Chapter 9. Play Games
With digital music, videos, and books tucked inside your iPad’s slim glass-and-metal form, you have plenty choices for entertainment. But if you want to play instead of just sitting back and pushing Play, your tablet makes a nice high-def game console as well. You can zap zombies, thwart governments, and channel your inner Dale Earnhardt Jr. You can also relive your glory days at the arcade. But instead of facing a machine the size of a phone booth, your fate lies in your hands—literally.
iPad games aren’t simply iPhone games blown up to tablet proportions, either. Savvy game-makers have taken popular titles back into the shop to super-size them for the iPad’s big 9.7-inch screen. As a result, you get richer graphics and more precise gameplay, with plenty of room to move around. That bigger screen makes it easy for two people to play against each other, too. And thanks to Apple’s online Game Center network, you don’t even need to be in the same room as your fellow joystick jockeys.
The iPad can handle everything from basic low-speed card games like euchre, all the way up to high-speed shooters with detailed 3D avatars and pulsating soundtracks. This chapter shows you how to find the games you want and get them onto your iPad. It doesn’t tell you how to win, though—you have to figure that out for yourself.
Find iPad Games
To start your big-game hunt, you have to hit the App Store. You can buy and download games in iTunes and then sync them to your iPad, or you can buy them on the the ‘Pad itself.
To browse the iTunes Store on your Windows PC or Mac, choose App Store→Games. To find games on your iPad:
Tap Categories→Games and flick through the screenshots flowing across the Spotlight section until you see a game you like.
Tap through the New & Noteworthy titles to see what’s recently arrived.
Tap the Top Charts button at the bottom of the screen, tap the Categories button in the menu bar, and then choose Games to see the best-selling titles—and the most popular free games. (Games, being a popular pastime, are often the top-sellers of all the App Store’s wares.)
Tap the Search box in the upper-right corner and type in keywords to find a specific type of game (“cards”) or game title (“Table Poker”).
Tap any game listed to see its Store page, which includes system requirements, age ratings, sample screens, and reviews. When you check out a game, make sure it’s made for the iPad and not for the iPhone and iPod Touch—unless you like pixellated graphics. Many iPad games have an HD tag (as in Plants vs. Zombies HD) or title themselves appropriately (Pac-Man for iPad).
When you find a game you like, tap the price button, and then tap Install.
Play Games
Once you download your game, it appears on your iPad’s Home screen, just like any other app. Tap it open when you’re ready to play. Don’t know how? Look for a “How to Play” or “Info” or “Rules” button on the opening screen. Some games even have a link to YouTube demos or trailers explaining the game’s rules and backstory.
Your iPad didn’t come with an Xbox or PlayStation-style game controller, and it certainly doesn’t have one of those motion-sensitive magic wands, like the Nintendo Wii. But with its accelerometer, sensitive touchscreen, and crisp high-resolution display, the iPad offers game makers a variety of ways to build in gameplay controls.
For example, in some driving games, like Real Racing HD (shown here), you zoom around a course holding your iPad like a steering wheel—just be careful not to drop it mid-race. Other games are just as creative. As its name suggests, Flick Fishing HD lets you cast a virtual line into the water with just a flick of your wrist.
Old-school joystick games like Pac-Man put a virtual version of the familiar red-handled knob in the corner of the screen, but you can lead the munching yellow disc with your finger as well. And in Flight Control HD, you guide an increasing number of incoming planes into their landing zones with a finger-drag along the runway.
Sign Up for Game Center
Unless you’re playing solitaire, games are usually more fun when you play with someone. Apple’s Game Center network lets you compete against thousands of other players on iOS devices around the world. You can add pals to a Friends list for quick competitions, do battle with strangers in multiplayer games, and compete for the top spot on leaderboards.
Here’s how you get started with Game Center:
Tap the Game Center icon on the iPad’s Home screen and sign up for an account (or use your Apple ID, as described on Set Up an iTunes/App Store Account). Apple bills the games you buy to this account. Then, pick an online nickname—it may take a few tries to find an available one.
Configure your settings so you get invitations to games and update notifications, and so Game Center members can find you based on your email address. (If you’re already a Game Center member and didn’t turn on push notifications when you signed up, you can do that now by going to the Game Center’s home screen, tapping your account name, and then tapping View Account.)
