What games can I play with my niece?

poshniallo

Hi

My niece is on the other side of the world from me, she's 11 years old, and we want to play some games together somehow.

I have an iPad and a PC, she has an Android tablet of some kind and access to her mum's PC.

So, as you can see, nothing obvious leaps to mind. But I figure there must be something browser-based, hopefully asychronous, we could play.

Any ideas, please?

Siska

Terraria or Minecraft maybe? Or the latest Sim City, but that's more pricey.There is also Lord of the Rings Online, which has a very friendly free to play model so you wouldn't need to shell out money upfront. But it's also an MMO, so there would be other people and more likely to get the parental veto.

If she is already playing games on her own find out what she likes to play and start from there?

poshniallo

Siska wrote: »

Terraria or Minecraft maybe? Or the latest Sim City, but that's more pricey.There is also Lord of the Rings Online, which has a very friendly free to play model so you wouldn't need to shell out money upfront. But it's also an MMO, so there would be other people and more likely to get the parental veto.

If she is already playing games on her own find out what she likes to play and start from there?

Thanks, but we are in very different timezones, so playing at the same time is hard.

I know people share Minecraft servers - how about Terraria? I guess that wouldn't work on her tablet, though.

Siska

Those suggestions were with PC in mind. Terraria and minecraft both have tablet versions, but the tablet-Terraria is single player only, not sure about tablet-Minecraft. I think the new Sim city would allow you to play together without actually playing at the same time, EA hosts the servers so that would be take care of. But again, that would be on PC and probably requires a newish one to run.

wonderpug

Hero Academy can be played asynchronous across iOS, PC, and I'm pretty sure Android as well.

Minecraft might still be fun even if you can't play simultaneously. You could each take turns playing on the same map, leave notes to each other, and it could be fun to see what the other person built while you were away.

Other ideas:
Words with Friends (aka Scrabble)
Ascension (not sure if it's on Android)

I'll try to think of more but I'm drawing a blank

wonderpug

Scrabble can be fun for an 11-year-old, but yeah it definitely depends on the kid.

TheSmacker

Another game in the same vein of Words with Friends and Scrabble is Bookworm Heroes.

Also, i'm not really sure what is suitable for an 11 year old, but both Ticket to Ride and Agricola are great on my iPad and support async multiplayer.

I'm pretty sure that Suburbia multiplayer is async. Lords of Waterdeep is another option, but i'm not sure if it's async or not (Don't have my iPad handy to check).

Xaviar

I don't have any helpful suggestions, but remember guys- he has an ipad. Her tablet is on android. I'm pretty sure a lot of these suggestions don't cross-platform..

WiseManTobes

It may be a long shot, tho I was hooked on the series at age 7-8 so 11 should be fine, tho they are much more complex now than when I was 7-8 I guess but

Civilization sounds like it would fit the bill, the older versions have cross platform servers and such, and once the game gets going, you each just do a few turns a day as you get to them type of deal. Since is turn based, one person can finish their turn, and then walk away for a while until other person gets to their turn, I 'm unsure if 4 or 5 have save uploading, but 3 did so that both players didn't even have to be online to play a turn.

poshniallo

Thanks everyone. Hero Academy sounds like the best idea.

I really appreciate the advice - this is such a small niche.