Boardalo began as a chess app and grew into something closer to a playable museum. Chess, backgammon and Go sit alongside games most apps never touch: Senet from ancient Egypt, the Royal Game of Ur, Viking Hnefatafl, Oware from West Africa, Korea's Yut Nori. Some of these games are four and a half thousand years old, and tonight you could learn one over a cup of tea. And now there are cards on the table too: Cribbage, Gin Rummy, Crazy Eights, Go Fish and German Whist, played properly against the same cast.

Boardalo's home screen: pick a game, pick someone to beat

A chess game against an illustrated Boardalo opponent who has plenty to say

Digby teaching chess move by move in Boardalo's interactive lesson

Try it: noughts and crosses.

One of the thirty-seven, right here in the browser. You're X. The rival plays a decent game, but it isn't unbeatable.

Rivals, not sliders.

Most games give you a difficulty menu. Boardalo gives you somebody to beat. Every level of challenge is a hand-illustrated character with their own voice, their own manner at the board, and their own opinion of your last move.

You start against Digby, a cosy half-blind mole who apologises when he wins. Get past him and Bodge is waiting, a scrappy gremlin who plays fast and is confidently wrong. Then Lord Grimalkin, all velvet menace, and Master Yuzu, a capybara sage who has never once hurried. Beat the ladder and something is waiting at the top. We won't say what. It sings.

They remember your head-to-head record, react to every win, loss and comeback, and twice a year the cast grows, when ten seasonal characters arrive around Halloween and Christmas. One of them is a Victorian ghost who apologises for winning.

Boardalo's opponents screen, climbing from Digby to Bodge and beyond

Learn a 4,500-year-old game tonight.

Every one of the 42 games has an interactive lesson that teaches by doing: the coach sets up the board, you make real moves, and the rules arrive exactly when you need them. No rulebook, no video, no squinting at diagrams.

That's what makes the museum games playable rather than just collectable. Senet, Hnefatafl and Oware aren't curiosities behind glass; you can genuinely learn one the same evening you first hear its name.

Hnefatafl, the Viking siege game, in Boardalo

Ten games free, forever.

Ten games are free forever, including the museum set: Senet, the Royal Game of Ur and Viking Hnefatafl among them. And the free tier isn't a demo. The computer opponent runs a real search: it reads several moves ahead, remembers positions it has worked out, and knows its openings. Its full Standard strength is free on every free game.

Prefer to own the lot? One purchase of £4.99 unlocks the other 32, forever, on iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV, and it works with Family Sharing, so one unlock covers the whole family. No subscription, no in-app currency. Not sure yet? Every premium game can be tried twice, and a premium Game of the Day is free for everyone until midnight.

Chris, who made Boardalo, showing you round the app

Cards on the table, played properly.

Five card games join the shelf: Cribbage, Gin Rummy, Crazy Eights, Go Fish and German Whist, against any of the characters or with a friend on the same device. Cribbage has a proper pegging board and counts every hand out for you, fifteen two, fifteen four. Gin Rummy lays out your melds as you play, so you always know when you can knock. Points only: no betting, no chips, no coins.

Solitaire now has FreeCell beside Klondike, Spider and Pyramid, and one tap sends any card to the best place it can go. Every card game uses a new deck drawn from scratch, with five card backs that come with the unlock.

FreeCell Solitaire in Boardalo, with the new deck of cards

Play with people, not just the computer.

Pass-and-play on one device, with a proper tabletop layout on iPad. Play two devices in the same room with Nearby, no internet needed, in 31 of the games. Or take your time over online turn-based matches with friends through Game Center, with 26 achievements and 44 leaderboards to chase. Play a friend live on a video call, too: start a game from Play With People and they join from the call. Tic-Tac-Toe and Drop Four even work inside iMessage.

And there's something new every day: a daily streak, a daily chess puzzle, a tactics trainer and endgame drills, a chess review that grades every move from Brilliant to Blunder, house rules for Ludo, Snakes and Ladders, Shut the Box and Yatzy, and Home Screen widgets for your streak, today's game and whose move it is.

A game of Cribbage against Digby in Boardalo

Works on a plane. Works up a mountain.

Boardalo is fully offline. No connection, no account, no interruptions: every game, lesson, character and puzzle lives on your device. It also speaks your language, with English plus sixteen other languages, from French and German to Japanese, Korean and Chinese.

The boards themselves are hand-crafted, right down to Crokinole and Carrom with real flicking physics. VoiceOver and Dynamic Type are supported throughout. This is what board games look like when nobody is trying to sell you gems.

A game of Checkers in Boardalo, which works fully offline

42games in one app

10free forever

4,500years of play, oldest game

17languages

£4.99once. That's it.

The rivals you'll climb past

DigbyThe cosy mole. Apologises when he wins.
BodgeA scrappy gremlin. Confidently wrong.
Lord GrimalkinImmaculate aristocat. Velvet menace.
Master YuzuHot-spring sage. Never hurried, never beaten. Almost.
The Great MoltiniAn operatic walrus. Loses magnificently.

Twice a year, the cast grows.

Every October and December, ten seasonal characters arrive to fill out the ladder for a season each (five for Halloween, five for Christmas), then step aside until next year.

🎃 Halloween