Board Game Classics ‘Settlers of Catan’, ‘Dominion’ Invade Your Social Networks

Popular strategy board games like Settlers of Catan and Dominion are coming to your browser, social networks like Facebook and Google+, and mobile devices.

Goko, a startup working in stealth the last 15 months, has purchased more than 150 licenses for existing analog games, in addition to working with developers to create products reminiscent of those games. Their plan is to bring these games into as many social spaces online as possible, thanks to the flexibility of HTML5.

"One of these games have been played in living rooms and homes for generations, and we wanted to capture that experience online," says Brian Howell, Goko's vice president of marketing.

Dominion is a deck-building strategy card game originally produced by Rio Grande Games. Since its release in 2008, it has sold more than 3.5 million copies, and spawned several expansions. Players will be able to play a single-player game against several sophisticated AI, or jump in a multiplayer game with their friends or random players.

Dominion will be available on Facebook, Google+ and in-browser at Goko.com. Goko said that apps will also be available in the App Store and Google Play, and the game will be ported to the Windows 8 store. Players on different networks will be able to play against each other with video chat features. Dominion will also be openable in a Google+ Hangout.

Gamers will also be excited to learn that Settlers of Catan will come to all the same platforms, but as an MMO called Catan World. Players will sail between islands that represent game boards from Settlers of Catan. As they level up and gain experience, they'll be able to play on harder boards that represent expansions in the popular board game series. Signups for the Catan World beta are also available on Goko's website.

Settlers of Catan, created by German Klaus Teuber in 1995, has sold 15 million copies worldwide. While there are other digital versions available for Xbox Live and iPad, but Goko CEO Ted Griggs says it was exciting for the game's creators that their digital audiences wouldn't be separated based on their devices.

"We wanted to get these games over to computer because they have outsold so many of traditional Hasbro games that Electronic Arts is porting over to digital," Griggs says.

It also is a departure from traditional social games on Facebook, Griggs says. "People are forced to communicate with each other, not just request something."

The board game makers may see a boost as well from Goko's efforts. Game maker Days of Wonder said sales for the hard copy of Ticket to Ride went up 70% after releasing their iOS app.

But board games are only half of Goko's mission. Dominion and Catan World, along with three other games, are being released to demonstrate the power of Goko's HTML5 game development tools. Their goal is to help game developers release their products on as many platforms as possible.

"HTML5 is unproven. Can we prove it?" Griggs says. "Let's build some hit games where everything runs on HTML5. That was a premise, starting with the application, then bringing the content people find interesting."

Developers wanting to learn more about the SDK can visit Goko's developer page. The company said it wants to open any of the 150 licenses its has purchased up to promising development ideas.

Do you look forward to playing board games online? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy Salander, Flickr.