This is Kit Eaton for the New York Times.
Many classic board games have made
a great transition into the digital world.
Monopoly, which is $1 on iOS and
$2 on Android, is a great example of how
you can take an original board game
and add some extra magic. The app has
all the classic features of the board game.
And instead of representing them in
boring 2D, you get to see the board and
all the playing pieces in 3D. And there
are even cute animations when your
playing piece moves along the squares.
You can play against an AI inside the game
or against human opponents. You can share your
device or even connect it over Wifi.
I love the fact that you can customize
some of the playing rules and that the
app takes care of all that
difficult banking for you.
But I do find that sometimes the app
feels weirdly old fashioned, with the
board itself and even the interfaces
hearkening back to the past instead of
being more future looking.
Though of course, this doesn't take away
from the actual gameplay.
If Monopoly is too competitive for you,
and it is for me,
then family classic Game of Life is also
available as an app, which is $1 on iOS
and Android.
like Monopoly, this app includes cute
cute 3D animations, to try to
add some life - ironically - into The Game of Life.
Its menus are a little fiddly, and the app
isn't particularly good at explaining how
to play the game. So perhaps it's best if
you already know how to play the board
game version.
Lastly, if strategy board games are more
your cup of tea, you should check out
Catan, which is $4 on both
iOS and Android.
This tabletop card game has made an
excellent transition into being an app,
mainly because of the strong
imagery on the cards, which are also
present in the digital edition and also
because the app handles some of the
complicated game rules for you.
Catan is faithful to the original game,
has excellent graphics, and is hard to
learn, but fun to play.
And that's it for me. Enjoy playing
these board games but don't forget
about playing the real things in person.
It's a very human experience.