{"id":287597,"date":"2023-10-09T08:00:11","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T13:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/?post_type=articles&#038;p=287597"},"modified":"2023-11-26T17:21:34","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T23:21:34","slug":"games-we-prefer-to-play-digitally","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/games-we-prefer-to-play-digitally\/","title":{"rendered":"Games We Prefer to Play Digitally"},"content":{"rendered":"\nWe here at Meeple Mountain love our cardboard games. Setting out a board with chits, meeple, tiles, resources, cards\u2014heck, even add in some dice, and you have all it takes to make any of us happy campers. <\/p>\n<p>As with most gamers, we also spend time playing some of those same board games online. The number of board gaming sites online, and the quality of their implementations, have made this a viable alternative. At times, it\u2019s even the preferred alternative.<\/p>\n<p>Here are five Meeple Mountaineers and the reasons why they\u2019d rather play some games digitally.<\/p>\n<h2>Tom Franklin<\/h2>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0BHC7W6W5?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51S+Gml3tOL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"inPatience Onirim Card Game | Solo or Cooperative Two Player Strategy Game from The Oniverse | Fun Family Game | Ages 10+ | 1-2 Players | Average Playtime 15 Minutes | Made, Multicolor (INPAON12)\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51S+Gml3tOL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"inPatience Onirim Card Game | Solo or Cooperative Two Player Strategy Game from The Oniverse | Fun Family Game | Ages 10+ | 1-2 Players | Average Playtime 15 Minutes | Made, Multicolor (INPAON12)\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0BHC7W6W5?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<h3>Onirim\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><i>Onirim <\/i>was the first of the Oniverse solo games by designer Shadi Torbey. In <i>Onirim<\/i>, you\u2019re a Dreamwalker, trying to find all eight of the Oneiric doors before your dream ends. All this plays out with a big deck of over 70 cards featuring the trippy, dreamlike artwork of <a href=\"https:\/\/boardgamegeek.com\/boardgameartist\/37730\/elise-plessis\">\u00c9lise Plessis<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To play, shuffle the deck of Dreams, Doors, and Nightmare cards. Deal yourself a starting hand five cards. On a turn, you\u2019ll play a card from your hand, then draw one from the deck. Played cards are placed on the table, in a row from left to right, with the last card played on top. If you play three cards in a row of the same color and whose upper left symbols are not repeated in a row, you\u2019ll unlock one of the Oniric Doors of that color. Unlock all eight doors and you win the game.<\/p>\n<p>However, when you do unlock a door, you\u2019ll need to go through the deck to find it\u2014and then reshuffle the deck. If you draw one of the doors and have a matching colored key card in your hand, you unlock the door. If not, you\u2019ll need to set it aside and then reshuffle the deck at the end of your turn. This may not seem like much, but I\u2019ve played Onirim and had to reshuffle the deck 6-7 times, which ends up being a lot of shuffling.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The digital version takes care of all that shuffling, allowing me to concentrate on the game itself, and not the shuffling and reshuffling.<\/p>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01IPUGYK6?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41QEguwEL+L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Stonemaier Games: Scythe (Base Game) | an Engine-Building, Area Control Strategy Board Game Set in Dieselpunk 1920s Europe for Adults and Family | 1-5 Players, 115 Mins, Ages 14+\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/41QEguwEL+L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Stonemaier Games: Scythe (Base Game) | an Engine-Building, Area Control Strategy Board Game Set in Dieselpunk 1920s Europe for Adults and Family | 1-5 Players, 115 Mins, Ages 14+\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01IPUGYK6?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<h3>Scythe<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/scythe-digital-edition\/\"><i>Scythe <\/i><\/a>is a worker placement game where you are positioning your faction\u2019s Character, Mechs, and Workers on the hexes on the board to produce the proper resources. While some people may not be such fans of the game due to the limited player interaction\/combat, I find Scythe to be a game that requires tight planning to optimize every turn to stay ahead of your competitors.