I’ve possibly logged more hours playing this than any other board game (it’s my go to in-flight companion for years now, play it at work enough to get me fired, etc). I’ve never played it irl, and after watching a group at a bg cafe do it, I never want to
I have played the videogame version a lot and when I then get a hankering to play the cardboard version I always get taken aback with just how long it can be.
The digital game, I can get through a game in 40-60 minutes, but then have to triple or quadruple that for the tabletop version, it is just such a stark contrast.
Dominion is my pick. I can play a game in less than 10 minutes. Then create another random deck and play again and again.
It's wildy addictive and has a decent AI. The DLC is expensive, but I get a lot of play out of the game.
> If you love Dominion, download Star Realms and be blown away.
As someone who enjoys both (but for different reasons), I think this is an odd suggestion almost never holds true.
People who have played base Dominion a handful of times might be blown away by Star Realms. But people who are super into Dominion and its expansions (and have gone down the rabbit hole of its endless depth) are almost NEVER going to be blown away by the more surface level tactics of Star Realms.
I hope he stops making expansions because I'm basically just collecting them at this point, except for once a year my wife and I will play dominion for a whole day.
Hahahaha. I'm exactly the same. I got all of them and now I just have to ~~catch~~ buy them all even if I only play the damn thing once or twice a year.
Because I'm sure as fuck not going to be the guy who has all the expansions except one.
My favorite part about digital Dominion (or any deckbuilder) is the hard enforcement of 100% random shuffling. I've played with some players who I feel like they have an unfair advantage due to some unintended poor shuffling.
My thing with Star Realms digital is we don't have to do so much maths. My wife and I were previously long distance and that was our airport game. Would get 4 games done waiting for the plane on pass and play vs 1 1/2 in the same time if physical.
i have a guy in my group who is a dominion fiend. always wants to play at least once every meet up. problem is, he has this very specific way of shuffling where he has clearly obviously learned how to shuffle in a way to get the card he wants on top. it's not worth calling him out on it because he's kind of sensitive. we basically just let him cheat at dominion and get his win every meetup and then carry on.
I vastly prefer physical board games, but Dominion is the one game I'll point to that is a slog to play in real life that shows its strategic depth better when it can be played more quickly. It's still a good game in physical form, but all that setup and shuffling really slows down the game and it's hard to appreciate all the combos and variable strategies that exist when it's that slow.
Physical you mean, right?
I never found the physical version to be a hard setup at all.
At most there is time spent picking which expansion and which kingdom cards, but that's part of the fun
I totally agreeBut, Fun thing, for Tanto cuore, to have it on both form, I largely prefer it IRL.
Game have similarity, but because how they unfold on the table, (and maybe because of how the videogame adaptation is) As much as I love it IRL ... I found Tanto Cuore unbearable on the videogame version.
The obnoxious sounds in Tanto Cuore app spoiled any chance of me pretending the theme is somehow not thinly veiled sex slavery. Admittedly haven't tried it again in years though.
Was going to chime in with this one. Some of the villains and environments have so many if/then conditions on them, it can be virtually impossible to be aware of every effect in play at a given time. As long as you have a good basic understanding of the game, this is a great iOS pick up.
Came here for this.
Personally I disagree - I prefer having the whole tableau clearly visible in front of me rather than having to click on and out of things even on a large monitor.
And it's nice to be able to batch things on an interrupt/exception basis ("Legacy will take all those hits excite for the Fire and Cold damage ones which Absolute Zero can have") rather than individually assigning every one.
But I know lots of people go strongly the other way and won't touch the physical version at all.
I do feel the Definitive Edition did fix a lot of the issues with that. Its just a better version of the game (making it hard to go back to the digital version for me) and with so much less and so much easier upkeep.
I had the big box from the Kickstarter and I traded it away and got myself the definitive edition. I never got that thing to table anymore because of the size and how fiddly it could be. The definitive edition gets so much more play now from me solo, and others because it’s just more streamlined and the smaller form is nice. Admittedly it was my fault for getting all the bloat in the original, but I’m not making that mistake again.
I don't find it that bad in practice. There are tokens for it.
Conditional modifiers are annoying though.
Definitive did a good job eliminating floating modifiers and either eliminating conditional ones, or moving them onto cards which go physically in and out of play.
For example instead of Haka's "Haka of Battle" giving you +X to your next attack, instead it's an Ongoing card that automatically dies at the start of his next turn, at which point you can discard X cards to do (IIRC) X+2 damage. Much easier to keep track of than the floating bonus.
Similarly Wraith's stacking +2 defence vs next attack is gone in favour of a straightforward "+1 to Defence vs all attacks until the start of your next turn".
The first time I ever played Gloomhaven, it felt more like it should be a video game than a board game to me. (Particularly with all the upkeep and "AI" rules.)
So.. here's my theory. In the beginning there were tabletop wargames, and fantasy roleplay thanks to D&D, and then fantasy tabletop games along the lines of Heroquest. Videogames turn up and people want to make those sorts of games digitally to enjoy the shiny new media. You get stuff like the early dungeon crawlers and AD&D games.
Then videogames really take off in their own right and start showing all the complicated things that can be done when a computer is keeping track of your rules for you. At some point the shoe then ends up on the other foot, and we start wanting to make our fantasy boardgames more like videogames. Loads of enemies, reactive AI, persistent abilities requiring lots of upkeep - all things that would have been too costly in terms of player effort if videogames hadn't shown us the benefits to gameplay.
Gloomhaven is the pinnacle of this fantasy boardgame-as-videogame-as-boardgame design, and unsurprisingly, it feels pretty damned good when you make it a videogame again.
To be fair, every other weekend IRL (assuming a three hour play session each time) essentially is ~80 hours so it's not as if it's taking *that much* more time.
Well except for my group it took us 75 completed scenarios before we finished the game. Not including the ones we failed. With the gloomhaven helper app and wooden insert averaging about 3 hours per session would be 225 hours. I've been playing on steam now and you couldn't pay me to play gloomhaven in person again lo.
For us that's the appeal - it's a lifestyle game. Every week we have one session of random other boardgames and one session of Frosthaven. We started playing FH in February and the fact that it will probably take us late into next year to run out of campaign is actually a comfort because it's something we all look forward to so much each week!
I think we spend 3-4 hours on average per session of Frosthaven, half that time is probably the actual scenario and outpost phase and the other half setup and some light cleanup. The host and game owner usually packs it up by himself after we leave.
