reiner knizia
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Origin Stories: Sage Board Games
Codito Development is behind Sage Board Games, a company which has been cranking out iOS versions of board games for a few years now. Perhaps most notably, Sage has released a number of classic Reiner Knizia games, but they also publish Ravensburger's Puerto Rico and recently released Uwe Rosenberg's The Harbour (Le Havre). If you are a board game geek, these guys are heroes -- they started porting these out of a fondness for the games and a fear that they might disappear. Learn more about how they got started in this week's Origin Stories. For a list of games from Sage, check this page.
Daily iPhone App: Lost Cities is a great port of a popular card game
Lost Cities is one of Reiner Knizia's award-winning board games that recently made its way over to iOS, and I think it's great. The game is simple and easy to play, but it shows off quite a bit of complexity among just a few elements. The biggest complaints I have are that the tutorial can be confusing and there's no iPad version yet, unfortunately. But Lost Cities is an excellent strategy title good for quite a few matches of play. The core game here is a card game. You deal cards of various colors and numbers out of a stack, and then place those cards in certain colored lanes or in a discard pile. Playing cards in lanes gets you points. Each lane starts at negative 20 points, so the player needs to try and put as many cards in a certain lane to make their score positive and higher than the other player. The trick, however, is that you can only put cards in lanes in ascending order. Placing down a card worth the max of 10 points will earn you those 10 points, but it will also block off adding any other cards to that lane. Presentation is excellent: the graphics are clear, there's an excellent soundtrack and a variety of AI players to face off against. The Coding Monkeys, who also made the excellent version of Carcassone for iOS, have added "goals" to earn as you play, which offer extra incentive for replay value. Lost Cities is available for $3.99. It's a little steep as these games go, but if you like well-designed card and board games, it's worth skipping that cup of coffee to buy.
App Review: Reiner Knizia's Labyrinth leads us to a solid puzzle game
Reiner Knizia's Labyrinth [US$1.99, universal, trial version available] is one of a number of iOS-only games the prolific game designer has created (the others being Monumental -- here's our review -- Roto, Yoku-Gami and Teocalli). It's always been difficult to keep up with the board and card games that the mathematician has come up with, but now that he is working with a number of small iOS developers, it's almost sisyphean. While some Knizia titles are much more worthwhile than others, this is one "brand" that I'm usually interested enough in to take a look. This counts double considering that his new app comes from Tribeflame, developers of the excellent Keltis: Oracle and Through The Desert. Like those other apps, Labyrinth is a puzzle game, but what's it all about? The impression I get is that If Knizia had designed Carcassonne as a solitaire game, this app is probably what it would have been. Tabletop gamers already know how Knizia's two-player version of Carcassone works (it's the variant called The Castle), but Labyrinth is a calmer affair and specifically designed for digital play. Keep reading for the details. %Gallery-117374%
App Review: Reiner Knizia's Battleline is numerically superior
The latest bit of digital entertainment based on a Reiner Knizia game to hit the App Store is your typical Knizia numberfest: a brilliant game design with a theme that could be anything. In this case, with Battleline, the theme happens to be ancient Greek military. In fact, the very first version of the card game was called Schotten-Totten, and it depicted elderly comic Scotsmen vying for nine stones; there was also a re-themed Narnia version (called the Prince Caspian The Shield of Courage Card Game) to coincide with one of the recent movies. If you're looking to play with physical cards, you have a choice of theme, but on an iDevice, you've got ancient Greek armies. Luckily, this is a perfectly fitting theme, and since you'll spend most of your time thinking about possible number combinations, you wouldn't care if the game involved nothing but Smurfs and Garfield. Keep reading to find out why the new iOS version of the 2000 game Battle Line (yes, there is a space in the tabletop version, but not in the app) is worth checking out, even if you aren't a math person. Hint: it's more about poker than anything else. %Gallery-114565%
App Review: Reiner Knizia's Through The Desert proves that pastel camels have serious staying power
The latest big name board game to make an appearance on the iPad is Though The Desert. Serious board game fans have been anxiously waiting for this app ever since it was announced and I'm happy to say that this latest Reiner Knizia port to the digital realm is totally worth the wait. The app currently costs $5.99 and is available on the App Store. Even before the game was released, there was reason to believe it would be a solid experience. TribeFlame, the developer, released Keltis Oracle this past spring and it's been one of the board game apps that I turn to again and again, even with my iDevices getting fuller and fuller with outstanding gaming options. Read on to see why you will, in fact, want to take a pastel-colored camel caravan Through The Desert. %Gallery-111462%
