Crossing the Digital Veil

Given that iOS Boardgames has been posting their 2013 year-end wrap ups and best of’s, it seems appropriate timing to tackle the subject as well. Back in August, I was gifted, courtesy of my wife as a birthday present, an iPad Mini – which I had hinted at wanting but assumed it wasn’t in the cards. So imagine my surprise when opening that up!

I had been using an older iPod touch for a few years, and managed to find a few boardgame App’s that worked on the older iOS version, but not many. With our growing family, I’ve been finding opportunities for face-to-face boardgaming becoming more sporadic as expected. There are a lot iPad only boardgame apps, and most needed a few version of iOS than the old iPod would support. So the iPad Mini would provide a way to play a much expanded library of games with friends (or other gamers) online, or even solo against the AI.

As a general note – while I do enjoy gaming (or boardgaming) on the iPad, it certainly isn’t the same as being face to face. For some games, it isn’t a huge deal breaker on my enjoyment of the game – but for others it can be. And yet other types of games are just never going to work as well in an online format.

The Gulf Between: Civ vs 4X Games

I am always interested in 4X or Civilization style boardgames. I was thinking earlier about what aspects of these games makes one game a 4X game and not a Civ game. Or another Civ and not 4X. And another game a bit of both, or neither. I took a stab at outlining some of the key traits that distinguish and these two genres from one another.