Ars Technica’s roundup of the best new board game apps of 2020

Ars Technica’s Ars Cardboard column ranked its nine best new board game apps of 2020, highlighting digital ports for phones and computers. The reviewer noted that the 2020 global pandemic might seem like an ideal time for new board game app releases, but said increasing development time has extended the gap between announcements and final releases.

The nine apps were ranked based on app quality, play experience, and purchase price, and the reviewer gave an honorable mention to Lorenzo il Magnifico, which they said they had tested a year earlier in beta on Steam but had not tried in its newest version. At the top of the list was Root (Dire Wolf Digital), praised as a faithful adaptation of an asymmetrical board game, with effective translation to smaller screens, animation enhancements, and a tutorial the reviewer called among the best ever.

Sagrada (Dire Wolf Digital) placed second; the reviewer said it’s a near-perfect dice-drafting port that is replayable, though they wished the AI opponents were stronger and hoped physical-game expansions might come to the app.

Key Topics

Culture, Root, Sagrada, Dire Wolf Digital, Wingspan, Jamey Stegmaier