App Review: Reiner Knizia's Kingdoms
Once you've got the foundation in place, it's easy enough to redecorate your board game app. That's what the developers at Skotos Tech/RPGnet have figured out with their series of games that use the MobileEuroCard platform. These apps include Money, High Society, and now, Reiner Knizia's Kingdoms. This last game is a US$3.99 universal app (Version 1.01 reviewed here), and playing it will feel quite familiar to anyone who has tried the first two games. This app shows the engine's flexibility, since instead of playing cards to a central location, you're playing tiles in a specific grid pattern. Most things work smoothly and easily. This 2-4 player game has been published in German as Auf Heller und Pfennig and in English as Kingdoms, and later, it was even reworked into a movie spin-off game based on Beowulf. Yes, Knizia's numbers game is quite flexible as far as themes go, but that's to be expected. On your iDevice, the game plays very quickly and is entertaining for the few minutes that you're engaged with it (especially on the iPhone). Also, anyone who is interested in multiplayer Sudoku (is that fair?) can read on for the full review. %Gallery-107579%
App Review: Reiner Knizia's Samurai app makes it fun to influence Buddhas, peasants and helmets
Samurai is the most in-depth, "heaviest" game design by Reiner Knizia to make an appearance on the App Store, and it arrives in all of its interesting glory. Medici and Small World, two other games we've reviewed in this series, are meaty Euro board games we can compare this to, so if you enjoyed those games, the just -released Samurai app (US$4.99) is very much worth a look. Conlan Rios' other iPhone games –e.g., Monumental, Robot Master, and Knights of Charlemagne – show that this developer is really getting better with each release. Just compare the graphics from Samurai to Charlemagne to see what I mean. While I prefer the less colorful appearance of the Samurai board game, I think the game looks quite good on the iPhone. With Rios' constant improvement, I can't wait to see what's coming next. Read on to see if you're excited, too. %Gallery-100287%
App Review: Medici ships good gameplay onto your iPad
Medici [$5.99] is the latest in a growing, impressive line of heavy-ish board games to make the jump from the table to the iPad, and it's amazing to see this game – so carefully crafted and respected by the designer board game community – on a touch screen with an animated background. With Medici being a game of perfect information in real life, it works amazingly well as an iPad app, and if you've ever wanted to practice your Medici bidding skills for your next board game night, this digital version provides a lot of AI opponents of varying ability to challenge. The app isn't perfect (more on this later), but it does a fine job of bringing a 15-year-old board game to life for a new generation of gamers. Read on to see if you might be someone who enjoys this sort of thing. %Gallery-98515%
High Society card game app is money (almost)
As promised, RPGnet has transformed another Reiner Knizia card game into an iPhone/iPad app. The coders' last such project was the very well done Money. This time around, it's High Society [US$2.99], and RPGnet has kept the interface and look of the games almost exactly the same but swapped the bidding, set-collecting gameplay from Money with the bidding, card-collecting gameplay from the High Society tabletop game. Like with the first app, High Society is smooth and intuitive, allowing you to easily wrap your head around the new challenges and strategy. While they appear similar, the two games are quite different – as different as two light, auction-based card games can be. The High Society card game was originally released in 1995, and it has since been published in a variety of editions. The RPGnet app takes its art from the latest physical version, currently in print from Gryphon Games (there's even a code in the app for a 10 percent discount off the card game, which almost covers the price of the app). Keep reading to find out if that discount is something you'll be interested in. %Gallery-97710%
Review: Keltis Oracle is a great, light strategic board game for iPad, iPhone
Keltis is a relatively new marquee family of board games – in Europe, at least – with a somewhat meandering history. The series started as the Lost Cities card game, which evolved into the original board game in the series, Keltis. That game won the Spiel des Jahres, Germany's highest board game honor, in 2008. Since then, there have been two expansions: a card game version (different from the original Lost Cities card game) and, most recently, a new board game called Keltis Oracle. U.S. board gamers will most likely recognize the Keltis games in the similar Lost Cities: The Board Game. Are you wondering why the European version of the game made it into your iDevice? Because the developers in Tribeflame are based in Finland. In any case, the universal app (US$4.99) that's now available on the iPad and iPhone (and iPod touch) is the latest Keltis game. Is it the greatest? To some, maybe. It's certainly the most player-friendly of the batch, and it looks good on the iPad screen. The game works, but as you can see in the galleries below, it's crowded when packed into the iPhone's 480 x 320 pixel screen. Read on to see what the Oracle can do for you. %Gallery-92858% %Gallery-92913%
