We live in a wonderful age of technology where everything can be taken with us on our phones from bank cards to car keys even our driver’s licences.
Yet like most of us have you ever found yourself out and about with your friends usually at a party of some kind that you were obligated to attend and conversation has completely run dry and you just wish it would end.
This nightmare scenario is sadly not uncommon and I can’t even count how many times this has happened to me while at a party.
Well, there is no need to dread this anymore now you have a whole world of tabletop games available for you to pass around to your friends all conveniently stored on your phone.
Here are our top 5 board games that you can pass and play with your friends on your mobile phone or tablet anytime and place with no internet connection required for all but one of the games it’s a great activity to bring life to that dead social gathering.
Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Ride is a classic gateway game and has been spoken about a lot on this blog the game is pretty simple. On each turn, you collect or play coloured cards to build preset railway routes across a map.
As you go, you gain points for building longer routes and connecting pairs of cities. At the end of the game, the player with the most points wins.
The Ticket to Ride app is fantastic and has been around for a while with heaps of available expansion maps and challenging AI it will have even the experienced ticket to ride players hooked.
Board Game Geek Description
With elegantly simple gameplay, Ticket to Ride can be learned in under 15 minutes. Players collect cards of various types of train cars they then use to claim railway routes in North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who fulfill Destination Tickets – goal cards that connect distant cities; and to the player who builds the longest continuous route.
“The rules are simple enough to write on a train ticket – each turn you either draw more cards, claim a route, or get additional Destination Tickets,” says Ticket to Ride author, Alan R. Moon. “The tension comes from being forced to balance greed – adding more cards to your hand, and fear – losing a critical route to a competitor.”
Ticket to Ride continues in the tradition of Days of Wonder‘s big format board games featuring high-quality illustrations and components including: an oversize board map of North America, 225 custom-molded train cars, 144 illustrated cards, and wooden scoring markers.
Since its introduction and numerous subsequent awards, Ticket to Ride has become the BoardGameGeek epitome of a “gateway game” — simple enough to be taught in a few minutes, and with enough action and tension to keep new players involved and in the game for the duration.
Settlers of Catan
Catan is board game royalty and this day and age really require no introduction the app is a reflection of how established this game has become.
In the app, you can either play against multiple AI or link up with the online multiplayer to roll your dice, build your roads, trade your sheep, and move that damn thief that keeps blocking your brick production.
This app is so good that it makes Catan feel like it should be a video game but honestly, nothing beats trying to convince your friend to give you that last brick you need in person.
Board Game Geek Description
In Catan (formerly The Settlers of Catan), players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players collect these resources (cards)—wood, grain, brick, sheep, or stone—to build up their civilizations to get to 10 victory points and win the game.
Setup includes randomly placing large hexagonal tiles (each showing a resource or the desert) in a honeycomb shape and surrounding them with water tiles, some of which contain ports of exchange. Number disks, which will correspond to die rolls (two 6-sided dice are used), are placed on each resource tile. Each player is given two settlements (think: houses) and roads (sticks) which are, in turn, placed on intersections and borders of the resource tiles. Players collect a hand of resource cards based on which hex tiles their last-placed house is adjacent to. A robber pawn is placed on the desert tile.
A turn consists of possibly playing a development card, rolling the dice, everyone (perhaps) collecting resource cards based on the roll and position of houses (or upgraded cities—think: hotels) unless a 7 is rolled, turning in resource cards (if possible and desired) for improvements, trading cards at a port, and trading resource cards with other players. If a 7 is rolled, the active player moves the robber to a new hex tile and steals resource cards from other players who have built structures adjacent to that tile.
Points are accumulated by building settlements and cities, having the longest road and the largest army (from some of the development cards), and gathering certain development cards that simply award victory points. When a player has gathered 10 points (some of which may be held in secret), he announces his total and claims the win.
Catan has won multiple awards and is one of the most popular games in recent history due to its amazing ability to appeal to experienced gamers as well as those new to the hobby.
Splendor
Splendor is heavily strategic card drafting game that plays like a deck-builder except without all the shuffling. You purchase jewel themed cards that give you more buying power throughout the game, which in turn help you purchase cards that hold more value and allows you to earn points toward winning. The first player to get 15 of these prestige points wins the game.
This app looks just like the physical game and has a good level of different AI’s giving players an ongoing challenge the better they get at the game.
Board Game Geek Description
Splendor is a game of chip-collecting and card development. Players are merchants of the Renaissance trying to buy gem mines, means of transportation, shops—all in order to acquire the most prestige points. If you’re wealthy enough, you might even receive a visit from a noble at some point, which of course will further increase your prestige.
On your turn, you may (1) collect chips (gems), or (2) buy and build a card, or (3) reserve one card. If you collect chips, you take either three different kinds of chips or two chips of the same kind. If you buy a card, you pay its price in chips and add it to your playing area. To reserve a card—in order to make sure you get it, or, why not, your opponents don’t get it—you place it in front of you face down for later building; this costs you a round, but you also get gold in the form of a joker chip, which you can use as any gem.
All of the cards you buy increase your wealth as they give you a permanent gem bonus for later buys; some of the cards also give you prestige points. In order to win the game, you must reach 15 prestige points before your opponents do.
Exploding Kittens
Exploding Kittens is one of those crazy card games that players just need to experience. Players draw cards from a central deck, one at a time. Before drawing, players can also use cards from their hand to skip a turn or mess with your opponents in a dozen different ways.
The aim of the game is to avoid drawing an “exploding kitten,” cards which can cause you to lose the game, the app version of this game is great and offers features missing from the physical version of the game. Like online matchmaking and you also don’t need to shuffle again isn’t that the dream.
Board Game Geek Description
Exploding Kittens is a kitty-powered version of Russian Roulette. Players take turns drawing cards until someone draws an exploding kitten and loses the game. The deck is made up of cards that let you avoid exploding by peeking at cards before you draw, forcing your opponent to draw multiple cards, or shuffling the deck.
The game gets more and more intense with each card you draw because fewer cards left in the deck means a greater chance of drawing the kitten and exploding in a fiery ball of feline hyperbole.
eater chance of drawing the kitten and exploding in a fiery ball of feline hyperbole.
Spaceteam
Spaceteam is the perfect app party game that takes the already fantastic card game and moves it over into a digital format that allows your mobile phone’s to replace the cards (disclaimer this game will require an internet connection) but is fantastic and a great party game for you and your friends.
Want more details make sure you check out the trailer above or the board game geek description below.
Board Game Geek Description
Spaceteam is a fast-paced, cooperative shouting card game in which you race to repair your malfunctioning spaceship.
Your goal is to ensure that all ship systems are functioning properly before time runs out. Each player must deal with the various malfunctions in their sector by flipping cards from the malfunction deck in front of them, and fixing the ship’s systems. You’ll have an arsenal of disorganized space tools spread among all players’ hands, but finding the right tools can be harder than you think, especially when your Spaceteam is frantically worrying about malfunctions in their own sector. If that wasn’t hard enough, you’ll also have to deal with complications such as wormholes and asteroid fields, which require the coordination of the entire Spaceteam. There are no turns; everyone plays and shouts at the same time. Victory is achieved if enough malfunctions are corrected to reveal the 6 hidden System-Go Cards before time is up.
Keen to Play More Mobile Games?
Check out our full list of mobile games for your phone and computer here.