I think there is about 100 scenarios overall, so about 16 full days and nights or 400 hours. Though you won't play every single scenario and sometimes the outpost phase will be shorter or longer.
Blood bowl is infinitely sped up when played as a video game, but in my experience it can feel a bit soulless and more frustrating as you probably don’t have the other person there sharing your misfortune.
If you sign up to play in one of the organised leagues you get a lot of that soul back. I might be biased though since I run the biggest PC based private Blood Bowl league haha.
It’s such a shame Blood Bowl 3 is in a stinker of a state right now because that mess of a release has killed a lot of community engagement
I saw a few streamers tearing it to pieces when it first came out but not a lot since. Did they fix the problems but now it's suffering from people like me not hearing that bit?
It’s biggest issue from the perspective of a serious player is that there’s no admin tools at all so league managers just can’t run their private leagues at the moment. This means the only real way to play the game is the open ladder and Blood Bowl is NOT designed for ladder play at all
the greed ... for sure. Why would they release a Blood bowl 3? Honestly the second game was great. When they announced BB3, we knew that it would suck. It was just a way to make you pay again for all the extra races/team. It's not like they will change the rules of the game :D
The AI in those adaptations is truly woeful too, so you really have to play against human opponents. I do like how much it speeds up the game to be honest.
I haven't played Blood Bowl in forever. Is it still RNG hell? EDIT: I only played it once or twice and I've been told that was probably my own inexperience at play rather than the game, so fair enough. Thanks to FullMetalCOS for letting me know.
~~EDIT: That was my experience last time I played but I think that was a couple of versions back. If I've asked it wrong somehow and merit a downvote can you please at least let me know how and why?~~
You are likely being downvoted because whilst blood bowl does rely on RNG in terms of being a dice based game, a lot of players are VERY quick to blame RNG when they just made awful decisions. Getting past blaming the dice and learning to objectively analyse your own mistakes is the first real moment where you stop being a beginner at the game
I haven’t played the newest version but it’s still very dice heavy. That’s how bloodbowl is, if you don’t like a lot of dice rolling then it’s probably not for you. Don’t get me wrong, bloodbowl definitely has a fair amount of strategy and tactics but a poorly made dice roll can scew you or your opponent up.
A lot of bloodbowl players (well, board gamers and video gamers from any game involving random chance) will be quick to point that new/frustrated players will blame RNG for poor results/outcomes/lost games. While a bad dice throw might go against you it’s really down to risk management and experienced players may get frustrated with new players labelling the game as an RNG fest.
And then the experienced player fails a re rolled +2 go for it roll to fail a touch down. That’s bloodbowl for you
The app is so garbage. They fix one thing and 10 things break. I'm constantly locked out of games with friends. It's a mess.
Agree it's a great game on the app though. I also do like the Eva-Core game inserts for simplifying setup. Much less of a pain.
Is it just the multiplayer or does playing vs AI suck too? I remember hearing complaints about the netcode dropping people and not handling missed turns well or something.
I played it mb 3-4 times before discovering the digital version on my tablet. Never played the physical version again.
Some digital version show you the fiddlyness of some games and it's hard to come back to it. Through the ages is the best example of a game I just couldn't play on a table.
The Talisman app really hammers home how little meaningful choice there is in that game. Click to roll the dice, choose left or right, click to roll the dice, click to end turn.
I think one of the last times I played Ascension (the app, but really either version) I 'went infinite', wanted to see how far I could take it, and basically kept getting points until the app crashed. Good times.
Onirim is MUCH better in digital form. Shuffling the deck 2 dozen times is a pain.
Othello (Reversi) is also MUCH better in digital form, because flipping a bunch of discs over and over is a pain.
Onirim is one of my favorite games of all time. I really enjoy both digital and physical. Physical still gets the edge for me because two of the best expansions (Dreamcatchers and Towers) are not available on the app. Love to put on some jazz and just take my time, the shuffling be darned.
What makes you like Towers so much? I love the game but the Towers have always felt like the weirdest part to me, and I always play with all expansions at once.
Having good sleeves on there to be able to do cram hand-over-hand shuffling makes it much more enjoyable. I use Mayday’s premium chimera and have enjoyed the game immensely more since putting them on.
yeah shuffling is not for me, but I can totally see how it could be for others. It's kind of like baking: I don't go out of my way to do it (I'm not the baker in our household) but I can see the attraction it holds. ^(That being said I do enjoy helping make dumplings.)
This one is mixed for me. The digital version is great for tracking all of the random effects that can trigger, which is great. But it's also a game where there is nothing to do when it's not currently your turn. In real life folks just chat and people watch out for each other. When I played it online, I ran into the problem of players zoning out (or alt-tabbing) when it wasn't their turn, getting prompted for some ability, and the game being a constant back-and-forth of: "Player 2, did you see the prompt?" "No, oops, sorry." or "Yes, but I'm thinking about what I want to do." It made the whole digital experience less fun for me. Still like the game, but I now prefer IRL.
I have both versions of it. If I am getting a craving to play and friends are busy then the online one definitely hits the spot.
I find ticket to ride is similar in that aspect too.
I prefer to play both as the board game with friends but the digital ones hold up very well for a quick fix.
Dear god no.
The UI for Wingsian is atrocious. By far the worst video game adaption I've attempted.
At least the Steam version. I guess there may be others, but by god that one on Steam is awful.
I like being able to look at all the boards on the table, to judge everything, see what's going on etc.
On Steam I have to click around to see what everyone is doing, it's not intuitive, it's clunky.
I'm not sure I can say there's anything good on it.
For me personally, not many, if any. Every time I try a video game version of a board game I find my understanding of the game drastically drops because so much is handled automatically. I'll take my turn and then in a flurry the AI(s) take their turn, automated processes occur, and then it's my turn again with no clue of what 17 things just changed in the game state.
It's why I actually really like Tabletop Simulator unscripted mods. Being forced do the actions myself keeps me aware of the gamestate and what's going on.
I wouldn't say "if any" (see: Dominion), but I greatly agree with you. I've tried learning Root a bit better with the app but I have zero idea of what the opponents are doing if I can't watch them and it's so much harder to focus on everything going on. If I know a game *really* well I can enjoy the digital incarnation, especially for solo play, but I vastly prefer the real thing the vast majority of the time for the same reasons.
