I’m Digital Card Game Rich!: iOS Card Games

I’ve become addicted to both physical and digital board games, so I thought I’d share the love and give you all a run down of some of the card games I’ve been playing recently on my iPad.

Food Fight

Food Fight is a fairly simple game that quickly loses it’s appeal due to the randomness of every hand. It is entirely possible to lose the game based on the goal and the cards you pull never lining up. I imagine it could be a fun warm-up game at a table, but as a time waster it’s not worth it.

Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013

Magic the Gathering: This name is too long 2013 is the most expensive game on the list, coming in at $9.99, but it by far has the most single player replay value and some great visuals. I’m not a big Magic fan as I really dislike games where you need to prepare your deck before you even start. That being said, I really enjoyed Magic 2013. The campaign mode is fun, although frustrating at times. I spent a couple weeks working through the game and beating the campaign and maxing out the starter deck. I even continued to play when there was a glitch and it lost my saves so I had to start over. For as much as I dislike Magic, I really enjoyed this version.

Elder Sign

Elder Sign is more of a dice game than a card game, but I decided to add it because it’s my article and I can do what I want, so quit hounding me about it before I pack up my things and leave. I don’t need to take your lip, I can do just fine on my own! Don’t you dare raise your voice at me! Elder Sign is a distraction when you need a quick Cthulu fix, but not great for repeat sessions.

Bang!

Bang! is probably the worst of all the card games I have played. It is entirely possible to be knocked out of the game without ever playing a card, and the jail card is by far one of the worst mechanics in any game. When a single player can kill you in one round if they are lucky, a card that prevents you from acting for a whole turn is pretty much crap. This is another one that is probably fun at the table with a few beers.

Summoner Wars

Summoner Wars is a neat mixture of board and card game. It involves elements of tactical strategy due to card placement, luck due to the hand you draw, and card buying/discarding. These lead to a unique experience that can be both rewarding and completely frustrating. This is a game where you really need to know both yours and your opponents deck inside and out otherwise you will be blindsided by some troops/spells that seem completely unfair.

Nightfall

Nightfall is my most recent purchase so I have not had the opportunity to put much time in to it yet. So far I am enjoying the mechanics, but feel like I am missing something important. I never seem to know when the opponents minions exist or not, so half the time I play a card to hurt them I end up killing my own minions. Also the computer seems to have the perfect cards to chain off my cards. I really need to spend more time at it until I can make a real decision. Right now it is only 99 cents, so I say it is worth picking up.

Dominion

Dominion is a great deckbuilding game and this app stay truthful to the game. It is not an official Dominion app, so it lacks the polish of the other games on the list, but it plays like at the table. My only real complaint is that it took me a minute to understand how to use the cards. You use the play area only for action cards, and you use coins by dragging your purchase to your discard pile. Other than a few small issues this game is 100% worth a download at the cost of free.

Ascension

Now this here is my jam. I am completely addicted to Ascension. Every time I have a couple minutes to kill I will play a full 15-30 minute game. Thankfully my boss doesn’t seem to notice how often I am playing. I don’t know what it is about this game, but even with the fact that I am double the victory points of the computer opponents I still keep playing. So basically what I am saying is, you should buy this game right now!