Best board games for iPad
PadPlay's picks for board games on iPad — where text readability and intuitive controls matter.
I keep reaching for the iPad version of board games I own on Steam. The reason is always the same: touch controls. Wingspan is fine with a mouse, but dragging and dropping birds onto the board with your finger feels so much better. Terraforming Mars has so many menus and resource tracks that navigating it with a controller on a console is miserable, but on an iPad you just tap exactly what you need.
The games that work best on iPad are the ones with heavy bookkeeping and complex rule sets. The iPad handles all the rule enforcement in the background so you spend time on decisions instead of maintenance.
Board game readability matters more on tablets than in any other genre. These games have a lot of text. On an iPad, you can read the card text and see the full board at the same time. Games where I had to pinch-to-zoom to read card effects ranked lower.
What we looked for
- •Is card, board, and rule text readable without pinch-to-zoom?
- •Does the app take advantage of touch controls, or does it feel like a mouse port?
- •Is pass-and-play available for shared-device multiplayer?
Wingspan
Wingspan automates all the engine-building math. Dragging a bird card onto the board with your finger feels tactile and natural, and the gorgeous bird illustrations actually have room to be appreciated on the iPad's display.
View details →Root
Root has four asymmetric factions with totally different rule sets. Teaching it to friends is a nightmare. The iPad app enforces the rules and lets you learn by doing. The animated 3D board looks fantastic.
View details →Terraforming Mars
Terraforming Mars has an overwhelming amount of resource cubes and tracks to manage. Playing it with a controller on Xbox is clunky, but on the iPad, tapping menus and adjusting resource tracks is fast and intuitive.
View details →Carcassonne: Tiles & Tactics
My absolute favorite game for pass-and-play local multiplayer. You hand someone the iPad, they drag a tile onto the board, and they pass it back. The app handles all the complicated field scoring automatically.
View details →Through the Ages
A 3-hour tabletop game condensed into 45 minutes digitally. The iPad version organizes the massive sprawl of technology and leader cards into clean, readable UI panels that you can just tap through.
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