<\/p>\n<p>Specific hexes on the board produce specific resources, so while you can play much of the game in your starting quadrant of the board, the lure of the resources available outside your faction\u2019s initial offerings becomes more and more attractive. Also, you\u2019ll score additional end game points by having your pieces spread out across the board.<\/p>\n<p>To do so, you\u2019ll want to build a Tunnel for your faction that connects to the other six tunnels towards the center of the board. Mechs and Characters will, depending on the Faction, be able to move more than one space at a time, thus expanding your reach when venturing forth. As well, certain Mechs allow you to cross the water from one specific land type to another.<\/p>\n<p>I typically spent the slight downtime between turns mapping out where my pieces could travel across the board. Sometimes, though, this became a mental juggling act while I tried to keep one set of movement paths straight in my head while testing out another possible path.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The digital version solves all this with a most elegant solution. Simply click on one of your pieces and the AI will highlight the hexes where that piece can move on your turn. It\u2019s the brilliant solution I didn\u2019t know I needed until I played <i>Scythe <\/i>online for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>Burgle Bros.<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/burgle-bros\/\"><i>Burgle Bros.<\/i><\/a> is a cooperative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0240772\/\">Ocean\u2019s Eleven<\/a>-style game where you and your fellow players\u2014as a group of talented experts\u2014break into a building and must crack the safe on each floor before making your way to the roof to escape. Each room tile is face down until you peek into it or enter, revealing it to be one of over twelve different room types, most of which will cause you difficulties on your way to locate the safe.<\/p>\n<p>After each player takes their turn, moving clandestinely through the building, the Guards continue their patrol of the floor where the active player moved. Should the Guards spot any of your group three times, the game ends with your team being arrested and tossed into jail.<\/p>\n<p>Due to the limitations of the physical game, the building\/board options are limited to one of two buildings with either two or three floors to choose from. Being free from this limitation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/burgle-bros-goes-digital\/\">the digital version of <i>Burgle Bros.<\/i><\/a> expands your options to six choices, one of which can only be unlocked by successfully completing the other five. And, let me tell you, some of those five are hard\u2014as in, I still haven\u2019t managed to beat them.<\/p>\n<p>The digital version was clearly designed by people who understood both the story the game is telling and the mechanics used to keep the game tense. The animation is minimal but effective, and the sound effects are oh so good. (The sound of the Guard\u2019s echoing footsteps still haunt my dreams.) <i>Burgle Bros.<\/i> beat out <i>Pandemic <\/i>as my favorite cooperative game after only a few plays. If you enjoy cooperative games, I cannot encourage you enough to try this one out.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/authors\/tom-franklin\/\">Read more from Tom Franklin.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>David McMillan<\/h2>\n<h3>Ascension\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><i>Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer <\/i>is a deck-building game with a theme that I\u2019m not even going to attempt to explain (because none of it makes any sense) aside from telling you that there\u2019s a definite fantasy fiction theme running throughout.<\/p>\n<p>Like most deck builders, players begin with an identical set of cards which are pretty weak. In <i>Ascension<\/i> specifically, each player has a few cards that provide one purchasing power apiece and others that provide one strength apiece. Each round, players draw five cards from their deck and then use those cards to do things. At the beginning of the game the players are typically using the buying power of the starter cards to purchase the always available Mystics and Heavy Infantry to add to their deck (providing two buying power or strength respectively) or using the strength provided by their starter attack cards to kill the always available Cultists which provide one victory point apiece.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t take long, though, before the players are able to interact with the card row that\u2019s set out between them. This card row contains the heroes they will be recruiting (which provide unique abilities such as both buying and attack power) and the monsters they will be killing (which are typically worth more victory points than the measly Cultists and usually have abilities that fire off upon their defeat). Victory points accrued during the game are deducted from a victory point pool. The end game is triggered when this pool is depleted. When the game ends, every hero that was recruited has its victory point value added to however many victory points the players acquired over the course of the game and the player with the most points wins.