If there’s one drawback to tabletop games, it’s that most of them aren’t really portable. Unless you’re carrying around smaller card games like Love Letter or Fluxx, or you’re happy to have your entire car filled with game boxes. Luckily, digital versions of regular boardgames are becoming increasingly popular, something that Asmodee Digital has happily picked up on.
Starting with the tile-laying board game Carcassone, Asmodee Digital will soon start publishing digital board games on the Nintendo Switch. Carcassonne is already available for Android, as well as PC and Mac via Steam. The latest adaptation for Switch will be released towards the end of 2018.
“Bringing Carcassonne to the Nintendo Switch platform is an opportunity to enlarge the success of this iconic game,” said Moritz Brunnhofer, managing director at Carcassonne’s publisher Hans im Glück. “Expanding our roadmap of digital board games on Nintendo Switch is a great opportunity to reach a broader audience of players,” Ortolan said in an email. “Our focus is to make the best adaptation of Carcassonne for the Switch and bring a complementary experience to the Switch players who know Carcassonne through the analog game, the mobile or the PC version.”
Pierre Ortolan, CEO of Asmodee Digital, had this to say about bringing tabletop games to the Switch: “Carcassonne is the first Asmodee Digital title of many to follow on Nintendo’s platforms. This partnership is based on Nintendo’s need for new user experiences and Asmodee Digital’s continued goal of bringing great board game IPs to new platforms.”
Though Carcassonne is one of the seminal games in the recent tabletop resurgence, I’ve never managed to play it. From what I can gather, it’s simple to pick up but challenging to master. Players place only one tile each round and have the option to place one meeple on the tile they’ve placed. Each game plays out in a different way and the quick-fire nature of the game means that Carcassonne will always run at a brisk pace. Carcassonne gives players endless opportunities for tactical play, and within minutes, players will find themselves in tough situations — choosing where to put their last meeple, or deciding whether to use tiles to expand the city, or hamper opponents.
Damn. Along with Pokémon Let’s GO, it’s looking more and more like I need to get myself a Switch. Coincidentally… it’s my birthday coming up soon. Just putting it out there.
Last Updated: June 8, 2018
