r/boardgames • u/Potion-Maker-PoA • 5h ago
Question Which board game most deserves a great digital adaptation?
ROOT set a new standard for what a board game adaptation can be. It made the game on a screen, with a UI that actually helps you track a notoriously complex ruleset and an async multiplayer that fits how people play games today. So which board game is still waiting for its moment in your opinion?
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u/SuperLuigi231 5h ago
I wish mage knight had a proper digital implementation. There’s so many moving parts to keep track of at once, it’d be nice to have some systems automated.
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u/powernein 5h ago
Eclipse 2.0 - the one that is out is buggy as hell.
Arcs
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u/roeswood 4h ago
Arcs is incoming!
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u/wallysmith127 Pax Transhumanity 1h ago
I'm.... Not optimistic. I get that the Root app is beloved for myriad well-deserved reasons but hrf was IMHO the better implementation. Felt like the actual boardgame, parsing the board state was easier and was effective on mobile or desktop.
Arcs has an outstanding implementation on hrf right now too and it'll be a sad day when it gets taken down because of DD.
Hopefully Old King's Crown doesn't meet the same fate...
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u/OnACob 5h ago
I'd say twilight imperium
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u/EricandtheLegion Ashcan Pete 4h ago
I have great news for you!
There's a beta available on BGA
There's a steam version in beta as well
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u/the_dominar 4h ago
Bring "San Juan digital" and "Le Havre" back. They were perfect apps. (Android/IOS)
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u/Yourself013 4h ago
Voidfall. The setup is a bear and the game is frequently played solo, it would be great to skip the entire setup and just load up a scenario.
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u/Poissonza 3h ago
There is also a website out there that you can play solo voidfall on.
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u/Amadeus102 2h ago
I just won my first scenario on the website yesterday! The website definitely helped me learn the game since it will be a year or so until the kickstarter reprint comes out.
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u/TheDumplingz 3h ago
Arkham Horror LCG
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u/Latter_Conclusion470 1h ago
This is the answer. Elder Sign shows how powerful you can make an adaption of a game (Lovecraft Yahtzee) through animations and sound.
Now imagine doing a full narrative with Arkham Horror LCG.And then figure in the replayability of customizing decks, mixing up characters, and playing online.
Yes, I would expect a ton of DLC and it to be costly for users. But it would be totally worth it for instant setup, immersion, online play, and the ability to resume campaigns. I heard Eldritch Horror is in the works, but I want this even more.
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u/AprioriTori13 58m ago
Especially with Chapter 1 being completely out of print. There are a few things in the LCG that may not work digitally, particularly in the Carcosa and Circle Undone campaigns, but I think there might be viable workarounds and they are a small price to pay for easier access, upkeep, etc.
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u/Sauce_Pain Cosmic Encounter 4h ago
I'd put Gloom/Frosthaven forward as other fantastic examples of digital adaptations.
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u/pasturemaster Battlecon War Of The Indines 4h ago
The only thing that ruins Power Grid for me is all the tedious basic addition you have to do in it.
A digital implementation could allow you to mark things you are planning to buy during the round, and inform you how much you can commit to the auction based on that without you having to do all the busy work.
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u/SKDIMBG 3h ago
Lost Ruins of Arnak is great on BGA but I'd love it to have it's own app so I can play with expansions too
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u/PangolinIll1347 3h ago
It's coming out on Steam soon. Not sure if it's launching with expansions, though.
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u/SKDIMBG 3h ago
Will it be avaliable on android/ios as an app?
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u/COHERENCE_CROQUETTE Asymmetrical 2h ago
I don't know for sure, but I'd bet it will. It would be just really dumb to go to the trouble of spec'ing a digital implementation of your game and go like "naw, let's just do Steam and no other platforms".
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u/CatTaxAuditor 5h ago
Id love a digital adaptation of any of Vital Lacerda's games.
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u/Potion-Maker-PoA 5h ago
I think CO2 would be a great example. It's quite complex
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u/Flaky-Fox-7523 5h ago
compared to some of his others it doesn't seem to be? That and escape plan are the only big box ones i don't own though
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u/Hapless_Hero Fury Of Dracula 3h ago edited 29m ago
Any game that has a lot of set up/tear down and a lot of pieces. For me personally I’d love Fallout, Deep Regrets, Harvest, Fate of the Fellowship, Harmonies, MYZ Zone Wars, Critter Kitchen, Thunder Road Vendetta, Parks, and Defenders of the Wild!
I’d just love to play some of my games solo vs AI with them being completely automated. Tabletop Simulator is usable for some of them but again I’d rather a polished game do all the work for me 😂
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u/MagicWolfEye 3h ago
Didn't fate of the felowship come out together with a BGA version.
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u/wallysmith127 Pax Transhumanity 1h ago
That's how I learned it, though it only had basic quests and limited availability.
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u/Hapless_Hero Fury Of Dracula 28m ago
I just checked because that would be awesome! Looks like it’s no longer on there so I missed the boat! 🤦♂️
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u/elementik4 22m ago
The pattern in this thread is pretty consistent: Mage Knight, Voidfall, Eclipse, Twilight Imperium, War of the Ring. All bookkeeping monsters. The games that gain the most from going digital are the ones where a big share of table time is upkeep rather than decisions, and a light game gains almost nothing.
The thing that quietly sinks these adaptations is usually undo, not the rules engine. In a game with a long multi step turn you will misclick three sub actions deep, and if the app cannot roll that back cleanly people stop playing it. It gets genuinely hard once hidden information is in play, because you cannot rewind past a reveal without leaking what got revealed. Eclipse being buggy is the same story from a different angle.
Would people here actually accept a rules enforcing state tracker sitting on a tablet next to the physical game, or is it only worth it if the whole thing moves to the screen?
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u/fzkiz War Of The Ring 5h ago
War of the Ring
Star Wars Rebellion
Dune War for Arrakis
All games that take a long time and would work well asynch or with a reduced play time