<\/p>\n<p><i>Ascension\u2019s<\/i> been around for a long time. At the time of this writing, my <i>Ascension<\/i> app shows twelve expansions, in addition to the base game, and six different sets of promos. I\u2019m sure there are some purists out there that only add in an expansion or two at a time in order to better appreciate how each one interacts with the other. Then there are other people like me that enjoy the chaos of just throwing it all together and seeing what happens. Regardless of which camp you fall into, with so many different cards and rule sets (and so much math) to handle, letting an app handle the workload makes playing the game not only much easier, but much more fun.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve played the physical <i>Ascension<\/i> game several times now and it gets really annoying with expansions. The stacks of cards get higher and higher which makes shuffling them a nightmare. And a giant stack of sleeved cards is not very steady. The slightest bump against the table sends them spilling all over the place. Also, the tear down takes forever since you have to separate everything back out into their separate expansions. That is why I prefer playing <i>Ascension<\/i> digitally. It\u2019s just easier and cleaner.<\/p>\n<h3>Snowdonia<\/h3>\n<p>In 2000, Tony Boydell released a game called <i>The Great Game of Time Travel<\/i>\u2014a relatively obscure title that you\u2019ve probably never heard of\u2014and over the ensuing years, that was followed up with six other equally obscure titles. But in 2012, Tony Boydell struck gold. In 2012, Tony Boydell turned his eye towards Wales\u2019s own Mount Snowdon and, so inspired, <i>Snowdonia<\/i> was born.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes a board game levels up, transcending mere board game status and becoming a <b>GAME SYSTEM<\/b>. These are games that are not only games unto themselves, but feature a sort of \u2018plug and play\u2019 functionality that allow them to be easily remixed and reimagined in different ways, often using almost identical components, resulting in games that manage to not only play almost exactly the same, but feel like entirely different experiences. Following in the footsteps of giants such as <i>Age of Steam<\/i> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/games-we-love-pandemic\/\"><i>Pandemic<\/i><\/a>, <i>Snowdonia<\/i> is such a phenomenon.<\/p>\n<p>In <i>Snowdonia<\/i>, the players are work gangs providing the labor for the construction of the Snowdon Mountain Railway. The railway extends from the village of Llanberis at its base all the way to the peak of Mount Snowdon. In the game, the players send out workers to remove rubble to make way for the laying of tracks as well as the construction of stations that service customers along the way. The game consists of a deck of cards which comprise the train route, a deck of cards representing\u00a0 contracts which reward the players with victory points if their criteria are met (as well as one-time use game breaking abilities), a small deck of Train cards, the central game board, and the various bits and bobs (player pawns, resource tokens, etc.).<\/p>\n<p>This paucity of components quickly led rise to a bevy of fan created content. Want to represent a different railway? Easy. Just create a new deck of cards and use that instead. Want to change up the rules a bit? Easy. New deck of cards. New railways, new mechanics, new trains\u2026 all possible with a few minor tweaks and component changes, but the fundamental mechanics never change. <i>Snowdonia<\/i> spawned so many expansions, in fact, that it inspired a Kickstarter campaign in 2018 for a Deluxe Master Set, a massive box jam-packed with content.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, that\u2019s what lands <i>Snowdonia<\/i> on this list. It\u2019s a fabulous game, but it can be tedious digging through the box to extract the components needed for the different modules and then having to put them back when you\u2019re done. That\u2019s why I\u2019m thrilled that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yucata.de\/en\/Rules\/Snowdonia\">Yucata added <i>Snowdonia<\/i><\/a> to their lineup. Now I can play the base game or the Blaenau Ffestiniog (the players start at opposing stations and work their way upwards to the middle) or the Daffodil Line (players use the rubble from excavations to fill in a canal) variants any time I want. And this is just a fraction of the content available for this game. I wish there were more, but I\u2019ll take what I can get.