As a kid, we (my family) played a lot of card games. We did not have Internet or personal computers back then so we played card and board games. Because of this, I am always on the look out for card and board games for mobile. Last year I reviewed the iOS game, Best Gin Rummy. Well today I am covering the game again since there have been quite a number of changes to it.
You can check out my previous review here. The game was well done back then and it still is. The developer recently reached out to me and explained that they had added a lot to the game.
Best Gin Rummy from Kuralsoft is a nicely done game that plays in landscape on either an iPhone/iTouch or iPad. The game is not complicated and there are tutorials available to help you learn the game. The playing area within the game is nicely laid out and there are no ads.
For those not familiar with gin rummy, here are the basic rules (Wikipedia):
“The objective in gin rummy is to score points and reach an agreed number of points or more, usually 100, before the opponent does.
The basic game strategy is to improve one’s hand by forming melds and eliminating deadwood. Gin has two types of meld: Sets of 3 or 4 cards sharing the same rank, e.g. 8♥ 8♦ 8♠; and runs of 3 or more cards in sequence, of the same suit. e.g. 3♥ 4♥ 5♥ or more. Deadwood cards are those not in any meld. Aces are considered low—they can form a set with other aces but only the low end of runs (thus A♠ 2♠ 3♠ is a legal run but Q♠ K♠ A♠ is not). A player can form any combination of melds within their hand, whether it contains all sets, all runs, or both. A hand can contain three or fewer melds to knock or form legal gin.”
So what is new in the game? There are 5 different types of gin rummy you can play in app:
- Gin Rummy
- Gin 2000
- Oklahoma Gin
- Straight Gin
- Hollywood Gin
Each game type has its own set of rules and as I mentioned there is a tutorial for each. Which one doe I like best? For me, the traditional Gin Rummy is my favorite but I did enjoy playing the other types of gin rummy, many of which I had not played before.
In addition to the new games, the settings has been redone. The game allows you to adjust the difficulty, game speed, turn on/off auto melding, two tap drop, and spin animations. You can play against others via the Game Center.
As I mentioned above and in my previous review, Best Gin Rummy is a well designed and implemented game. I really appreciate all of the improvements, the developer has added to allow me to customize the game. I wish more of the games I have played and reviewed were as well put together as this game.
If you enjoy card games, then Best Gin Rummy is a great choice for your iOS device.
FYI: Below is a trailer of the game. Now this video does not have all of the updates in it, but I wanted to include it, since it gives you a good look the game layout, graphics, and gameplay.
You can download the game from iTunes here.
