“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.” Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

It certainly feels like that at the moment. A crisis certainly brings out the extremes of human nature. The selfishness with those panic buying and hoarding, and putting vulnerable people at risk by ignoring advice about gathering in groups. Which is counter balanced with examples of people’s generosity and caring for others.

There are even examples of corporate acts of kindness. Which in the longer run will hopefully reflect on them in a good way when times get better. One such example is game publishers making their digital versions of board games free or greatly reduced in price.

Let’s face it gaming sessions wherever you are have been cancelled for the foreseeable future. So unless you like playing solo games (or games that support solo play) this social hobby of ours is not a thing.

But all is not lost. People are turning to digital alternatives.

Role players are turning to the likes of Roll20, Skype, Google Hangouts, and others to keep playing.

Board gamers also have digital versions of some of their favourite games. Plus the likes of Tabletopia and Table Top Simulator that allow you to play digital representations of board games as if you are playing the physical version.

I have a few board game apps on my iPad. The majority I’ve bought but not played. Yeah I know. Majority of the time the only app I’m playing is Star Realms with Epic now starting to get some love.

Many of these app versions support online play with friends. And that’s the bit that people are now making use of to fill that void left by the cancelled game nights. Especially with the majority of the apps allowing cross platform play. So it doesn’t matter if I’m on my iPad whilst my friend is on their Android device or even a PC.

Last night for instance Jonathan and I played a couple of games of Onitama. Naturally I was using my iPad (after all it is my main computing platform these days) and he was on his Android device. Worked perfectly, despite me losing 2-1 in a best of three.

Despite having a lot of apps, I still lust after one that isn’t out on iOS yet. It’s stuck on steam and the PC. It’s my favourite game of all time Scythe. If it was on iOS I’d be all over that. On a plus side I do believe Charterstone is hitting app stores everywhere next week.

I’m even using this time to learn two games I’ve always wanted to try but not pushed the button on buying physically. With the generous drop in price I’ve decided to let the app versions do the heavy lifting and teach me. Those games being Through the Ages and Race for the Galaxy.

Anyway I’ve updated my online play page (link at top of the blog page) with the games I have and my id/in game name. So if you fancy an online game or two hit me up.