<\/p>\n<h3>Imperial Settlers<\/h3>\n<p>A game I wish was available digitally because of how much I love it, how combo-tastic it can be (which can make turns take a very long time) and how many expansions there are.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/authors\/david-mcmillan\/\">Read more from David McMillan.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Ian Howard<\/h2>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B071CZT9D9?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51brFN2ulJL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Czech Games Through The Ages by CGE Edition, Strategy Board Game\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51brFN2ulJL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Czech Games Through The Ages by CGE Edition, Strategy Board Game\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B071CZT9D9?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<h3>Through the Ages<\/h3>\n<p><i>Through the Ages<\/i>, from Czech Games Edition, is one of the best civilization-building games out there. Across four Ages of alternate history, players draft cards from a constantly-shifting central row then spend resources and actions to implement those cards. Install a powerful Leader, develop scientific advancements, invest in your civilization\u2019s Culture, improve your Government through peaceful means or revolution, build your Military to wage war against your opponents\u2026it\u2019s all here.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s the problem. Like many civ games, <i>Through the Ages<\/i> requires a huge amount of bookkeeping. Cubes and beads and cards move around in a swirl of activity. Efficiency is all-important: fail to use all your resources for a turn and you\u2019ll lose some to corruption, grow your population too quickly and you\u2019ll run out of food, that kind of thing. I like being able to experiment with different options on my turn until I find the right combination. The app makes it easy to test out each approach and instantly see how it affects my fledgling civilization before I confirm any of my misguided choices.<\/p>\n<p>As a bonus, the app features solo play against AI opponents and saves all games in progress, which lets me tackle this multi-hour behemoth in manageable chunks. Much like the equally excellent <i>Galaxy Trucker<\/i> app (also from CGE) there are even unique challenges to complete. These offer fun twists on the core gameplay, like only being able to take one Leader per game. <i>Through the Ages<\/i> may be epic in scope, but it\u2019s the app\u2019s accessibility and flexibility that I\u2019m looking for.<\/p>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0992PXW6L?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61k5qOigvOL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Greater Than Games | Sentinels of The Multiverse: Definitive Edition | Cooperative Strategy Board Game | 1 to 5 Players | 30+ Minutes | Ages 14+\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/61k5qOigvOL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Greater Than Games | Sentinels of The Multiverse: Definitive Edition | Cooperative Strategy Board Game | 1 to 5 Players | 30+ Minutes | Ages 14+\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0992PXW6L?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<h3>Sentinels Of The Multiverse<\/h3>\n<p>Unlike <i>Through the Ages<\/i>, I\u2019ve actually played quite a few games of <i>Sentinels of the Multiverse <\/i>in person. It\u2019s a fantastic co-op game about superheroes, each with their own unique deck, teaming up to take on an over-the-top supervillain. (You can read our full review <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/sentinels-of-the-multiverse\/\">here<\/a>.) It\u2019s also a math lesson masquerading as a game.<\/p>\n<p>Every turn of <i>Sentinels<\/i> is a dense, sticky web of inscrutable numbers. It all starts so innocently. One character, Legacy, has a power that increases each other hero\u2019s damage output by 1 point for a full round. Great! Another character, Fanatic, has a power that deals 1 damage twice, stacking Legacy\u2019s bonus to deal 4 damage (because each instance of damage gets the bonus). Awesome! A third character, Absolute Zero, has a power that deals damage at the start of his turn (which uses Legacy\u2019s bonus) and then during his turn he uses his abilities to deal damage to himself (adding Legacy\u2019s bonus) and then heals for that much (possibly adding a different bonus) and then does as much damage as he took to an enemy (adding Legacy\u2019s bonus <i>again<\/i>) and and AND: it\u2019s exhausting, after a while.