I learned spirit island first digitally, and this is the exact problem I had. My winrate and general understanding of everything spiked dramatically once I actually had to run through the mechanics of how everyone moves and slots together in the physical board game myself. Digitally, it was just too much stuff happening too quickly, and other minor issues like having to long press a card everytime to figure out which powers did what made planning so aggravating too. I think once you learn, it’s not a bad replacement, but learning on it was a terrible idea.
this is what i've been saying apps have been missing for years. the AI needs to announce what its move is instead of just playing. if it gets annoying, sure just turn that feature off. but it has to be included on every app imo
The "better" is subjective, if you prioritise understanding the rules first then yes doing it all yourself will be better. If you prioritise getting through the game (and for me, understanding coming later as I rack up plays is better than slogging through the admin first) then apps will be better. Some games are shit at digital or have poor implementations.
After understanding the game, a lot of games' admin have no plus value anymore and you're literally spending time that could be better spent making meaningful decisions.
It definitely goes both ways. I actually used the video game first for general understanding then we played in person and then went to online. When we go back to the board game there will definitely be some things we forget how to do due to the automation.
I've only actually played the board game once but have the digital version and played it quite a bit. I didn't actually think about solo plays when I made the post but it has come up a few times. The board games that do solo play well do tend to be the ones with a big setup.
Idk where I stand on things like this because Gloomhaven is intentionally designed to be a board game that plays like a video game. Playing a video game of a board game designed to play like a video game ignores all the things that are great about video games, such as the ability to incorporate more complex algorithms, plus its a bit too meta for me. It is nice to have time-saving elements, too, though.
This was my main reason for posting as I just wasn't sure how I felt about it. Both ways have pros and cons. It's working while our friend is away and we'll more than likely go back to the board game but the video game is still a great experience.
"Gloomhaven is intentionally designed to be a board game that plays like a video game."
I tried googling this but couldn't find anything. Do you have a source by any chance? Trying to see what they said about the design process and what features they attribute to video games
I'm just basing this off of my experience with the game. There's a "world map screen" where you enter into specific locations (dungeons) where the fighting occurs. You have different "menus" like the shop, inventory, etc. Fighting in Gloomhaven is very similar to a cool down system like what you see in some rpg games. Equipment and inventory work a lot like old-school rpgs.
If you get crazy with it, there are ways around it. I can't remember how, but as I mentioned in a response elsewhere, I've managed to 'go infinite' ...I think I had somewhere between 1800-3000 gems (at least) before it crashed.
I've been playing a lot of cardboard NH recently and really enjoying it, but the first thing we noticed was "wow, resolving battles is pretty intense". Not to mention there are some fringe cases of modules/units being destroyed, powers triggering etc where the rulebook isn't super clear, and itd be great if a computer just did the correct resolution for you.
As a long time fan of the board game, Talisman. I'm not here to debate whether it's good or not. (It's a flawed, but fun game) But it does work \*much\* smoother in video game form. There are a lot of decks of cards, different board set ups, optional rules (not to mention understanding different rule interactions) and the list goes on. It just makes the game run so much smoother.
In addition to Gloomhaven and Terraforming Mars (mentioned by others), I much prefer the digital implementation of Arkham Horror Card Game. Same reason as the rest: too much setup and fiddliness, which a good video game implementation can handle automatically.
Race for the Galaxy is a fantastic game in all forms, however with automatic point and good tracking on a computer or tablet the game is just so much smoother. We could play 4 games digitally in the time it would take us to play 2with cardboard.
Personally, I think every game plays better physically. I do like the convenience of the video game version of Gloomhaven as I can play it with my friends across the globe, but it would be more fun if I could play it with them in person.
Love digital wingspan. Lords of Waterdeep is good too. A little clunky until you get used to the flow of what it expects you to do each turn but after that it’s just fun.
I've played a lot of games where I get past the first play and think to myself damn this would be a better video game, but there isn't a digital version. Yes anything fiddly:
- Acquire
- Food Chain Magnate (TTS version is still pretty much manual, or at least the last time I played it is was)
- Spirit Island (many won't agree lol)
- Everdell
- and yes definitely Gloomhaven
Race for the Galaxy and its variants play extremely well on Boardgame Arena.
Did a 3-player game of RFTG, all veteran players, it took less than 20 minutes. That's the set-up time for the real game.
Same deal with 7 Wonders.
Also, *wish* they put Lords of Waterdeep on BGA. 🙏
I find digital adaptations often feel kind of hollow. You end up automating and streamlining half the game away.
There are always exceptions of course but I find myself wanting either a proper video game experience or a full board game experience and that in between area just feels a little bit like the worst of both worlds.
[Colonist.io](https://Colonist.io) is a million times easier to deal with than Catan. The expansions work great. I think having to play 10 ranked games a month before you even get a rating is bullshit though.
When people say Catan takes too long to play, all I can think of is that my games against the Colonist.io bots have sometimes taken me under four minutes – and nearly all of that time is me waiting for the bots. I wonder how long it would take for me to play the physical board game (which I haven't played for over a decade, I think?)
Literally any game with a solo mode. Sitting there at a table by myself playing a board game just feels depressing, and not worth going through setup and breakdown. But I'll play Ark Nova solo mode on TTS all day every day.
Stardew Valley. One of my favourite pc games of all time and one of my most reliable happy places when my depression starts getting the better of me.
As a board game.. well at least the box looks pretty on the shelf
Having played both, I *heavily* prefer the physical version. The digital version is so quick, and actions happen without weight or impact. I find myself acting on autopilot too often because the animations and app just sorta speed through all the actions.
The physical version just has so much more impact, and it therefore makes me think much harder on my overarching strategy and then my upcoming moves.
Dominion, Ascension, any deck builder really.
You can appreciate its depth and you can crank out a game in 10 minutes and set it back up instantly.
Ascension on Steam is one of my most played games.
I feel like most board games probably play better online then in person unless it’s some kind of dexterity focused game. That being said I prefer in person games, because it’s nice to just have something to do with people that doesn’t involve a screen, since so much of time is consumed by screens one way or another.
Mystic Vale is a spectacular "card builder" using transparent cards, inserted into the included sleeves, to upgrade and customize the cards in your deck rather than which cards are in your deck. Great twist on the genre, however the setup and tear down can be a bit much. The app is great.
definitely agree with Gloomhaven, only played physically once and went "man I sure hope the digital version fixes all this fiddly stuff in combat" (and it does!), but also any board game that is based on a Video Game, I have yet to find one that is a good board game at all, let alone good digitally. Instead of trying to maximize those games as board games they all just decided to try and mimic the video game but on a board. I dont want to grind for 4 hours in Dark Souls the board game, in the video game you can stop and save and come back to it very easily.
