I’m actually on the third island in Kingdom, and the game continues to amaze me.
There is SO MUCH in this game it’s ridiculous, and I really feel a king discovering and conquering mysterious uncharted lands.
Plus, it plays wonderfully on both iPhone and iPad, iCloud sync too…hours fly when I’m tucked in bed with headphones (something I really regret in the morning but stil…).
I haven’t even completed the boat yet… sigh…
do you mean Knizia’s Labyrinth HD by Tribeflame?
i guess not, because this is a single player game.
but which Labyrinth then?
the (aMAZEing) Labyrinth series of Ravensburger games (designer Max Kobbert)?
Only my favorite two player game of all time, Volko Ruhnke’s one and only, Labyrinth: The War on Terror 2001-?
IMHO, the single best card driven game out there. Hard subject matter for some to swallow (reluctantly admitted, myself included), but a great, tense, back and forth 2p game. One that I’ll always play when offered and always suggest given the time.
Superior to Twilight Struggle, in my opinion (gasp! I know…) Same tense back and forth but more interesting decisions.
I don’t know what I would choose if I were GMT and Playdek. There’s an obvious argument for something from the COIN series, because it’s tremendous and much of the work which goes into any of them would make releasing others easier. Also, at least some (maybe all?) have existing rules for AI-controlled players, so the AI programming could be simplified.
A second strong choice would be Thunder Alley, which also enjoys a very good reputation, but has a NASCAR theme which both could draw in players who might not be as keen on GMT’s other work and also might put off some of the players of GMT’s other games. As a result, I suspect there are some playgroups of GMT fans who have one or two players who really want to try Thunder Alley, but haven’t because the theme repels some of their friends.
Third, Sekigahara is lovely and brilliant, with simple enough rules that it would seem more like a normal iPad game than something from the COIN series (especially its more complicated titles). This might be my favorite of their games in sheer physicality; the aesthetic and tactile elements of it are immensely pleasing. So maybe it loses too much in the transition to digital.
Finally, Mr. President looks fantastic and is single-player, so, again, no AI to worry about. I shouldn’t think it would be too hard to appeal to those who think they could do a better job than the President–given American political polarization, an awful lot of folks have felt that way within the past year.
I enjoyed the COIN games a lot up until Fire in the Lake. Might just not have been a great group, since two out of four had never played the COIN series and suffered from a serious case of analysis paralysis.
Good call on Thunder Alley - I’ve never played, and the Nascar thing doesn’t do it for me, but I have a friend who loves the game itself. I’d pick it up if they did this.
I’m still holding out hope for Labyrinth though - maybe the AI won’t be that much of a leap from TS? 
(I know it’s a huge leap, but a guy can dream… )
eta: I’ve never even heard of Sekigahara - have to check that one out.
Thanks to both of you for the Ticket to Earth recommendation. Bought it last night ($5.50 up here in Canada!) and played the hell out of it.
It’s a really great game, just as you said.
Gave it a good play last night too, enough to unlock the tech tree and take a little beating. I’m really enjoying it so far. The manual iCloud sync is a bit wonky, but I have no complaints otherwise.
Harmonix (of guitar hero fame) is making a card game.
DropMix looks terrifically interesting to me, but I’m fearful that a $100 start-up cost will keep a lot of folks from trying it. I might, anyway, because I had a lot more fun with Rock Band than I expected, but the fact that it integrates a phone might leave people comparing it to the cost of other mobile games. When The Room is $5 and Super Mario Run is $10, and those are regarded by most players as “premium” prices, it seems tough to sell the image that DropMix is 10 or 20 times as valuable. So I suspect that a big part of the marketing will have to establish the contrast class as Rock Band.
I would love to see something new, designed from scratch for async online gaming. They should take one of the authors at GMT and design it together with Playdek. They should not do another “heavy” game. A game that is approachable, quick to learn and hard to master would be great, after such heavy games like Agricola and TS.
I think my fellow word game fans will enjoy Typeshift, which released yesterday. The link below includes a trailer that shows gameplay. You’re sliding tiles to form words, with the intention of using every tile in the set. My favorite puzzles are the clue puzzles, which are crossword-style puzzles in which you’ve got to match the hints to use all the tiles.
You can play a few puzzles on the web or download the iOS app. You’ll get several puzzles for free, with the ability to buy other packs and disable ads by doing so.
I did greatly enjoy Ticket to Earth, but I have to say I was a bit disappointed to how short Episode 1 was. Especially for $5.49 CDN.
Still glad I bought it and played it, and I’ll try to go back and get some of the tokens I missed (is it my imagination, or are some of the side objectives designed for the mission to be replayed because there are two diametrically opposed side objectives?)
Thanks for the recommendation!
Haven’t finished it yet - is there an episode 2 available in app? Or is it something planned for release later? I got the (perhaps mistaken) impression from comments elsewhere that there are more episodes… perhaps @Pitta can weigh in?
According to the dev 3 more episodes are planned.
2 should be out ‘soon’.
3 and 4 later.
They should be free for the ones who already have the app (and the app price will go up).
Ok, if the new episodes are free for those who bought the app, then I’m totally happy with it.
And happy I got in on the ground floor.
Thank you!
i have just unlocked the Armory.
took some time to get there.
of course i replayed all levels to get all tokens and finished all Justice Missions.
glad to hear that more episodes will come.
No, it definitely ends when Episode 1 ends, and says “Episode 2 coming soon”
have just read the clarifications and so have edited my post 
Veteran members may know that I am a fan of Gamebooks. Very few will know I was a VERY outspoken fan of the HMT Gamebooks (Heavy Metal Thunder and Sol Invictus).
To this day my Phone Wallpaper is from HMT and not a month goes by without me getting questions regarding the very distinct style of said wallpaper.
Needless to say I was very happy to find a Newesletter in my inbox today about the Kickstarter for the third Book in the HMT Series, Slaughter at Masada!
Kickstarter weary people take note…this is the third game of a series, which was released sucessfully with some other released (!) games under the belt of Publisher/Dev Cubus Games. So the risk should be minimal.
So…help me fund this…pretty please? 