<\/p>\n<p>I love <i>Sentinels of the Multiverse<\/i>, but its biggest flaw is that there\u2019s a lot of math, a lot of upkeep, and a lot of unintended consequences that can tilt the game from an easy rout to an abject defeat. I\u2019ve played it physically with tracking apps that just help manage the numbers, which is definitely an improvement, but the full digital version handles everything so that you can focus on the cool stuff: the combos and clever tactics that make you feel like a real hero. The app also makes it easy to pick up and incorporate all of the expansions in one single place, saving you storage space.<\/p>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07WMZ7T9K?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51DOKDanUIL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Magic: The Gathering Magic Game Night 2019 | Card Game For 2\u20135 Players | 5 Decks | 5 Dice | Accessories\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51DOKDanUIL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Magic: The Gathering Magic Game Night 2019 | Card Game For 2\u20135 Players | 5 Decks | 5 Dice | Accessories\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07WMZ7T9K?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<h3>Magic: The Gathering<\/h3>\n<p>Speaking of storage space: as someone who has been playing <i>Magic: the Gathering<\/i> off and on for more than 20 years, I can honestly say that no other game in my collection takes up nearly as much physical space. Every time I want to play a game of <i>Magic<\/i> in person, I have to think about digging through boxes to find a deck \u2014 or worse, having to look through thousands of cards to make a new deck. And while I will never get over the thrill of cracking a booster pack and pulling a sweet new card that rewrites the rules of the game, actually buying and storing those cards is an intolerable chore.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t think playing <i>Magic<\/i> digitally is necessarily better (you can read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/magic-arena-the-best-way-to-play-the-worst-magic\/\">our review of the <i>Arena<\/i> app<\/a> here for a sense of its pros and cons) but it is overwhelmingly easier. Cards in your digital collection are automatically sorted and made searchable by every meaningful metric. Any copies of a card past your fourth (the maximum playable in any given deck) get turned into currency that can be spent on other cards. Each card can be reused between any number of decks. Matchmaking is quick and painless; you can easily play everything from single unranked matches to full draft tournaments. It\u2019s perfectly designed for someone like me, someone who wants to dabble in the newest sets without dropping a thousand dollars on booster packs. I\u2019m a firm believer that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/how-playing-magic-the-gathering-can-up-your-game\/\">everyone should try <i>Magic<\/i> because of how it improves your understanding of other games<\/a>, and digital play makes that more possible than ever before.<\/p>\n    <!-- error code: TL -->\n\n<h3>Imperium: Classics\/Legends<\/h3>\n<p>If we\u2019re talking about games that we\u2019d like to be able to play digitally, <i>Imperium<\/i> is at the top of the list. Whether you\u2019re playing with the <i>Classics<\/i> or <i>Legends<\/i> set, this asymmetric civilization-themed deckbuilder is as complicated as it is engaging.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Speaking as a solo player, the problems start with the setup. With multiple market decks to sort and shuffle, specific ways to organize each player deck, and hard-to-distinguish tokens the game is a chore to get to the table. Once you get going, there\u2019s a lot of fun to be had\u2026as long as you remembered to check what\u2019s in your deck beforehand, as knowing what each civilization is capable of is vital to crafting a good strategy. While the solo game is fairly quick to run, it does involve frequently referencing two AI charts and a handful of additional rules. (Note that the solo mode as originally printed is non-functional and requires online errata.)<\/p>\n<p>All these issues are areas where digital adaptations shine. I yearn for the day when I can click a few buttons and jump right into the game. I\u2019d be thrilled to be able to check the contents of my deck mid-game without reshuffling. And having the solo bot run itself correctly, without me twisting my neck looking back and forth from the rulebook to the table? Pure heaven. <i>Imperium<\/i> is a game with incredible potential, but I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll ever really unlock it on the tabletop. In the digital space, I think this game would become an all-time classic.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/authors\/ian-howard\/\">Read more by Ian Howard.<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Andrew Holmes<\/h2>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0CV7BZTKR?