Boardgames That Use Apps

I realize that boardgames that use apps have been around for a while now, but I have avoided them so far. But I keep noticing Mansions of Madness (1st ed) squatting toad-like in my game collection, and wondering if it would be worth taking the plunge on 2.0. So I have some questions about apps for boardgames in general.

1. Do you typically need to use the app during the whole game?

2. Does your phone's screen saver keep kicking in, and does that cause any problems with the app?

3. Is it a major drain on your battery to run an app all game long?

4. Is a smart phone sufficient, or do these boardgame apps tend to require a larger screen, like an iPad?

5. Could you run said app on a laptop instead of a phone?

6. What happens if you get a phone call while you are running the app?

7. Does the app cost extra?

8. Would the app show up on my phone bill? (My current employer took over my cell phone bill and replaced my phone with an iPhone, and I now need to request permission before adding apps to my phone.)

I'll give this my best shot.

1) Yes
2) No I haven't had this problem.
3) Yes I keep it plugged in with an additional speaker.
4) I have a large phone its fine - others may vary.
5) Yes
6) Mine was fine just minimized the app.
7) No
8) No idea on this one

Shellhead wrote:
1. Do you typically need to use the app during the whole game?

YES

2. Does your phone's screen saver keep kicking in, and does that cause any problems with the app?

NOT GENERALLY. IT LOCKS THE SCREEN OPEN.

3. Is it a major drain on your battery to run an app all game long?

YES-ISH

4. Is a smart phone sufficient, or do these boardgame apps tend to require a larger screen, like an iPad?

DEPENDS. UNLOCK!, not so much, XCOM, yes.

5. Could you run said app on a laptop instead of a phone?

NOT THAT I AM AWARE OF

6. What happens if you get a phone call while you are running the app?

THE CALL SHOWS UP AND THE GAME PAUSES.

7. Does the app cost extra?

NOT YET

8. Would the app show up on my phone bill? (My current employer took over my cell phone bill and replaced my phone with an iPhone, and I now need to request permission before adding apps to my phone.)

NO. ANYTHING YOU BUY IS TIED TO THE CARD YOU USE FOR APP STORE/APPLE PAY.

AS AN ASIDE, ALWAYS NEGOTIATE THAT YOU PAY YOUR PHONE BILL AND THEY REIMBURSE. WHEN YOUR COMPANY OWNS THE PHONE BILL THEY OWN THE NUMBER WHICH CAN BE DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR CAREER WHEN YOU HAVE TO SURRENDER IT. IT MEANS THAT ALL OF YOUR CONTACTS IN BUSINESS CALL THAT NUMBER AFTER YOU LEAVE AND IF YOU WENT TO A COMPETITOR THEY WILL BE CALLING YOUR OLD COMPANY. Just my 2c from experience.

If you've got a laptop and it's usually around where you play use that, I run Descent Road to Legend on it and couldn't imagine it on a phone (even though mine has a large screen), other apps may be better and I have to admit I do need glasses now for small text.

Southernman is right. You can play it on a phone, but a pc or an iPad is better. If you don't have a choice, so be it, but it's free on Google Play or Steam.

also for iphone users, many times you can attach multiple iTunes accounts to the phone. I have a work iTunes (with my work email) and my personal iTunes, which all of the apps I have on my phone are downloaded through.

Mansions of Madness 2 is an app game that comes with a bunch of miniatures. I never played the first one, but the second one was not something I'd pay $100 for. If they went ahead and put the rest of the game into the app you'd maybe pay $10 for it.

I have First Martians, which is app driven and which I enjoy, but there's a definite downside to the app. Apparently at some point people could add events to the ones in there and you can definitely tell which ones were added because (1) they're usually dumb and (2) no one bothered to spell check them or whatever. I really wish I could exclude them. I'm all for the idea that an app allows you to add content, but I don't want just anything getting thrown in there.

Hmm. Based on responses so far, I think I would be willing to get a boardgame that uses an app, but probably not Mansions of Madness. And I would be getting the game in spite of the app and definitely not because of the app.

I would love to see an app that allows for a multi-player, non-coop boardgame with good quality fog of war.

Alchemists kind of does that. It's a Euro, so no fog of war. But everyone can use the same phone or they can use the app on their own phones (better) and you send them a code that ties everyone into the same game. The app is very simple and you don't need your screen active all the time. I like the game and have no irritations with the app.

I think having the larger screen is better (iPad like or a free download via steam where possible) but they can all be done on a phone.

I personally like all of the ones I’ve played from Fantasy Flight. I’ve got a campaign going for both Imperial Assault/Descent and Mansions of Madness has been a favorite amongst my friends.

One thing I like about the app is that if a scenario is broken, it can be fixed via a quick update as opposed to waiting until the next expansion comes out.

It's interesting this topic just came up because I'm trying to use a moderator for my 18XX games.

As you might know, 18XX are very long games. The average is four or five hours with experienced players and they can certainly go much longer than that. And much of that time isn't playtime, per se, it's time moving money around which is why practically everyone uses poker chips instead of paper money. But some people go a step further and use a "moderator" that tracks all the money, like "Lemmi's Moderator"



The program is ugly as sin and mostly in German, but man, I tried it last night playing 1825 against myself and the time savings are massive. I mean, I finished the game in less than hours even though I was playing both sides and didn't know how to operate the moderator, that's insane! People are playing 1870, which normally takes 7-8 hours in 4, or turning 1830 in a 3 hour or less game. Sure, the program might look awful but it turns 18XX games, which are heavy shelf toads into typical heavy euros and that's massive.

It's not perfect, though, uglyness aside. It doesn't seem to have support for 1825 Unit 3 and I normally play 1825 using Units 2 and 3. And apparently some of the supported 18XX are variants common in Germany and not the official rulesets. But man, it's a really huge change.

There are also other moderators, but I'm not sure about them.

There's Oddman's Administrator but it isn't used by anyone but the creators and I haven't managed to do anything with it. At all.

There's Survey Party, which is a iOS app. It costs 1€ so it's worth trying out, but man, it not being a Windows application hurts. The iPAD's screen is small and I don't think it would be comfortable compared to Lemmi's moderator, uglyness aside. Still, I'll get it and try it out.

There are also Excel spreadsheets, which should do to the same but they don't seem much better than using Lemmi's Moderator. Still, I'm going to try them out.

ANSI graphics, my eyes!

I can see these making a massive difference in the time spent, just by doing the crunching for you. I've never actually played any of the 18xx games, but I'm sure Excel is the best possible way to handle game state.

I mean, this is what spreadsheets were meant for. Dynamic accounting exercises.

The plus side of an Excel sheet is it's always expandable or changeable (given enough understanding of what it' doing), so you can add your favorite missing ones or undo someone else's tweaks.

Honestly, any really heavy economic game is going to benefit from something like this, unless obscuring that info is where the "game" is. In which case, fuck that game. There's a reason why quants have the most powerful computers available.

So far it seems slighty better than Excel because it tracks trains and the stock market, though you could replicate it everything the moderator does with macros. Still, I'm liking it a lot, it's very well made, if arcane.

And yeah, the issue with 18XX is that each company "runs trains" and pays money to players. So you have to calculate "well, if the payout is 13 per share and I have 4 shares, I get 52" and then go fetch the poker chips. For every company and for every player. So yeah, it's slow. The moderator does it just by pressing enter which is much, much faster.

There's an android app for Mega-Civ to track technologies and discounts and it is a godsend. When using it I can make all my decisions much quicker and easier than people trying to figure it out by hand.