Board games, on your Android phone

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the nature of digitizing things that people love in their traditional form. While putting together a blog about gamebooks moving into the land of 0s and 1s, I saw a lot of digital versions of a similar genre: board games.

Like gamebooks, the draw of many board games is the physical aspect, sitting around a board or a map (or even a rug because who needs chairs) – with friends or alone. Transferring board games to the digital realm means losing that, while still keeping the feel of a board game.

I went on a little trip through Google Play in search of digital board games for Android that manage to balance the digital and physical well. I specifically looked for less known games with an RPG feel, so you won’t find Settlers of Catan here (although that seems to have translated well to Android, as long as you don’t mind your phone spontaneously exploding from heat, apparently).

I found quite a few – and I’ll share my favorites below in a minute.

What about iOS?

Ever since my iPad mini’s screen got smashed my household is Apple-device-free. So I need your help – if you know a fantastic digital board game for iOS, let us know on Twitter, in the comments below, or send us an email.

Better yet, if you’re itching to get a whole post of your own written about it, we’d be happy to accept a guest blog! Let me know personally via email.

Anyway, enough rambling – let’s play!

Arcane Quest

As far as I can tell, Arcane Quest 1 and 2 are based on the HeroQuest board game. They play like a pen and paper campaign, using dice-based gameplay to fight monsters, find loot, and progress your group of heroes through numerous dungeons. Playing these made me feel nostalgic, despite having never played pen and paper games. I’d say that’s a good sign.

Get AQ here, and AQ 2 here.

Talisman

I believe it was our friend John Rigdon who mentioned this digital board game adaptation, and I’ve had it on my mind since. I admit I haven’t played it yet, but it looks fantastic – a digital version of the board game that seems to have stayed true to the physical version, and added some impressive looking graphics. Like playing a game on a virtual board.

Get Talisman here.

Amber Route

I love this game, and it’s not just because I happen to be slavic. I’m also absolutely terrible at it. But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying the charming art and card design, and the distinctively tabletop game feel. It’s a little too small on the phone, but luckily you can tap on any card to see a larger version of it.

Get Amber Route here.

Boss Monster

Ok so this one was based on a card game, not a board game. But it was next on my Amazon wishlist when I discovered that there’s a digital version! Apparently brought to us thanks to Kickstarter, Boss Monster has a great look and feel and plays a little like a tower defense – which I would normally dislike, but the board game charm adds.. well, charm. It looks like it’s tablet only – or at least not compatible with my “old” Galaxy SII.

Get Boss Monster here.

There are so many more and obviously these are games that appeal to my own personal inner geek.

Share your own favorites with us down in the comments or on Twitter!

Yuliya

Yuliya handles marketing and writing at QuestForge, and is the self-appointed chief of keeping Chris sane (despite Chris's insistence that he is the sane one).