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51Avm3hqLOL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"CMYK That's Pretty Clever! - A Dice Rolling Board Game for Clever Thinkers\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51Avm3hqLOL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"CMYK That's Pretty Clever! - A Dice Rolling Board Game for Clever Thinkers\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B0CV7BZTKR?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<h3>The \u2018Clever\u2019 Series<\/h3>\n<p>A series consisting of (currently) four games, the \u2018Clever\u2019 line are super quick <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/category\/roll-and-write-board-games\/\">roll and write<\/a> games from designer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/designers\/wolfgang-warsch\/\">Wolfgang Warsch<\/a>. The first, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/ganz-schon-clever\/\"><i>Ganz Sch\u00f6n Clever<\/i><\/a> (translating as \u2018That\u2019s Pretty Clever\u2019), was released in 2018 as one of the frontrunners of the wave of roll and writes that flooded the hobby in the years that followed. It\u2019s a very abstract affair, rolling six dice of different colours and ticking off numbers in the same colour region of the player sheets. The joy of the game comes from the many bonuses that start coming your way after the first couple of rounds, allowing you to perform turns that chain actions together and cross off huge areas of your sheet. Not for nothing did it end up at number 10 on our list of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/the-100-most-important-board-games-of-the-2010s\/#:~:text=%2310%3A%20That%E2%80%99s%20Pretty%20Clever%20(2018)\">100 most influential games of the 2010s<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Since then Warsch has released <i>Doppelt so clever <\/i>(\u2018Twice as Clever\u2019), <i>Clever hoch drei<\/i> (\u2018Clever Cubed\u2019), and <i>Clever 4Ever<\/i>, iterations of the original game with new twists, ways to score and bonus actions. Whilst none of them change the formula dramatically, the changes have kept the games fresh and players coming back for more. Meeple Mountain founder and editor-in-chief, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/authors\/andy-matthews\/\">Andy Matthews<\/a>, even included <i>Clever 4Ever<\/i> as one of his most anticipated games of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/most-anticipated-games-of-essen-spiel\/#:~:text=Galonnier%2C%20Luc%20R%C3%A9mond-,Clever%204Ever,-It%E2%80%99s%20hard%20to\">Essen Spiel 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Why do I prefer to play these games digitally? To be blunt, whilst they\u2019re great games, they aren\u2019t the sort of experience I look for when sitting down at a table with friends and family. They aren\u2019t entirely solitary but there\u2019s not enough interaction for me and they have zero theme, meaning that there aren\u2019t any post-game stories or dramatic highs and lows that live on in the memory. In-person gaming time is precious, these aren\u2019t games I\u2019d waste it on. On my smartphone, however, they\u2019re 5 minute wonders, teasing and tickling my brain with probabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01LYLIS2U?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51QmcJrXLuL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Rio Grande Games Dominion 2nd Edition | Deckbuilding Strategy Game for 2-4 Players, Ages 13+ | Updated Cards, Artwork, Streamlined Rules\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51QmcJrXLuL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Rio Grande Games Dominion 2nd Edition | Deckbuilding Strategy Game for 2-4 Players, Ages 13+ | Updated Cards, Artwork, Streamlined Rules\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B01LYLIS2U?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<h3>Dominion<\/h3>\n<p>The original <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/mechanisms\/deck-bag-and-pool-building\/\">deck-building game<\/a> is still one of the best, almost a decade and a half and a thousand imitators and innovators later. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/boardgame\/dominion\/\"><i>Dominion<\/i><\/a> is just a phenomenally good design. Not only did <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/designers\/donald-x-vaccarino\/\">Donald X. Vaccarino<\/a> start a whole genre of board games, he did so with a game that is as smart, engaging, approachable and balanced as you could wish a game to be. In terms of pure deck-building games, few have come close, and with the 25 kingdom cards in the base game (of which you only use 10 in a game) there\u2019s a whole lot of combinations to explore before you get onto the 15 (and counting) large box expansions and various promo cards. If the system hooks you, you can play <i>Dominion<\/i> for the rest of your life and not get bored.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not cheap though.