I think for some people it's "everything" and for others it's "nothing."
I fall into the latter camp. I just don't want to play any board games automated.
But I totally get what people are saying when they like it. I just... like admin and shuffling and set up, and even more surprising is that *I like that it takes up more of my time.* I'm chilling and playing a game. I don't need to get in 10 reps an hour with a constant barrage of decisions. Slow it down, let the game flow, chat with my play partners. Some of my normal partners play Dominion or Wingspan online all the time and I totally get why. But I'm not interested.
Like, I tried out Gloomhaven. And I get it. Fun game. But it's like *my favorite activity* as a board game. And the only change I've made is that I use dice for life instead of the tokens. I've played through Gloomhaven *twice*, am in the middle of Frosthaven, and am thinking about starting another Gloomhaven group...
Most of them. It just takes a lot of work to set them up well as video games. But if the authors had the time and resources, the majority of board games would be better as video games. Think any game with lots of tokens or multiple decks of cards.
I played Risk board game once as a kid. Every time I play a video game version I try to imagine dealing with all of those little army tokens and dice rolls and I just breathe a sigh of relief that I'm not doing that.
A good digital implementation can improve the ergonomics of a fiddly game and enable asynchronous play for those of us who don’t have time slots for longer game sessions. But it does that at the cost of removing the in-person interactions, eye contact, postures, etc. Also, every component feels tactilely like a computer mouse or a flat piece of glass/plastic.
So no, no game is better in its digital form for me.
Fallout. Amazing video game.
I’m biased not having played any Star Wars board games, but for me, seeing that at 7 years old left an indelible impression on me
I don't think I have any I strictly prefer. I have several where I enjoy both the digital and physical versions of the games. But I don't find the overall experience of both to be meaningfully comparable. It's almost like comparing a novel to its film version, I can like and appreciate both but I don't find them meaningfully comparable.
For me, digital versions of games are like fast food compared to physical versions, which are more like cooking. One is more convenient, but it's less satisfying and rewarding. I play a lot of games on Board Game Arena, and it's nice to have them automated in many ways, but I would always 100 percent prefer playing them in person. It's about the whole experience playing with your friends at the table. Digital versions just can't capture that, even if playing online together and chatting in Discord. And I really don't like Gloomhaven digital. Just the fact that I have to hit confirm for basically everything I want to do drives me crazy. Then there's the fact that I basically turn my brain off for the monster turns whereas with the physical game I have to be aware of what they're doing and capable of. It feels like the digital version hides half the game away from you.
Ark Nova has a great app on BGA and the setup is so large that the time savings is significant.
It's fun to play in real life and add house rules (like sweeping the 6 cards if no one likes them) but the app is very solid.
The app is ESPECIALLY good for solo games.
Basically all big box Kickstarter games, like, all of them!
They try to do so many things at the same time that does absolutely nothing.
I'm looking at you Lords of Ragnarok and Aeon Trespass Odyssey.
Through the Ages
I’ve possibly logged more hours playing this than any other board game (it’s my go to in-flight companion for years now, play it at work enough to get me fired, etc). I’ve never played it irl, and after watching a group at a bg cafe do it, I never want to
It’s a long ass game. Like 3-4 hours at least.
I've played it in person three times and it's never taken less than 4 hours.
I have played the videogame version a lot and when I then get a hankering to play the cardboard version I always get taken aback with just how long it can be. The digital game, I can get through a game in 40-60 minutes, but then have to triple or quadruple that for the tabletop version, it is just such a stark contrast.
Surprized to see this so far down. I refuse to play the boardgame anymore after playing it on the app. Talk about a game changer.
Literally sold my physical copy after a month with the app, it's so good
It's the top comment, you replied to it when it was brand new.
Anything where there's a lot of fiddly 'maintaining the game state'. Like, Dominion is better online too.
Dominion is my pick. I can play a game in less than 10 minutes. Then create another random deck and play again and again. It's wildy addictive and has a decent AI. The DLC is expensive, but I get a lot of play out of the game.
>It's wildy addictive Oh, good, it's not just me.
If you love Dominion, download Star Realms and be blown away. Also, for those that enjoy normal video games and Deckbuilders, grab Inscryption.
Inscryption is terrific. They could easily create a side project of a mobile game of the core gameplay.
Just whack Kaycee's mod on mobile and that's me happy on my work breaks.
> If you love Dominion, download Star Realms and be blown away. As someone who enjoys both (but for different reasons), I think this is an odd suggestion almost never holds true. People who have played base Dominion a handful of times might be blown away by Star Realms. But people who are super into Dominion and its expansions (and have gone down the rabbit hole of its endless depth) are almost NEVER going to be blown away by the more surface level tactics of Star Realms.
My man the DLC is expensive for the physical version too!
I hope he stops making expansions because I'm basically just collecting them at this point, except for once a year my wife and I will play dominion for a whole day.
Hahahaha. I'm exactly the same. I got all of them and now I just have to ~~catch~~ buy them all even if I only play the damn thing once or twice a year. Because I'm sure as fuck not going to be the guy who has all the expansions except one.
The new mobile AI is brutal now since it used ML to learn how to play; surprisingly competent. Chews through battery though.
My favorite part about digital Dominion (or any deckbuilder) is the hard enforcement of 100% random shuffling. I've played with some players who I feel like they have an unfair advantage due to some unintended poor shuffling.
My thing with Star Realms digital is we don't have to do so much maths. My wife and I were previously long distance and that was our airport game. Would get 4 games done waiting for the plane on pass and play vs 1 1/2 in the same time if physical.
i have a guy in my group who is a dominion fiend. always wants to play at least once every meet up. problem is, he has this very specific way of shuffling where he has clearly obviously learned how to shuffle in a way to get the card he wants on top. it's not worth calling him out on it because he's kind of sensitive. we basically just let him cheat at dominion and get his win every meetup and then carry on.
Ooo I didn't know Dominion had an online version. I have the board game but don't play it much at all.
Oh man, you missed the glorious isotopic days
i miss the glorious isotopic days 😢
Yeah it was my pandemic discovery. We played with other people all together in a discord chat.
I vastly prefer physical board games, but Dominion is the one game I'll point to that is a slog to play in real life that shows its strategic depth better when it can be played more quickly. It's still a good game in physical form, but all that setup and shuffling really slows down the game and it's hard to appreciate all the combos and variable strategies that exist when it's that slow.
