Beta – Stately Play

Shards of Infinity ready for polishing

March 11, 2019 David Neumann 208

iOS, Android, PC Temple Gates came out of nowhere in 2017 to rock our worlds with the, still fantastic, digital port of Race for the Galaxy. While we know they’ve been working on it’s dicey cousin, Roll for the Galaxy, we also know that they’ve hooked up with Stone Blade Entertainment and have been working on their 2-player card battler, Shards of Infinity. Looks like the latter has been getting the bulk of the attention because, today, they announced that beta signups are open.

Paperback sequel/prequel, Hardback, is in beta and coming to iOS/Android

June 6, 2018 David Neumann 3

iOS, Android • I first heard of Tim Fowers back when Wok Star was released way back in 2010. It was a cooperative game that didn’t follow the standard Pandemic formula of “take your turn then pull a card and see what terrible stuff happens”. Instead, the game used a timer and players played simultaneously, trying to keep the restaurant running smoothly. Since then, he’s become a powerhouse designer, running his own publishing digs and putting out games that don’t fit into the standard mold set by previous titles. For example, Paperback took the well-worn mechanisms of Dominion, but put them into a word game which, somehow, made deck-building fun! What really separates him, however, is that he learned a long time ago that digital board games are pretty cool and, as of now, has released both Paperback and Burgle Bros. onto mobile. Soon we’ll get their third title on our phones and tablets, a sequel of sorts to Paperback appropriately titled, Hardback.

Remember Feud? This time its beta is really happening

May 7, 2018 David Neumann 4

PC/Mac/Linux, Android, iOS • Another week, another post about a mobile beta. Sigh. I don’t know what’s happening, but I know that the next few months there’s going to be an explosion of goodness oozing out of the App Store’s pores. This week (and I’m sure there will be more as the week goes on…we’ve become Betas-R-Us) we have an abstract that hasn’t gotten enough coverage: Feud.

Another beta opportunity, this time Constan…I mean, Istanbul

April 25, 2018 David Neumann 8

iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • Maybe it’s just me, but 2018 thus far has been a rather depressing year from a digital board game perspective. I’m still playing the hell out of Through the Ages, Twilight Struggle, and even Race for the Galaxy, but 2018 has been the “Year of the Beta”. It’s been a lot of talk about a bunch of great games set to release in 2018, but nothing has actually manifested into reality yet. We have Scythe, Terraforming Mars, One Deck Dungeon, Onitama, Among the Stars, XenoShyft, and probably a few more that I can’t remember offhand. I get that it’s a long slog to get a game released, but I want more goodies on my iPad and it’s all about me, me, me! Today we have another beta for an upcoming game that I really, really want to start playing, Istanbul.

Wanna play Scythe on your laptop today? Sure you do

April 19, 2018 David Neumann 9

PC (beta), iOS/Android (down the road) • After collecting nearly $2 million on Kickstarter in 2015, Scythe made its grand debut at Gen Con 2016 and quickly scrambled up the Board Game Geek rankings to eventually land in the top ten games of all time. I’m not sure it deserves to be called the 7th best board game ever, but I do enjoy the game and its incredible overproduction quite a bit. Due to its success, a digital version only seemed natural and, of course, our digital overlords, Asmodee Digital, would be the ones bringing it to life. We know it’s coming to Steam and mobile sometime later this year, but maybe you want to give it a try now? Follow me.

Our old friend Onirim arises from its slumber

March 30, 2018 David Neumann 3

iOS Universal, Android • Onirim was one of our favorite solo time-wasters last year which was impressive for two reasons. First, it was a really good year for games and, secondly, what the hell is Onirim? It wasn’t one of Asmodee Digital‘s highly touted releases and just kind of showed up one day in its nearly perfect form. Since its release Onirim only got better, adding new expansions and going free to download with no pesky F2P shenanigans on the side. It’s been awhile since we’ve heard any news on the Onirim front, however. Yesterday Asmodee let everyone know that updates are on the way. Not only that, but they’re looking for testers to help get the updates out the door.

Abstract gem, Feud, heading to Early Access and launching iOS beta

March 12, 2018 David Neumann 6

iOS, Android, PC/Mac/Linux • We talked about an unassuming little abstract game called Feud back in November and, turns out, it was pretty good. And this is coming from someone who doesn’t like abstracts. The game was designed by Dave Cordell originally as a tabletop game, but was quickly moved over to the digital realm where it’s a much better fit. Feud should be heading to Early Access fairly soon, but Bearwaves is adding a healthy heaping of goodness before that happens. Oh, and it sounds like an iOS version is coming down the road as well, and they’re looking for testers.

Cublo starting Among the Stars beta test, looking for testers

March 7, 2018 David Neumann 0

iOS, Android • You remember Cublo Games, right? They’re the folks behind the digital version of one of my favorite board games, Martin Wallace’s Brass. Brass was released in late 2015 so, you might ask, what the hell have they been doing for the past 2+ years. Well, polishing Brass for one, but they’ve also been hard at work on another board game port, Among the Stars.

Onitama is nearly here and Asmodee is looking for beta testers

February 28, 2018 David Neumann 9

iOS, Android • If you haven’t played Onitama from Arcane Wonders, you’re really in for a treat when the game lands on iOS and Android later this year. I’m not much of an abstract fan, but I fell in love with Onitama when I played it at Gen Con and can’t wait for Asmodee Digital to bring it to all my touchscreens. From the sound of it, we won’t have long to wait.

Warhammer Quest 2 undertaking its most dangerous quest yet: Android

February 13, 2018 David Neumann 1

iOS Universal, Android (late March) • There weren’t many games more anticipated in 2017 than Warhammer Quest 2, the follow-up to one of the best dungeon crawlers to ever grace a touchscreen. When it did land in November, however, reactions were a bit on the cool side. While WHQ2 was beautiful and varied, it lacked that threat of unseen death around every corner. Yep, it was a bit too easy. Last week a major update landed bringing ambushes back and cranking up the difficulty–not to mention expanding the explorable world–and it seems to have made much of the disgruntled masses a little less disgruntled. When I was writing up last week’s post, I was surprised that the only link I needed to add was to the App Store. I could have swore that an Android version existed, but I was wrong. Actually, I like to think I was being prescient and channeling my inner Nostradamus because today I learned that an Android version is in the works and should be here in March.