<\/p>\n<p><i>Dominion<\/i> expansions tend to cost around the same as the base game, and whilst you can find them cheaper here and there, if you want to explore everything <i>Dominion<\/i> has to offer it\u2019s going to set you back a fair amount. 2022 saw the launch of the <i>Dominion <\/i>app and with it a financial solution. Sure, I don\u2019t much like not being able to see the full details of the card market or the cards in my virtual hand (I have to remember what each card type does). But the upshot of the app is that all the expansions and promos are available to purchase for a fraction of the cost of their physical versions (although they\u2019re still on the pricier side for digital expansions). With a robust AI system that allows me to play a full game in 10 minutes or less, I can properly explore the many innovations of <i>Dominion<\/i> without bankrupting myself or struggling to store and organise the thousands upon thousands of cards. It\u2019s something I\u2019d never be able to do outside of the digital format.<\/p>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07GPZYS61?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51wasmYP9NL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Horrible Guild Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition - Roll Dice and Draw Railways and Routes, 7 Rounds to Expand Your Rail Map - Expansion Dice Included Ages 8 & Up (Packaging may vary)\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51wasmYP9NL._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Horrible Guild Railroad Ink: Deep Blue Edition - Roll Dice and Draw Railways and Routes, 7 Rounds to Expand Your Rail Map - Expansion Dice Included Ages 8 & Up (Packaging may vary)\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07GPZYS61?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<h3>Railroad Ink (and Railroad Ink Challenge)<\/h3>\n<p>Look, I\u2019m not going to lie &#8211; I\u2019m not the biggest fan of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/railroad-ink-deep-blue\/\"><i>Railroad Ink<\/i><\/a> or its successor <i>Railroad Ink Challenge<\/i>. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t like it, it\u2019s just that the dice are such colossal fun-sponges that the game creates more feelings of resigned frustration than enjoyment.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s be clear. I like dice in games. I like the roll and write genre as a whole. I like the element of chance that dice provide. I like the puzzle that often comes with dealing with what you\u2019ve rolled. I like light games that feel breezy. I like route building. I like tile laying. I like games with restrictions, games that don\u2019t let you achieve everything you want to. I like mitigating a bad roll through cleverness. I like making the best of a bad roll. I like the perfect roll that appears despite the odds against it. I\u2019m quietly fond of trains.<\/p>\n<p>I should like <i>Railroad Ink<\/i>, and I do.<\/p>\n<p>Just not enough that I want to waste precious in-person gaming time actually playing it. It\u2019s fine. Light, quick and with enough semi-interesting decisions to pass 5 minutes or so happily enough on a smartphone. But all too often the dice are too chancey, the rolls too awkward. For all the cleverness in the world, if the final couple of rounds spit out some real duff dice then there\u2019s not a huge amount you can do to get around them. The fun rolls into frustration.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, in-person it\u2019s nice seeing how you managed with the same inputs compared to everyone else but there are games that achieve that feeling so much better in roughly the same amount of time &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/nmbr-9\/\"><i>NMBR 9<\/i><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/karuba\/\"><i>Karuba<\/i><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/scarabya\/\"><i>Scarabya<\/i><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/cartographers\/\"><i>Cartographers<\/i><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/reviews\/my-city\/\"><i>My City<\/i><\/a> all spring immediately to mind. And all of those leave you something that\u2019s actually good to look at at the end of the game, unlike the half-finished spaghetti messes of <i>Railroad Ink<\/i> and its variants.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s worth a few minutes on the smartphone but not the 20 minutes or more in-person.<\/p>\n<h2>Andrew Lynch<\/h2>\n\n            <div class=\"alignright\" style=\"text-align: center;\">\n    \n            <a\n        href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07HM82WCC?