Dominion is the game I get when I want a quick game lol. I find the setup to be really quick
Physical you mean, right? I never found the physical version to be a hard setup at all. At most there is time spent picking which expansion and which kingdom cards, but that's part of the fun
I will say, I used to crank through quick games against AI in unofficial Androminion, but that didn't come close to replacing physical for me
I don't mind playing the game in person but once you have more than like 7 expansions, setup and cleanup becomes a slog.
I totally agreeBut, Fun thing, for Tanto cuore, to have it on both form, I largely prefer it IRL. Game have similarity, but because how they unfold on the table, (and maybe because of how the videogame adaptation is) As much as I love it IRL ... I found Tanto Cuore unbearable on the videogame version.
The obnoxious sounds in Tanto Cuore app spoiled any chance of me pretending the theme is somehow not thinly veiled sex slavery. Admittedly haven't tried it again in years though.
Once you play the app version of Sentinels of the Multiverse there is no going back.
Was going to chime in with this one. Some of the villains and environments have so many if/then conditions on them, it can be virtually impossible to be aware of every effect in play at a given time. As long as you have a good basic understanding of the game, this is a great iOS pick up.
Yep I also prefer to play multiple characters by myself in this one
Came here for this. Personally I disagree - I prefer having the whole tableau clearly visible in front of me rather than having to click on and out of things even on a large monitor. And it's nice to be able to batch things on an interrupt/exception basis ("Legacy will take all those hits excite for the Fire and Cold damage ones which Absolute Zero can have") rather than individually assigning every one. But I know lots of people go strongly the other way and won't touch the physical version at all.
I do feel the Definitive Edition did fix a lot of the issues with that. Its just a better version of the game (making it hard to go back to the digital version for me) and with so much less and so much easier upkeep.
I had the big box from the Kickstarter and I traded it away and got myself the definitive edition. I never got that thing to table anymore because of the size and how fiddly it could be. The definitive edition gets so much more play now from me solo, and others because it’s just more streamlined and the smaller form is nice. Admittedly it was my fault for getting all the bloat in the original, but I’m not making that mistake again.
I’ve only played the app, but tracking the various stacking damage modifiers on paper looks like it would be nightmarish.
I don't find it that bad in practice. There are tokens for it. Conditional modifiers are annoying though. Definitive did a good job eliminating floating modifiers and either eliminating conditional ones, or moving them onto cards which go physically in and out of play. For example instead of Haka's "Haka of Battle" giving you +X to your next attack, instead it's an Ongoing card that automatically dies at the start of his next turn, at which point you can discard X cards to do (IIRC) X+2 damage. Much easier to keep track of than the floating bonus. Similarly Wraith's stacking +2 defence vs next attack is gone in favour of a straightforward "+1 to Defence vs all attacks until the start of your next turn".
The first time I ever played Gloomhaven, it felt more like it should be a video game than a board game to me. (Particularly with all the upkeep and "AI" rules.)
So.. here's my theory. In the beginning there were tabletop wargames, and fantasy roleplay thanks to D&D, and then fantasy tabletop games along the lines of Heroquest. Videogames turn up and people want to make those sorts of games digitally to enjoy the shiny new media. You get stuff like the early dungeon crawlers and AD&D games. Then videogames really take off in their own right and start showing all the complicated things that can be done when a computer is keeping track of your rules for you. At some point the shoe then ends up on the other foot, and we start wanting to make our fantasy boardgames more like videogames. Loads of enemies, reactive AI, persistent abilities requiring lots of upkeep - all things that would have been too costly in terms of player effort if videogames hadn't shown us the benefits to gameplay. Gloomhaven is the pinnacle of this fantasy boardgame-as-videogame-as-boardgame design, and unsurprisingly, it feels pretty damned good when you make it a videogame again.
Yep, did the entire Gloomhaven campaign in ~80 hours in the Steam version. Playing every other weekend IRL the campaign would take 1+ year...
To be fair, every other weekend IRL (assuming a three hour play session each time) essentially is ~80 hours so it's not as if it's taking *that much* more time.
Well except for my group it took us 75 completed scenarios before we finished the game. Not including the ones we failed. With the gloomhaven helper app and wooden insert averaging about 3 hours per session would be 225 hours. I've been playing on steam now and you couldn't pay me to play gloomhaven in person again lo.
For us that's the appeal - it's a lifestyle game. Every week we have one session of random other boardgames and one session of Frosthaven. We started playing FH in February and the fact that it will probably take us late into next year to run out of campaign is actually a comfort because it's something we all look forward to so much each week!
How long would you expect to play each time during those every other weekend? Because 3 hours per session would be 78 hours.
Not sure. With the setup, breakdown, and playing out each scenario, can't imagine how many actual hours a full Gloomhaven run takes.
I think we spend 3-4 hours on average per session of Frosthaven, half that time is probably the actual scenario and outpost phase and the other half setup and some light cleanup. The host and game owner usually packs it up by himself after we leave. I think there is about 100 scenarios overall, so about 16 full days and nights or 400 hours. Though you won't play every single scenario and sometimes the outpost phase will be shorter or longer.
Blood bowl is infinitely sped up when played as a video game, but in my experience it can feel a bit soulless and more frustrating as you probably don’t have the other person there sharing your misfortune.
If you sign up to play in one of the organised leagues you get a lot of that soul back. I might be biased though since I run the biggest PC based private Blood Bowl league haha. It’s such a shame Blood Bowl 3 is in a stinker of a state right now because that mess of a release has killed a lot of community engagement
I saw a few streamers tearing it to pieces when it first came out but not a lot since. Did they fix the problems but now it's suffering from people like me not hearing that bit?
It’s biggest issue from the perspective of a serious player is that there’s no admin tools at all so league managers just can’t run their private leagues at the moment. This means the only real way to play the game is the open ladder and Blood Bowl is NOT designed for ladder play at all
the greed ... for sure. Why would they release a Blood bowl 3? Honestly the second game was great. When they announced BB3, we knew that it would suck. It was just a way to make you pay again for all the extra races/team. It's not like they will change the rules of the game :D
The AI in those adaptations is truly woeful too, so you really have to play against human opponents. I do like how much it speeds up the game to be honest.
The virtual versions only have pale white folks and monsters. The tabletop can be painted however you like, analog for the win.
Those games are blindingly white, aren't they? Disappointing in this day and age.
