Rathores blog

Social gaming is a growing phenomenon, with Facebook-based games like Farmville allowing you to compare your farm with other users, more developers are looking at ways of bringing all their users together no matter where they are.

The ipad and iphone social games in this test do more than just let you compare yourself to others; all of them encourage you to seek out and take on people you've never met - all in the name of a bit of friendly competition. You can of course enlist your friends, but making new connections via games such as these is becoming more and more common. So which of these apps makes mobile gaming the most social, and provides you with some new acquaintances as well as same competition?

Here's our review of 4 best ipad social games.

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The classic family game of steady-handedness has been transported onto iPad and iPhone. With some seriously impressive physics as well as online multiplayer options, this game could well be a real contender to be the best ipad social game on show here. Does it have longevity though?

Gameplay

Use the classic mode to get the hang of the three stages of controls before playing online. You have to select your brick, swipe to remove it, and then precisely piece it on top of the tower.

Matchmaking

With a Game Center connection you can use your friend list to find opposition, as well as play other random users. There is no limit to the number of games you have on the go. so you can ensure there will always be a turn waiting for you.

Speed

Jenga is classically a relatively fast-moving game, and this is still the case here. Turns lend to come round quite quickly, and you'll see a replay at your opponent's last move.

Other Features

At the end of each move you can send a message, complete with smiley, to your opponent. This is a nice way of upping the interaction between you. Also, each win earns you XP that goes towards, your Game Center score.

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Bringing the pastime of creating phrases with fridge magnets to mobile gaming. Prose With Bros sees you and an opponent using the same pool of fifty words to make an interesting sentence. The winning clause is judged by the community.

Gameplay

Simple to play. Prose With Bros sees you piecing together sentences from the 50 words that fill your screen. Drag and drop them into place, and then submit your sentence to place it up against your opponent's - with other users from the PWB community voting on the winner.

Matchmaking

Similarly to the other titles, you can use your contacts or search by username for people you know. If not, you can let the computer generate an opponent for you. All your rivals can be revisited in the Recent Opponents section.

Speed

This game is drawn out in concept, with 12 hours being allotted for other users to vote on your sentences before 3 winner is declared. Luckily, you can have several games on the go at once to pass the time,

Other Features

While you wait for the results of your own sentence duel, you can vote on other games, or view some of your previously submitted efforts via the Prose tab of the menu bar.

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Arguably the most well known of the ipad social games. Words With Friends sees you test your word creating power against other players. You can take on users online or play a local game on the same device with a friend.

Gameplay

Very straight forward with a format that will be familiar to anyone who has played letter tile-based games before. You drag and drop the letters from your line-up onto the board, as well as shuffle them to try and inspire you.

Matchmaking

There are several ways that you can find opponents, from using your Facebook account to playing locally on the same device. You can also ask the app to generate a random opponent for you.

Speed

Being turn-based and at times head scratching, don't expert online games to fly by quickly against random opponents. There are time limits in operation, but they are for days rather than minutes.

Other Features

Words With Friends comes with in-built chat, so you can fully interact with your opponent whether they were randomly generated or someone you already know. There is also an in-app store where you can buy a selection of tools to help your spelling.

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Use your artistic skill to draw various items on screen for your opponent to guess. You both earn coins for each turn completed, and there are three difficulty levels of drawings for you to chose from. 

Gameplay

Take turns to draw one of three words, while the other player has a selection of letters to help narrow down their guess. You earn coins for correct answers, which you can spend on colours or bombs to get you out of trouble.

Matchmaking

It's interesting that you can find opponents using an email address as well as playing random users. You can also use Facebook and invite friends to join you and search for user names within the community.

Speed

Considering the standard of drawing, it might take a while for some users to get what you've drawn, but this game moves along quite swiftly. Being able to have multiple games on the go is a helpful feature.

Other Features

Recent updates mean that you can now save the drawings you've done directly to your photo gallery and send messages back and forth after each-drawing. It's a great way of offering apologies for bad drawings or congratulating impressive work.

We will add more ipad social games in this post soon.