iPad’s Two-Player Potential

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Scott Kurtz, creator of the web comic PvP, recently tweeted, “At home the iPad is ideal for the web, playing games and watching video. Away from home it’s ideal for talking to strangers about the iPad.” I know how he feels. As the “hot new product” lately, carrying an iPad around usually means showing it to someone. The day I got my own iPad, the thing passed through at least five other hands. I’m haven’t counted how many more it’s been through since.

Chillingo's and Movile's BoardBox offers a quality board game collection.

While this social hubbub surrounding the iPad will undoubtedly be short-lived, it doesn’t mean that the iPad itself isn’t a social device. Quite the opposite, in fact; the iPad has the potential to become a uniquely social device. One of the ways this is already manifesting is in the rise of two-player games–not games played over the WiFi, but those played face-to-face. In fact, there’s a real potential for iPad to find it’s gaming niche in multi-player tabletop gaming.

iPhone games generally have a few things in common. They’re fairly simple, fairly quick, and feature an easy learning curve. It’s the nature of that device: it’s the sort of thing you keep in your pocket and pull out for brief periods of time. Multiplayer WiFi games, and even a few multiplayer pass-the-phone games, exist, but they’re really more at the periphery of the system. It’s a single-player device.

But what about the iPad? It’s just not the kind of casual pocket device that the iPhone is. There have been several ports of iPhone games to the iPad, and frankly most of them lose something in the translation (see our Harbor Master HD review as an example of this). iPad is used differently; it has a different character; and it seems game designers (and game players) are still feeling out it’s niche.

For me, that niche is quickly becoming two-player games. Simply put, the iPad is super-fun to set between two people and play together.

Acceleromo's Air Hockey -- super simple, super fun.

For example, my go-to game when I show people the iPad has been Acceleroto’s Air Hockey (free download in the App Store). Why? Because it’s a dirt simple game, because everyone knows how to play air hockey, and because allows me to wow them with something currently unique to the iPad: a two-player, face-to-face touch interface experience. It helps that the game is really well made–the physics in Air Hockey are excellent–and we can usually finish a game in just a few minutes.

Sure, I could show them something slick like Mirror’s Edge, or something cute like Godfinger, or something productive like SketchBook Pro. But Air Hockey has them all beat because the play experience is so uniquely iPad. It’s the best iPad demo I have, and it always elicits a “cool” or “neat” from my opponent.

Espada's basic but excellent Table Checkers HD.

Another game that I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of is Espada Entertainment’s Table Checkers HD ($1.99 in the App Store). This one is, once again, a dirt simple app: it’s a checkers set (draughts for you international types) for your iPad. That’s it. A minimalist design, but well executed, made exclusively for two-player play. There’s not even an AI to play against, though Espada has said one is in the works for a future update. Frankly, i don’t need an AI. My current opponent of choice is my five year old son, who loves to play board games and also loves to play with the iPad. We just sit on the couch with the iPad between us (something we can’t do with a real checkers board) and enjoy our time together.

I really hope that iPad developers and users both recognize and embrace the gaming potential for the iPad. And early signs are encouraging. For example, there are a number of board game apps currently available in a variety of flavors. Mostly, they mimic old standards like chess and checkers, and there are several that “bundle” several games together.

One that I prefer in this category is Movile’s BoardBox ($3.99 in the App Store). It features 15 different board games, including chess (with several variant versions), checkers (both American and international versions), and a personal favorite, reversi. I really like this game’s aesthetic; it carries an authentic game board feel, so that, for example, chess pieces are rendered as though you’re actually looking down on a chess board, instead of playing with abstract icons. And the game’s piece interaction works really well (since the last update, when they fixed a few issues).

BoardBox's "Granite" reversi board.

Fortunately, the number of games in the App Store that recognize the multiplayer potential of the iPad are many. Sega’s iPad port of Super Monkey Ball 2 ($9.99 in the App Store), for example, features a four-player game, where each player takes control of one corner and attempts to defend it against attack. There’s also EA’s Scrabble for iPad ($9.99 in the App Store), which tries to use the iPhone as a personal tile rack. For those wanting a lower skill threshold, there’s Kyle Campbell’s Doodle Tapper (99 cents in the App Store) , with it’s silly low-tech presentation and one-note game play. In fact, A quick perusal of the App Store shows everything from card games to virtual tennis, all offering two-player touch features.

They vary greatly in their quality, of course. Consider one currently free app, Slingball from Novassa Interactive (currently available for free in the App Store). It wants to be an Air Hockey style touch game, but sadly, it’s physics engine is just not as good Acceleroto’s, and the game’s swing controls are not as accurate or intuitive as a simple air hockey pad. I really can’t recommend it in it’s current form. Another game, Hit Tennis 2 from Focused Apps (available for free in the App Store), has potential; but in its current form its too hard to accurately aim, hitting power seems totally random, and the player doesn’t have great control over the racket. Hopefully, both games make improvements in future updates. Still it’s good to see so many trying to tap that two-player potential.

Hit Tennis 2 currently misses.

One iPad accessory maker, Incipio, has even produced an iPad case with two-player games in mind. Their 1337 gaming case is designed with four rubber wedges in the corners. They say the wedges are there to allow for a better grip, but to my eye, they look like little feet–perfect to allow the iPad to lay flat on a table without rocking. I haven’t had a chance to try the 1337 out for myself, but if it functions the way it appears to, it could be the perfect tabletop iPad accessory.

If the iPad is something you want to share–and for we early adopters, it is–then social gaming is where it’s at. Honestly, I think every iPad owner should have Air Hockey installed (it’s just that cool) as well as a few other multiplayer titles that you personally enjoy. And, you should be sharing them, happily and often. Let’s unlock the gaming potential of the iPad together, face-to-face across a high-definition field of battle.