Category: Game
Type: Card
Cost: 99 cents
Rating: 4+
Current iTunes Reviews: 30 ratings, 3.5 stars

Description:

The exciting game of Thirty One is now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch! (You may also know Thirty One by another name such as Big Tonka, Blitz, Scat, or Cadillac)

Thirty One is a strategy based card game where you try to get your hand of three cards closest to thirty one (only cards in the same suit are added together). You play against two computer controlled opponents named Jack and Jill. You will have hours of fun trying to out smart them by holding cards you know they want, knocking when you think you have the best hand, and getting a blitz (a hand of exactly 31)!

Thirty One has many great features:
- Great single player gameplay
- Two computer controlled opponents
- Game is saved on exit or when interrupted
- Game can be stopped at any time then resumed
- Keeps track of game statistics
- Keeps track of in game credits you have earned
- Clean and intuitive interface
- Post your stats to Facebook
- Compare your scores with online leaderboards
- Fun achievements that can be unlocked
- Thirty One is OpenFeint enabled

What's new

- Thirty One is now OpenFeint enabled
- Online Leaderboards
- Achievements that can be unlocked
- Keeps track of more stats
- All stats can be posted to Facebook
- New Main Menu with option to turn off

Thirty one is an entirely unique card game, despite what you may think based on the title. In a few ways, it's similar to Blackjack; for example, you are trying to add cards together to equal a certain number. Face cards are worth 10 and aces are worth 11 points (though no option for 1 point), like in Blackjack. The similarities stop there, though. In Thirty One, players are only allowed to hold 3 cards at a time. On each turn, a player must choose to either draw a card, pick from the discard pile, or knock - similar to Rummy.

If a player knocks to skip his or her turn, all other players get one last chance to draw a card. A winner is then selected. One unique feature of 31? You're not just adding cards - all the suits must match as well. Each player also has three coins, and if you lose a round, you give up one coin. If you lose all three coins, you are allowed an honor round where you can play without better. You give up your right to an honor round, however, if you knock on your last game and still end up losing.

Thirty One is particularly fun because it feels familiar but is truly unique. It's a simple game, and it's over somewhat quickly (especially compared to a poker game!), but it has some charm to it. The open feint integration and achievements are great additions to the game. I feel like it's perhaps just missing one thing - a 2 or 3 player mode. If players could connect via Open Feint and play together, that would trump the AI experience. All in all, it's a fun game, and well worth a play.

Overall impression: 8/10
Value for your money: 7/10

2:59 PM
Categories: Author: Nicole