop version, since everything is clear, no time is wasted on fussing with a bunch of components (especially with an add-on), the game forces you to use abilities and apply events correctly. You can play in 4 spirits - when I think about how much to move and take into account in the desktop version, hell takes. There is enough complexity and challenge here, let electronics automate processes that do not require a brain.