Review: Reiner Knizia's Topas
We don't mind it when iPhone versions of board games differ from their realspace counterparts, but the Topas app ($2.99) takes the basic ideas behind Reiner Knizia's 2009 game Topas and twists them into a mash-up of Tetris, the standard line-up-three-of-a-kind video games, and dominoes. The dominoes thing was in the original, but the video game vibes are all new. Is this a good thing? Well, it kind of is. We like the variety that the app brings to basic Topas, but we don't understand why it was apparently impossible to carry over original gameplay from the physical card game. Even the game mode that comes closest to the card game version – weakest link, which is very similar to the card game's solo play – changes one minor rule. As to why, we have no idea. Still, Topas offers a decent amount of challenge and fun in an attractive package – maybe slightly overpriced in the App Store's admittedly low-cost ecosystem – for people who like their puzzle games to sparkle. Keep reading to find out more about how Topas works and doesn't work as an iPhone game. %Gallery-88891%
Review: Knights of Charlemagne card game is simply simple, and we like it like that
The clever 2006 card game Knights of Charlemagne has made it to the iPhone and iPod touch as a simple little number placing app [$1.99, iTunes link]. We don't mean simple in that it's easy to beat or uninteresting. We mean that the game is clearly designed and plays quickly. While the beginner level (the Squire) is really only worth playing through once or twice with the tutorial minstrel on to learn the rules, getting to and beating the AI at Knight, and then the King level (which is supposed to be Charlemagne himself) is a good challenge and provides plenty of game for two bucks. There's a whole lot of math and bluffing in the game. That is something which is better experienced in person and using real cards, but board games on the iPhone are their own experience. So, when you want some light brain-burning with a medieval theme, look no further than this simple app. Read on to find out more. %Gallery-87921%
Reiner Knizia's Money app worth spending time with
The iPhone is shaped a little bit like a deck of cards. Like a deck of cards, Apple's little magic toy device can be used to play any one of a number of different games. Unlike standard cards though, the iPhone can easily transform into specific decks of cards from the Eurogame world. We recently took a look at the iPhone version of Reiner Knizia's card game Poison and there are a slew of other "decks" (ok, programs) available in the App Store. Today, we turn our focus to the card game Money [$1.99, iTunes link], which might be the best card game app out there. In the near future, we'll be reviewing Mü and some other card games, so the position is not secured forever. Still, of the iPhone card game apps we've played so far, Money is our hands down favorite. Continue reading to see how this clever bidding game won our heart and why we're excited for more. %Gallery-87229%
Review: Reiner Knizia's Poison a fun way to kill (a few minutes)
One of the criticisms launched against prolific game designer Reiner Knizia is that his games get their the theme pasted on. This means that whatever the players are trying to accomplish through the game's mechanics really doesn't have much to do with the graphics and the box description. He has at least 200 published games – and might have another one thought up by the time you're done reading this review – so we understand that they can't all be perfect matches. Knizia's card game Poison, first released for the table top in 2005, is a perfect example of this. The game could almost be played with standard cards – the deck includes three colors/suits (each with three 1s, two fours and one each of 2, 5 and 7) and eight "poison" cards worth 4 each – but the company that released the game, Playroom Entertainment, printed it with a magician/warlock/witch theme. It was later rebranded and slightly tweaked to include donuts as the game Baker's Dozen in 2008. The iPhone and iPod touch version of the game (US$2.99) uses the earlier Poison graphics, and it's a gorgeous looking little translation. The app was released 2009 by Griptonite Games and we honestly wish they'd have updated a few nagging items by now. Read on to find out what is good, and what could be improved, in this clever card game. %Gallery-85823%
This Wednesday: Lost Cities found on XBLA
Lost Cities will continue in the proud tradition of XBLA games born of German card or board games when it arrives on the service this Wednesday. The card game, designed by Reiner Knizia, pits two players against eachother as they try to mount the most profitable expedition to the the titular lost cities.You can try your hand at venturing to the Lost Cities for 800 points ($10). For the benefit of those of us on the fence: Have any of you played the game in real life? What did you think? %Gallery-19079%
