Top Board Games With App Companions

If you’re reading this, chances are that you know your tabletop gaming inside out. 

No matter whether you’ve got every expansion for Carcassonne, cleared out every quest in Gloomhaven, or are on your umpteenth game of Hive; varying your diet is essential. Thankfully, the last few years have seen the industry experiment with the creation of ‘hybrid’ games that pair apps and digital elements with your cardboard and plastic. 

So, here are eight of our favorite games that have absolutely knocked it out of the park. Starting with- 

A perennial favorite for strategy gaming fans, the X-Com series finally made the leap to the world of tabletop gaming, and, somehow, it works. Letting you play as humanity’s last hope, the game continues to pile on the pressure as you assemble a team to take down alien threats and manage your resources to withstand an increasingly motivated and hostile enemy. The game’s dedicated app helps take the burden of admin away from players and acts as the invading force – letting you choose your difficulty and pick away at your defenses as it teaches you the rules. High stress, low-effort fun, it’s an exception pick for fans of the series looking to take a digital detox and see if up to four heads are better than one.   

One of the most beloved party games available, the original Ultimate Werewolf brings folk game energy to any party as a group has to root out the traitor in their group. However, the need for a moderator and an emphasis on player elimination can leave players feeling left out. Thankfully, One Night cuts the fat out of the experience and shortens the game to just one round, making your picks and plays impactful, as you use unique player powers and negotiation and find the wolf in your flock. The game even offloads the moderator role to a dedicated companion app that delivers instructions, manages the timer, and plays a spooky tune or two. Give it a go for a round and you will never, ever be able to go back.     

A gorgeous game that captured hearts and minds when it was released in 2016, Beasts marries the world of dexterity games with a dedicated app that brings your favourite critters to life. Rendered as multi-polygonal creatures, the game asks players to carefully balance players to create an animal tower while scanning each piece with your tablet. This quickly runs calculations to track points, letting you make decisions about chaining reactions, optimising your ‘types’ of beast, and tracking your ‘best of’ score. While it’s not as complex or demanding as other offerings such as Junk Art or Dead of Winter, the game is an exceptional pick for families and a solid call for your next gathering.         

When it comes to innovation, it’s hard to do better than Star Wars. Now a regular fixture on our televisions, cinema screens, computer consoles, and more; this exceptional design from Fantasy Flight allows players to go on their own adventure in a galaxy far, far away. A perfectly poised dungeon crawler, the game uses a companion app to automate the traditional role of the GM. This allows your group to minimize downtime, run a full campaign with ease, and integrate all your expansions and extras with ease – letting you squeeze the most out of every session.  

When it comes to replayability…board games can have their work cut out for them. But not in this case. Letting players forge their own path in Tolkien’s world, Middle-Earth tasks players with going on their own perilous quest that involves tricksy choices, tough battles, and careful strategy. Governed by the accompanying app, the game helps randomize events and offer a ‘choose your own’ adventure take on your journey. This adds a ‘threat’ timer to the game, with your group’s actions driving it up or slowing its increase, adding an extra level of pressure as even the lengthiest of the game’s 90+ minute missions breeze past.    

Taking the ‘Mansions’ experience to the next level, this 2016 re-release puts app controls front and centre. This allows the game’ shocks and scares to remain secret while your party franticly tries to escape certain death. The game brings an extra level of depth through time-bound puzzles, multi-media content, and offering a degree of immersion that has to be experienced to be believed. This helps track health, items, monster movement, and more – streamlining the play process, helping with rules management, and adding value at every step.       

Designed by the endless inventive Vlaada Chvátil, this offers a distinctly eastern-european take on space exploration. Built around programming mechanics, players use a provided CD (or digital track) to act as a timer as you frenziedly work to tackle the danger at hand. This can involve blasting asteroids, taking on space crabs, or just moving the ship’s mouse so the screensaver doesn’t pop on. Offering immense replayability and equal levels of stress – this is the perfect pick for groups looking to push the boundaries of what the hobby can offer…all within 30 minutes.      

Now we’re onto something truly special. Letting you star in your own crime drama series; Detective puts you and your friends into the size 10’s of the finest Detectives and work to solve a series of crimes using app-based tech and online databases to eliminate suspects and piece the crimes together. This involves using your device to scope out crime scenes, store and recall key pieces of evidence, and act as your own personal Watson. Elementary? Far from it.    

What board games nail their app implementations? Tell us in the comments!