I haven't played Blood Bowl in forever. Is it still RNG hell? EDIT: I only played it once or twice and I've been told that was probably my own inexperience at play rather than the game, so fair enough. Thanks to FullMetalCOS for letting me know. ~~EDIT: That was my experience last time I played but I think that was a couple of versions back. If I've asked it wrong somehow and merit a downvote can you please at least let me know how and why?~~
You are likely being downvoted because whilst blood bowl does rely on RNG in terms of being a dice based game, a lot of players are VERY quick to blame RNG when they just made awful decisions. Getting past blaming the dice and learning to objectively analyse your own mistakes is the first real moment where you stop being a beginner at the game
Ah, that's entirely possible, thank you. I only played it once or twice so the issue could quite possibly have been at my end. Thanks.
I haven’t played the newest version but it’s still very dice heavy. That’s how bloodbowl is, if you don’t like a lot of dice rolling then it’s probably not for you. Don’t get me wrong, bloodbowl definitely has a fair amount of strategy and tactics but a poorly made dice roll can scew you or your opponent up. A lot of bloodbowl players (well, board gamers and video gamers from any game involving random chance) will be quick to point that new/frustrated players will blame RNG for poor results/outcomes/lost games. While a bad dice throw might go against you it’s really down to risk management and experienced players may get frustrated with new players labelling the game as an RNG fest. And then the experienced player fails a re rolled +2 go for it roll to fail a touch down. That’s bloodbowl for you
Terraforming Mars, I hate playing it tabletop , damnnyou microbes
Just too bad the Steam version is in absolute dogshit state right now.
Yep. Wish they just put it on BGA. Same with Lords of Waterdeep. Steam version kinda clunky.
The app version used to run much better, but they made some UI changes and I just can't stand it any more.
https://terraforming-mars.herokuapp.com/
The app is so garbage. They fix one thing and 10 things break. I'm constantly locked out of games with friends. It's a mess. Agree it's a great game on the app though. I also do like the Eva-Core game inserts for simplifying setup. Much less of a pain.
That's a shame I haven't played it for quite awhile.
Is it just the multiplayer or does playing vs AI suck too? I remember hearing complaints about the netcode dropping people and not handling missed turns well or something.
Try: https://terraforming-mars.herokuapp.com/ for a web based terraforming Mars.
I played it mb 3-4 times before discovering the digital version on my tablet. Never played the physical version again. Some digital version show you the fiddlyness of some games and it's hard to come back to it. Through the ages is the best example of a game I just couldn't play on a table.
Dorfromantik
Well, I guess. But it IS originally a video game, even though it looks like a board game turned video game.
*just one more tile..*
Never played it on PC, but setup for the board game is incredibly easy. What's not to like?
It is advertised as co-operative while it is singleplayer at best.
But isn't it the same as on PC, optionally letting your buddy do every 2nd move?
Ascension is really good, and I like having Carcassonne and Talisman not take up so much space, plus they travel better as video games.
The Talisman app really hammers home how little meaningful choice there is in that game. Click to roll the dice, choose left or right, click to roll the dice, click to end turn.
It heralds from the age of roll and move, so I mean you’re correct but it’s also not really a surprise.
I have played literally thousands of Ascension games on the app, and literally three in person.
I think one of the last times I played Ascension (the app, but really either version) I 'went infinite', wanted to see how far I could take it, and basically kept getting points until the app crashed. Good times.
I really like Twilight Struggle on the app
Not available on iOS?
I have it on iOS
Onirim is MUCH better in digital form. Shuffling the deck 2 dozen times is a pain. Othello (Reversi) is also MUCH better in digital form, because flipping a bunch of discs over and over is a pain.
Onirim is one of my favorite games of all time. I really enjoy both digital and physical. Physical still gets the edge for me because two of the best expansions (Dreamcatchers and Towers) are not available on the app. Love to put on some jazz and just take my time, the shuffling be darned.
What makes you like Towers so much? I love the game but the Towers have always felt like the weirdest part to me, and I always play with all expansions at once.
I actually enjoy all the shuffling in Onirim, I find it to kind of be a zen activity for me.
Having good sleeves on there to be able to do cram hand-over-hand shuffling makes it much more enjoyable. I use Mayday’s premium chimera and have enjoyed the game immensely more since putting them on.
yeah shuffling is not for me, but I can totally see how it could be for others. It's kind of like baking: I don't go out of my way to do it (I'm not the baker in our household) but I can see the attraction it holds. ^(That being said I do enjoy helping make dumplings.)
Wingspan is a great digital experience.
This one is mixed for me. The digital version is great for tracking all of the random effects that can trigger, which is great. But it's also a game where there is nothing to do when it's not currently your turn. In real life folks just chat and people watch out for each other. When I played it online, I ran into the problem of players zoning out (or alt-tabbing) when it wasn't their turn, getting prompted for some ability, and the game being a constant back-and-forth of: "Player 2, did you see the prompt?" "No, oops, sorry." or "Yes, but I'm thinking about what I want to do." It made the whole digital experience less fun for me. Still like the game, but I now prefer IRL.
I have both versions of it. If I am getting a craving to play and friends are busy then the online one definitely hits the spot. I find ticket to ride is similar in that aspect too. I prefer to play both as the board game with friends but the digital ones hold up very well for a quick fix.
*Wingspan* sounds great for solitary play on your phone, since that's basically what it feels like in real life as well.
Dear god no. The UI for Wingsian is atrocious. By far the worst video game adaption I've attempted. At least the Steam version. I guess there may be others, but by god that one on Steam is awful.
What part(s) are bad, I find it great and easy to play on Steam.
I like being able to look at all the boards on the table, to judge everything, see what's going on etc. On Steam I have to click around to see what everyone is doing, it's not intuitive, it's clunky. I'm not sure I can say there's anything good on it.
Press tab or click the diamond bottom left, boom.
For me personally, not many, if any. Every time I try a video game version of a board game I find my understanding of the game drastically drops because so much is handled automatically. I'll take my turn and then in a flurry the AI(s) take their turn, automated processes occur, and then it's my turn again with no clue of what 17 things just changed in the game state. It's why I actually really like Tabletop Simulator unscripted mods. Being forced do the actions myself keeps me aware of the gamestate and what's going on.
I wouldn't say "if any" (see: Dominion), but I greatly agree with you. I've tried learning Root a bit better with the app but I have zero idea of what the opponents are doing if I can't watch them and it's so much harder to focus on everything going on. If I know a game *really* well I can enjoy the digital incarnation, especially for solo play, but I vastly prefer the real thing the vast majority of the time for the same reasons.
