The G Spot: Your Goto Destination for All Things That are Android Gaming - These Board Games are NOT Bored Games

Do you think that board games are bored games? These paper-based analog entertainment activities have a long-standing gaming history, or has that tradition faded and been replaced by today’s ODROID Android games. Well, Dire Wolf Digital would beg to differ. This Denver, Colorado-based game development firm has carved a pretty substantial niche for itself - by taking board games and rendering them into digital gaming masterpieces.

Figure 1. The howl of the Dire Wolf Digital board game juggernaut has been sounded.

This crazy transmogrification began several years ago when Renegade Game Studios sought Dire Wolf Digital to bring two of their tabletop games to the digital world. “Lanterns: The Harvest Festival” and “Lotus” featured a “unique user experience” (UX) and an “intuitive touch play” system which would both become hallmarks of the future remastering efforts of Dire Wolf Digital.

“Pass GO and Collect $200” – now today, Dire Wolf Digital has announced that all of 2020 will be consumed with bringing a huge slate of board games into their digital fold. These offerings represent an incredible mix of titles that would be the envy of EVERY Android dev.

Not all of the announced titles are “one-off” trade-offs where one board-games equals one digital title. Some, like WizKids’ “Mage Knight” is only one title from an entire catalog of games that will be getting the digital treatment. While you might not have heard of some (or, any) of these board games, they are incredibly popular with tabletop gamers. For example, Dire Wolf Digital supplied us with this review snippet from “Rock, Paper, Shotgun:”

Figure 2. “Mage Knight” is the initial release from the partnership between WizKids and Dire Wolf Digital.

‘“Mage Knight” is a staggering game. It is one of those games you can only step back and admire as a thing of beauty, a work of art. It is a masterpiece. I cannot believe how good it is. Gosh, gush, right? Although, there are plenty of Android games that would yearn for that type of rave review.

Whereas, WizKids are a traditional board game maker, another Dire Wolf Digital partnership has been forged with 2018 Kickstarter game darling, “Root.” This woodland “war game” between furry forest creatures versus a local cat is the creation of Cole Wehrle and Leder Games. Again, we were provided with a glowing review of this game which seems to imbue its players with an anthropomorphic attachment to the game’s protagonists.

Figure 3. Your eyes would be big too, if you had to combat a sharp-fanged killer monster cat.

Continuing on with the Dire Wolf Digital 2020 hit list, brings us to “Sagrada”-- a game of dice, stained glass, and architectural wonders. Yes, you read that right; three of the strangest bedfellows you will ever see in an Android game. Touted as a, “dice-drafting” game, “Sagrada” is a 2017 title from Floodgate Games that garnered a fistful of award nominations, as well as being labeled the most innovative game of the year.

Figure 4. Blending a dice game with stained glass and the architecture of Antoni Gaudi is undeniably innovative.

If you love tile-based games, then you have to embrace the board game genre. That is, until Dire Wolf Digital brings Reiner Knizia’s “Yellow & Yangtze” to your ODROID. This is a wild combat/strategy game similar to Knizia’s acclaimed “Tigris & Euphrates” game. In each title, you grow your empire; but beware. The game’s winner is not only judged by the prosperity of your kingdom, but, also, by the strength of your weakest asset. So make things right by maintaining a balance throughout your dynasty.

Figure 5. The most recent release from Reiner Knizia’s strategy games collection.

Great news: as this column was going to press, “Reiner Knizia’s Yellow & Yangtze” popped up on Google Play! Incredibly, there is already an update, too (i.e., Update 1.17). Our fave improvement in this update was: “slowed down peasant riot animation, so it is more obvious when an opponent makes this play.” Yay!

Figure 6. Game ON; but make sure that you watch your assets.

Fans of the vintage American Heritage board game from 1964, “Dogfight”, will definitely want to watch for the Dire Wolf Digital titles, “Wings of Glory” and “Tripods and Triplanes.” Sitting at the exact opposite ends of historical accuracy these titles from Ares Games will take you from the wicker seat cockpit of a 1917 aeroplane in the former title to facing the “death ray” from an alien spaceship in the latter game’s “War of the Worlds” adaptation. Likewise, as the latter’s title suggests you will be combating the Martian scourge in vintage 1917 era aeroplanes.

Figure 7. Martian invaders from an H. G. Wells’ novel clash with the aeroplanes of the First World War.

You can watch a game play tutorial at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVJi-54hb5c.

Finally, we return to where all of this board gaming started with another title from Renegade Game Studios. “Raiders of the North Sea” which is not a game about submarine warfare during the world wars, rather its a plundering game of Viking conquest. It is dead simple; build a boat (i.e., a Viking longboat) and they will come and plunder. Best of all, however, this title is already available for play on Google Play.

Figure 8. Row, row, row your longboat, gently into plundering the entire North Sea; merrily, merrily enjoying the Vikings’ creed.

You can watch the trailer at https://bit.ly/2Rp7q1C.

So keep your eye on Dire Wolf Digital in the Google Play store. Then, maybe, dust off your copy of “Monopoly” from the hallway closet and discover a newfound appreciation for the venerable board game. You can learn more about all of these games at the Dire Wolf Digital Web site at http://www.direwolfdigital.com.