Review: iPieces games for the iPad

Games on the iPad are great but sometimes they do miss the tactile feel of a traditional board game however getting the kids to put the iPad down and play snakes and ladders with you isn’t easy. This is where iPieces comes in, they have a series of games for the iPad that come with pieces that you use with the game, the games can see where the pieces are on the board so when you put a piece down on a square it knows it’s there and then interacts with it. So the iPad becomes an interactive board games and it really makes the iPad game come alive.

The three games I reviewed where Snakes and Ladders, Game of Goose and Fishing Game.  The Fishing Games comes with little rods that you press down on the iPad screen, you then grab the fish and pull them into your little buckets on the screen while watching for the stork that tries to steal you collection of fish. This works well and is a fun game but when we played my 9 years olds got a little over competitive and the iPad screen seemed to small all of a sudden! I have to say probably works least well of the three games.

The next game is Snakes and Ladders and this works better than the Fishing Game, you get 4 pieces which you place on the board and two little bridges which you can use as ladders. You flick the virtual dice on the iPad and you play it as the traditional game, when you land on a ladder square you place your ladder on the iPad and see where you can jump to and move you piece to the new square. When you land on a snake it comes alive and you have to move back down the board. It’s a fun game and nice and easy to play, my kids enjoyed the game (especially as they kept beating me!)

The final game is the one that seems to work the best, this is Game of Goose. This is very much in the style of a traditional board game but its more interactive than there others, as with Snakes and Ladders you flick the virtual dice and you move your pieces along the board.  As you place your piece on one of the special squares there is an animation on the iPad with it either sending you back to the start or moving you on in the game, you see jail gates closing down and a goose flying across the screen.

I played all three games with my kids and we enjoyed the Game of Goose the most, it really works well on the iPad. It feels like a proper board game but with the added element of the interactive iPad. They provide you with plenty of pieces for each game and the iPad games are free to download. There is also Air Hockey game available.

For passing a couple of hours the games are really good fun, the games are priced around £9 on Amazon

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