I feel the opposite actually, I think the digital version is almost always better than the tabletop version
I learned spirit island first digitally, and this is the exact problem I had. My winrate and general understanding of everything spiked dramatically once I actually had to run through the mechanics of how everyone moves and slots together in the physical board game myself. Digitally, it was just too much stuff happening too quickly, and other minor issues like having to long press a card everytime to figure out which powers did what made planning so aggravating too. I think once you learn, it’s not a bad replacement, but learning on it was a terrible idea.
this is what i've been saying apps have been missing for years. the AI needs to announce what its move is instead of just playing. if it gets annoying, sure just turn that feature off. but it has to be included on every app imo
The "better" is subjective, if you prioritise understanding the rules first then yes doing it all yourself will be better. If you prioritise getting through the game (and for me, understanding coming later as I rack up plays is better than slogging through the admin first) then apps will be better. Some games are shit at digital or have poor implementations. After understanding the game, a lot of games' admin have no plus value anymore and you're literally spending time that could be better spent making meaningful decisions.
It definitely goes both ways. I actually used the video game first for general understanding then we played in person and then went to online. When we go back to the board game there will definitely be some things we forget how to do due to the automation.
I like the digital version of pandemic for solo play. I hate doing all the setup when it's just me, but the app is pretty good
I've only actually played the board game once but have the digital version and played it quite a bit. I didn't actually think about solo plays when I made the post but it has come up a few times. The board games that do solo play well do tend to be the ones with a big setup.
Onirim
Onirim digital is my timewaster when traveling by plane
Idk where I stand on things like this because Gloomhaven is intentionally designed to be a board game that plays like a video game. Playing a video game of a board game designed to play like a video game ignores all the things that are great about video games, such as the ability to incorporate more complex algorithms, plus its a bit too meta for me. It is nice to have time-saving elements, too, though.
This was my main reason for posting as I just wasn't sure how I felt about it. Both ways have pros and cons. It's working while our friend is away and we'll more than likely go back to the board game but the video game is still a great experience.
"Gloomhaven is intentionally designed to be a board game that plays like a video game." I tried googling this but couldn't find anything. Do you have a source by any chance? Trying to see what they said about the design process and what features they attribute to video games
I'm just basing this off of my experience with the game. There's a "world map screen" where you enter into specific locations (dungeons) where the fighting occurs. You have different "menus" like the shop, inventory, etc. Fighting in Gloomhaven is very similar to a cool down system like what you see in some rpg games. Equipment and inventory work a lot like old-school rpgs.
Ascension (deckbuilder) plays pretty well. The only downside on the digital version is the hard limit on the gem pool.
And there’s no AI difficulty I don’t think
There are two options. Green for easy and red for hard.
I didn’t know this tyvm
If you get crazy with it, there are ways around it. I can't remember how, but as I mentioned in a response elsewhere, I've managed to 'go infinite' ...I think I had somewhere between 1800-3000 gems (at least) before it crashed.
Besides Gloomhaven which you already mentioned, the Galaxy Trucker app is better than the actual game because of the awesome campaign mode.
I've only ever played Neuroshima Hex as an app (and I love it). I can't imagine resolving every turn in person!
Exactly my experience.
I've been playing a lot of cardboard NH recently and really enjoying it, but the first thing we noticed was "wow, resolving battles is pretty intense". Not to mention there are some fringe cases of modules/units being destroyed, powers triggering etc where the rulebook isn't super clear, and itd be great if a computer just did the correct resolution for you.
As a long time fan of the board game, Talisman. I'm not here to debate whether it's good or not. (It's a flawed, but fun game) But it does work \*much\* smoother in video game form. There are a lot of decks of cards, different board set ups, optional rules (not to mention understanding different rule interactions) and the list goes on. It just makes the game run so much smoother.
Deckbuilders
In addition to Gloomhaven and Terraforming Mars (mentioned by others), I much prefer the digital implementation of Arkham Horror Card Game. Same reason as the rest: too much setup and fiddliness, which a good video game implementation can handle automatically.
Wait AHLCG has a digital implementation?
[удалено]
Terraforming Mars 100%
Race for the Galaxy is a fantastic game in all forms, however with automatic point and good tracking on a computer or tablet the game is just so much smoother. We could play 4 games digitally in the time it would take us to play 2with cardboard.
Aeon’s End is pretty great, Horne have all the heroes or bosses but it will do a campaign mode for you randomly with lots of rules possibilities.
Monopoly. I fucking *loathe* Monopoly on the table, but playing it on the PS4 with my wife is a blast.
Are the proper rules implemented? (and did one of you ever flipped of the PS4 in ragequit?)
I loved playing Seasons on BGA, i bought the physical copie and was so disapointed... too many effects to think of, points to count...
Not sure I've played this before. I will have to look into it.
The Star Realms app is great!
Personally, I think every game plays better physically. I do like the convenience of the video game version of Gloomhaven as I can play it with my friends across the globe, but it would be more fun if I could play it with them in person.
Same goes for me. Setup is part of the game for me. We used an app for tracking monsters tho.
All of my physical plays are solo, so the app really helped especially when I had a smaller table.
Scopa, Not having to score the primera point manually :)
Risk
Dorfromantik. Much more satisfying seeing the landscape evolve on the video game version
Wingspan - I love all the custom bird sounds!!!!
Love digital wingspan. Lords of Waterdeep is good too. A little clunky until you get used to the flow of what it expects you to do each turn but after that it’s just fun.
I've played a lot of games where I get past the first play and think to myself damn this would be a better video game, but there isn't a digital version. Yes anything fiddly: - Acquire - Food Chain Magnate (TTS version is still pretty much manual, or at least the last time I played it is was) - Spirit Island (many won't agree lol) - Everdell - and yes definitely Gloomhaven
Scythe
Race for the Galaxy and its variants play extremely well on Boardgame Arena. Did a 3-player game of RFTG, all veteran players, it took less than 20 minutes. That's the set-up time for the real game. Same deal with 7 Wonders. Also, *wish* they put Lords of Waterdeep on BGA. 🙏
RFTG set up should never be longer than 5 minutes, at least with base game
7 Wonders is my biggest one. Just for scoring alone it makes life so much easier. I will probably never play it live again
7 wonders duel is amazing on bga. Such a strategic game. Base game. Incredible
Lords of Waterdeep is on steam. It plays really nicely, my group played it a lot during the early pandemic days
I second this big time
Hanabi is better on BGG.
Twilight struggle Hoo boy that is a mfer to set up/keep up/take down
Solo Terraforming Mars. Saved me an eternity in cleanup and upkeep
Risk.
