App versions of board games

With board games and smart phones being two of the most popular diversions around nowadays, it’s inevitable the two will meet. I thought I’d look at a few of the app versions of of board games I’ve played. I won’t talk too much about the game itself; I want to focus on how good the app adaption (appaption?) is.

Agricola All Creatures Big and Small

I talked about Agricola in an earlier post. Although I liked the game, it is definitely a complex game with a lot of things going on. There are fields to sow, crops to raise, animals to raise, houses to improve, family members to add, etc., etc., etc! It is definitely a lot. Apparently the designers agreed and they made a simplified 2-player only version. I picked it up after seeing a review on Amazon and I really enjoy it. I like the larger more complicated game as well, but this one is a lot easier to convince other people to play 😉

Agricola

Having played the heck out of Lords of Waterdeep, I thought it might be fun to try another worker-placement type game and settled more or less randomly on Agricola. In it 2 – 5 players (there’s also a solo version) start out as a lowly farming couple in the 1300’s with a 2 room wooden hut and have 14 rounds to improve their lot in life by various methods: farming, raising livestock, adding more family members, improving their house, etc. it has a lot of different options and a ton of things to think about each turn. I got a chance to try it out over the Thanksgiving weekend and it was a pretty fun time.