I’ve now had time to play Stone Age on the iPad a few times and it’s just as excellent as I’d hoped. Playing board games on the iPad is no substitute for the real thing, but it’s great for trying out new strategies and exercising your brain. The graphics are not as sophisticated as high-concept computer or console games, but they’re colorful and do not get in the way of gameplay.
Every round consists of two actions. During the first action, you place your people. You can send them off to procure food, make tools, mine the land, trade with ships or at the market, or to make babies. Behind closed doors, don’t worry. 🙂
For the second action, you collect your people together with their goodies (which may or may not require the roll of a few dice). Make sure you gather the best resources and always have enough food, because running out will cost you.
Scores are added up at the end of the game, where you combine the points you picked up along the way with those that are associated with your resources.
What I like most about Stone Age is that throwing dice, which in most games adds an undesired element of luck, becomes part of your overall strategy. The luckier you feel, the fewer men you have to assign to a particular task, but woe unto you if the dice let you down.
On the con side, excessive play totally drains the fun. That applies to the app, not to the physical tabletop game where human interaction infuses the experience with plenty of giggles. That’s because unlike computer games, the app contains no levels to progress to, and you end up going through the motions. But as a tabletop game turned iPad app, Stone Age is pretty great.
All in all I highly recommend it.
4 1/2 stars