I find digital adaptations often feel kind of hollow. You end up automating and streamlining half the game away. There are always exceptions of course but I find myself wanting either a proper video game experience or a full board game experience and that in between area just feels a little bit like the worst of both worlds.
[Colonist.io](https://Colonist.io) is a million times easier to deal with than Catan. The expansions work great. I think having to play 10 ranked games a month before you even get a rating is bullshit though.
When people say Catan takes too long to play, all I can think of is that my games against the Colonist.io bots have sometimes taken me under four minutes – and nearly all of that time is me waiting for the bots. I wonder how long it would take for me to play the physical board game (which I haven't played for over a decade, I think?)
Onirim. Just so much less shuffling. It's an amazing solo game.
Literally any game with a solo mode. Sitting there at a table by myself playing a board game just feels depressing, and not worth going through setup and breakdown. But I'll play Ark Nova solo mode on TTS all day every day.
Stardew Valley. One of my favourite pc games of all time and one of my most reliable happy places when my depression starts getting the better of me. As a board game.. well at least the box looks pretty on the shelf
I've only read/seen reviews of the bg but I think it's fair to call Stardew and the boardgame two completely different games.
Technically true I guess, not exactly what OP was after I think
I love Food Chain Magnate, but the dinnertime phase is much better when automated.
I love being able to burn through an entire game of Wingspan in under 15 minutes while I'm in the bathroom. Just sayin'.
Star Realms
Having played both, I *heavily* prefer the physical version. The digital version is so quick, and actions happen without weight or impact. I find myself acting on autopilot too often because the animations and app just sorta speed through all the actions. The physical version just has so much more impact, and it therefore makes me think much harder on my overarching strategy and then my upcoming moves.
[Civilization (1980)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/71/civilization)
Almost every pure deckbuilder.
Stone age is much better on digitally
Game of Thrones. The army consolidation always gets me, but this game plays so much faster digitally
Dominion, Ascension, any deck builder really. You can appreciate its depth and you can crank out a game in 10 minutes and set it back up instantly. Ascension on Steam is one of my most played games.
Star Realms really hooked me in the deck building genre. And the app experience is so slick and better.
Galaxy Trucker. The whole everyone grab tiles at the same time thing works a lot better in the app, with no cheating!
I feel like most board games probably play better online then in person unless it’s some kind of dexterity focused game. That being said I prefer in person games, because it’s nice to just have something to do with people that doesn’t involve a screen, since so much of time is consumed by screens one way or another.
Spirit Island
Mystic Vale is a spectacular "card builder" using transparent cards, inserted into the included sleeves, to upgrade and customize the cards in your deck rather than which cards are in your deck. Great twist on the genre, however the setup and tear down can be a bit much. The app is great.
I’ve never played Wavelength tabletop but I’ve heard it’s finicky. Having on your phone with a bunch of other people around works amazing.
definitely agree with Gloomhaven, only played physically once and went "man I sure hope the digital version fixes all this fiddly stuff in combat" (and it does!), but also any board game that is based on a Video Game, I have yet to find one that is a good board game at all, let alone good digitally. Instead of trying to maximize those games as board games they all just decided to try and mimic the video game but on a board. I dont want to grind for 4 hours in Dark Souls the board game, in the video game you can stop and save and come back to it very easily.
HeroQuest was a better videogame than board game
I think for some people it's "everything" and for others it's "nothing." I fall into the latter camp. I just don't want to play any board games automated. But I totally get what people are saying when they like it. I just... like admin and shuffling and set up, and even more surprising is that *I like that it takes up more of my time.* I'm chilling and playing a game. I don't need to get in 10 reps an hour with a constant barrage of decisions. Slow it down, let the game flow, chat with my play partners. Some of my normal partners play Dominion or Wingspan online all the time and I totally get why. But I'm not interested. Like, I tried out Gloomhaven. And I get it. Fun game. But it's like *my favorite activity* as a board game. And the only change I've made is that I use dice for life instead of the tokens. I've played through Gloomhaven *twice*, am in the middle of Frosthaven, and am thinking about starting another Gloomhaven group...
Frostpunk. There’s no app for it though, because originally it’s just a video game, so not sure it fits into this category
God bless TTS
Wish there was a videogame version of Slay the Spire :(
Most of them. It just takes a lot of work to set them up well as video games. But if the authors had the time and resources, the majority of board games would be better as video games. Think any game with lots of tokens or multiple decks of cards.
Anything with too many rules, components, or things to track.
I played Risk board game once as a kid. Every time I play a video game version I try to imagine dealing with all of those little army tokens and dice rolls and I just breathe a sigh of relief that I'm not doing that.
A good digital implementation can improve the ergonomics of a fiddly game and enable asynchronous play for those of us who don’t have time slots for longer game sessions. But it does that at the cost of removing the in-person interactions, eye contact, postures, etc. Also, every component feels tactilely like a computer mouse or a flat piece of glass/plastic. So no, no game is better in its digital form for me.
Fallout. Amazing video game. I’m biased not having played any Star Wars board games, but for me, seeing that at 7 years old left an indelible impression on me
Personally, I only play digital/online if friends to with are unavailable
I don't think I have any I strictly prefer. I have several where I enjoy both the digital and physical versions of the games. But I don't find the overall experience of both to be meaningfully comparable. It's almost like comparing a novel to its film version, I can like and appreciate both but I don't find them meaningfully comparable.
For me, digital versions of games are like fast food compared to physical versions, which are more like cooking. One is more convenient, but it's less satisfying and rewarding. I play a lot of games on Board Game Arena, and it's nice to have them automated in many ways, but I would always 100 percent prefer playing them in person. It's about the whole experience playing with your friends at the table. Digital versions just can't capture that, even if playing online together and chatting in Discord. And I really don't like Gloomhaven digital. Just the fact that I have to hit confirm for basically everything I want to do drives me crazy. Then there's the fact that I basically turn my brain off for the monster turns whereas with the physical game I have to be aware of what they're doing and capable of. It feels like the digital version hides half the game away from you.
Ark Nova has a great app on BGA and the setup is so large that the time savings is significant. It's fun to play in real life and add house rules (like sweeping the 6 cards if no one likes them) but the app is very solid. The app is ESPECIALLY good for solo games.
Gloom haven
I could play one game of Dominion in person or 30 games of Dominion online
Basically all big box Kickstarter games, like, all of them! They try to do so many things at the same time that does absolutely nothing. I'm looking at you Lords of Ragnarok and Aeon Trespass Odyssey.
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