If you are regular reader at App Review Central you know that I really enjoy electronic board gaming. In addition to keeping up with apps, I have my eye on the board gaming world. Well one of the sites I enjoy is Drive Thru Review with Joel Eddy.
Recently, Joel is a video review: Top 10 iOS Board Games. Well this got my attention. After watching the video, I had some questions which I shot over to Joel. So below is Joel’s video and then some q&a we did. I definitely need to thank Joel for a great site and for taking the time to talk. Hope you guys enjoy the video and our discussion.
Q. Joel, in the video, you mentioned the influence of board games and apps on each other. I think that apps could really influence boards games more. The electronic version of a board game is a great marketing tool, as it allows users to play these board games quickly, with no setup, and without much of a financial commitment.
A. Board game publishers have actually recognized that creating app versions of their games has a substantial impact on sales of the physical game. Here’s an article commenting on that with an accompanying podcast of a panel from PAX East 2013. Currently, close to 40% of the games in the Top 100 on BoardGameGeek.com already have an app, or are expected to get one in the coming year. I expect that number to increase noticeably over the next couple of years.
Q. From your experience in the board game world, what is the largest hindrance to a board game becoming popular/successful?
A. There a several factors that would increase the rate at which board gaming is growing. According to this article by ICv2, hobby game sales grew 20% in 2013, the fourth year in a row with double digit growth. I think everyone intimately involved in the industry would argue that the industry supporting the hobby is very successful and has been for quite some time. The current renaissance began in the 1990’s in Germany, with the highest quality games slowly trickling over the United States. That trickle has steadily increased since then to the point that many folks previously unfamiliar with the innovations of modern game design are taking notice.
All that being said, there are, of course, ways the hobby and the industry that supports it can extend their reach. Continue to write better more consumable rulebooks. Continue to expand beyond the typical themes currently pervasive in the hobby and target more diverse demographics. And also, apply the tried and true mechanics developed over the last twenty years to those new themes. Anyone drawn in by a theme should always be rewarded with an awesome game at the end of the day. I definitely think more apps on a variety of platforms is a fantastic tool for evangelizing the physical game.
Q. One area of board gaming that looks intriguing is single player board games. Have you had much experience with single player board games? I would think the electronic board games could definitely influence this area of board gaming. For me and where I live, it is not easy to get a group together to play board games but I can easily pull out the iPad and play Ticket to Ride.
A. Single player games are tricky. For me personally, I will often choose a video game over a single player board game. A lot of the currently available single player board games still have players tracking various statistics and attributes, which is relatively antiquated when video games can do so much in that regard. Video games also win out in the stimulation department when they can bombard the player with a variety of emotional and intellectual triggers and keep the player guessing. One of the more important aspects in the current surge of board gaming popularity is the focus on social interaction and communication with the other folks at the table.
However, a second important quality is the engagement of player imagination. Video games tend to fill in all the blanks for the player, and leave little room for the player to truly insert themselves into the story or universe being presented. Board games (and even better tabletop RPGs), allow players to tinker with the universe at hand, and be more of a participant in the creation of the narratives. Tabletop game are more “sandbox” and less “amusement park” than video games by their very physicality.
Q. Another interesting area in board gaming is micro games. This is an area I think electronic board games could excel in, what do you think? A recent one to go digital is Province. (which I plan on reviewing soon)
A. Hard to say with micro games. There are a couple that might work “OK” as an app, but there’s really not a lot to them in reality. Many of them rely on deduction as a design anchor. So, they depend on the face to face player interaction to really shine. I do think Province is a good example one that might work, but even in that case, the turns are so quick that the device might get in the way. I’ve been wrong before though.
Q. You mentioned interactive tutorials in the electronic board games. I think this is a critical component to make the game successful. What else do you think is critical that electronic board games have/do to be successful?
A. Yes! Not enough apps do this well! This is really a large oversight, but I can see that it’s very difficult to pull off. There’s a real choice to be made in regards to how much information to present and when in a tutorial. Other than a polished tutorial, I would say there are three other must-have qualities: asynchronous play, a configurable AI that you can make as smart or dumb as you need to, and a UI that is both easy to look at and presents information that is meaningful and easy to find. It’s actually very hard to pin down exactly what makes a good app. I know one when I see one, and publishers like Big Daddy Creations and Playdek are examples of folks who seem to always get it right.
Q. I agree with your statement “where it appears the developers are targeting board game enthusiast that have an iPad.” What do you think they should do differently?
A. Marketing through different channels is probably a good start. I did notice that Playdek held an organized play event at Gen Con this last year with a fair bit of success. I think that’s an untapped market for these games. Imagine if we had a World Championship for various board game apps that was available through your personal devices. A few games have started to branch out in that direction, notably Solforge and Hearthstone, which aren’t technically “board game apps”, but are rooted very much in the Magic: The Gathering realm. What’s stopping something like a Ticket to Ride World Championship being conducted solely over the net asynchronously, with big cash prizes? There’s also room for more engagement with these apps directly through social media.
Really enjoyed our talk Joel, lets finish this up with letting my readers know a bit about you and your site.
A. In late 2010, I got the idea to start creating board game videos and posting them to YouTube and BoardGameGeek.com, to better invest myself into learning what makes board games “tick”. I started playing hobby games off and on in 1999 when I was introduced to games like Settlers of Catan, Lowenherz, and Carcassonne. They really blew my mind, and as the board games from Europe continued to cross the pond, I am became more and more flabbergasted at how amazing they were. I really wanted to explore deeply how these things worked, so, I figured, why not make a fool of myself in front of the Internet while I tried to explain how these things worked.
What board games would you see ported to iOS or Android?
The short answer is, “All of them.” But, I would like to see more war games made into mobile apps. War games are kind of the niche within the niche, so the likelihood is slim. They often have large and complicated rulesets with multiple rules exceptions that are hard to memorize. Some of the more traditional games in this genre also take an extremely long time to complete. I’d love to see a few of these ported over to iOS, notably Julius Caesar, anything from the COIN series, and more games like Twilight Struggle which should actually be showing up in 2015.