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\"\n        rel=\"sponsored noopener\"\n        target=\"_blank\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n        data-src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51RBdAldj1L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Horrible Games | Potion Explosion (3rd Edition) | Strategy Board Game | Now with a Plastic Marble Dispenser | 2 to 4 Players | 30+ Minutes | Ages 14+\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\"\n        src=\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/51RBdAldj1L._SL300_.jpg\"\n        width=\"200\"\n        alt=\"Horrible Games | Potion Explosion (3rd Edition) | Strategy Board Game | Now with a Plastic Marble Dispenser | 2 to 4 Players | 30+ Minutes | Ages 14+\" \/><\/noscript>\n            <\/a>\n    \n            <p style=\"margin-top: 10px; text-align: center;\">\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07HM82WCC?tag=meeplmount-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1\" rel=\"sponsored noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"external-link amazon-button\">\n                Purchase from Amazon\n            <\/a>\n        <\/p>\n    \n            <\/div>\n    \n\n<h3>Potion Explosion<\/h3>\n<p>My friends and I had a weekly digital game \u201cnight\u201d (it was usually around 11 in the morning) during the first year or so of lockdown. We played an awful lot of <i>Carcassonne<\/i>, and we played an awful lot of <i>Potion Explosion<\/i>. <i>Carcassonne<\/i>, of course, is a perfect game, an utter joy to play live with other people. I\u2019d played it dozens of times prior to lockdown, and I\u2019ll play it dozens of times again.<\/p>\n<p><i>Potion Explosion<\/i>, on the other hand, I\u2019d never experienced corporeally. Until the fall of 2022, I\u2019d only played it via Board Game Arena. When I did finally sit down to play a real game, it, well, it\u2019s on this list, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<p>You spend most of <i>Potion Explosion<\/i> removing marbles from a tray, one marble at a time. If the marble you removed causes two matching marbles to bump into each other, you take those marbles too. If the removal of those marbles causes two matching marbles to bump into each other, you take <i>those<\/i>, too. Etc. A good turn can be incredibly satisfying to pull off. At least, digitally.<\/p>\n<p>In the digital version, the marbles explode right off. You sit and watch them go, exploding off the dispenser in bursts. In real life, you have to pay attention. You have to remove them one color at a time. There\u2019s something about the loss of automation in that process that makes it less joyful. For that simple reason, I prefer <i>Potion Explosion<\/i> on rather than offline.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b><i>Are there any games that we missed? Let us know in the comments which games <\/i><\/b><b>you<\/b><b><i> prefer to play online and why!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes it&#8217;s better to play with pixels than with cardboard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":288772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"MSN_Categories":"Uncategorized","MSN_Publish_Option":false,"MSN_Is_Local_News":false,"MSN_Is_AIAC_Included":"Empty","MSN_Location":"[]","MSN_Add_Feature_Img_On_Top_Of_Post":false,"MSN_Has_Custom_Author":false,"MSN_Custom_Author":"","MSN_Has_Custom_Canonical_Url":false,"MSN_Custom_Canonical_Url":"","footnotes":""},"tags":[1996],"coauthors":[2466,892,2132,1857,6354],"class_list":["post-287597","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-board-game-app"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Games We Prefer to Play Digitally &#8212; Meeple Mountain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sometimes it&#039;s better to play with pixels than with cardboard.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/games-we-prefer-to-play-digitally\/\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/games-we-prefer-to-play-digitally\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Board Game Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Games We Prefer to Play Digitally\"}]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Games We Prefer to Play Digitally &#8212; Meeple Mountain","description":"Sometimes it's better to play with pixels than with cardboard.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/games-we-prefer-to-play-digitally\/","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/games-we-prefer-to-play-digitally\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Board Game Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/articles\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Games We Prefer to Play Digitally"}]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/287597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/287597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287597"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meeplemountain.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=287597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}