These packs give traditional board games a new lease of life on the iPad

iPieces : As the popular Scrabble and Monopoly apps have shown, the iPad can give traditional board games a new lease of life, but moving a virtual counter around a board is never as much fun as the real thing – which is the problem that iPieces seeks to solve. Each pack comes with little playing pieces that register when pressed on the iPad’s screen, and a free app you can download from the App Store. There are four packs on offer ­Snakes & Ladders and Game of Goose stick to the traditional board game format, while Fishing Game and Air Hockey approach the idea of using game pieces on the iPad’s screen in a more imaginative way, and are all the better for it. Each game fairs slightly differently but they are all pretty good purchases.

Game of Goose and Snakes & Ladders aren’t quite as engaing as Game of Fishing or Air Hockey, but they are good for younger players. We particularly liked Air Hockey for its excellent graphics and highly responsive play, but for us Game of Fishing is the best all-rounder for family entertainment, although the younger family members will still get the most out of it.