Start a Friends list by tapping the
icon; you can send an invitation to an email address or a Game
Center nickname. Once your buds accept, Game Center adds their names to your list of
friends. (Tap the Requests button to see pending friend requests from other
players.)When you have your account set up, it’s time to get a game. Tap the Game Center icon and then tap Find Game Center Games. Not every App Store game is hooked into Game Center, so it’s best to pick from within the app.
Play. Tap the Friends button to pick a buddy, tap the name of a game, and then tap the Play button. Your pal gets a game invite, and once she accepts your challenge, throw down and start whooping.
If your invitation goes ignored, send a request to another friend or tap the Auto-Match button to have Game Center pair you with an available player. Game Center tracks players’ individual high scores, even when you compete in multiplayer games. To check these leaderboard scores, go to the Game Center’s home screen and tap Games→[name of game]→Leaderboards.
Many games in the App Store can also connect to OpenFeint, an older gaming social network used by both iPadders and people playing on devices running Google’s Android operating system. If an App Store game is compatible with OpenFeint, the iPad prompts you to sign up for or log into that network the first time out. Thereafter, when you launch a game that’s compatible with both networks, the iPad presents you with a box so you can tap your preferred playground.
Play Multiplayer Games
Game Center is great if you’re in a different room from your opponent, but what about those good old-fashioned face-to-face multiplayer games? You know, the ones people played around a card table, back when gaming was inherently social because your challenger sat right across from you.
Many iPad games are still like that, but with a twist: The tablet’s size and powerful processor has encouraged developers to make titles that two people can play on two different iPads over a WiFi or Bluetooth connection, as well as games that two can play on the very same iPad—face-to-face, just like playing Scrabble around the kitchen table.
Speaking of Scrabble, it’s one game that takes multiplayer contests into the modern age, with a whole new level of creativity. The $10 iPad version has several modes of play, including one where friends can compete against each other by passing the tablet back and forth. And if everyone at your Scrabble party is an Apple hardware fan, there’s a free app that turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into a very expensive tile rack—while the iPad serves as the game board. (You keep your letters to yourself on the handheld until it’s time to magically flip them onto the iPad over the wireless connection.)
Many of the App Store’s multiplayer games are electronic versions of popular tabletop games like air hockey, poker, Uno, and mahjong, which basically turn the iPad into an exquisitely designed game board. Dig deep enough, though, and you’ll find all sorts of games meant for group play, including Monster Ball HD and the over-punctuated Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies for iPad. So, how to find all these games? Search for multiplayer in the App Store.
Troubleshoot Games
Some games work flawlessly, while others may be a little more unstable, acting erratically, bombing out on you, and frustrating you (especially if you paid good money for them). If that happens, first shut down and then restart your iPad. If that doesn’t help, return to the App Store to see if there are any updates for the game—many developers quickly issue fixes if enough people complain. (Complaining to Apple probably won’t help much since they just sell the games.)
In general, if a game begins to crash on you, uninstall it (press down on its Home
screen icon until a 
appears, tap the , and then press the Home button again). Then return to the App Store
and re-download the game to see if that clears things up. Don’t worry, you won’t have to pay
for the game again.
If you’re still having trouble, go to the game creator’s website. Most major developers have support and troubleshooting information there, and the game’s Store page often includes links to the developer’s site or an App Support button (circled above).
And if you really like a certain game and want to see more titles from the same company, check the game’s App Store page again—it sometimes includes a list of other games the company created for the iPad.
An iPad Games Gallery
The App Store has just about every type of game you can think of: casual games, action games, shooter games, goofy games, mind-numbingly-repetitious-but-still-better-than-working games, and old favorites. Apple adds new games every week, so if you’re serious about gaming, it’s worth a regular visit to keep an eye out for new releases. If you want a few games to get started with, here are the ones that proved popular with iPad owners right off the bat:
Angry Birds. On the surface, this game starts out as a straightforward tale of a band of kamikaze birds trying to take revenge on a herd of chartreuse swine who raided their nest. But this $5 green-ham-and-eggs story teaches a few lessons about physics—you have to figure out the right angle and trajectory at which to catapult the avenging avians and knock down a series of increasingly complex structures the pigs try to hide in.
Mirror’s Edge. This action game has been around for years and was previously released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The $13 iPad version re-creates the tale of Faith, who lives under a totalitarian regime and works as a covert courier. As a “runner,” she gallops across rooftops and clambers up walls on a mission to deliver messages and avoid government surveillance. The game’s Hollywood action-picture soundtrack and bright visuals bring to mind the rooftop scene in The Matrix—another story about communication and rebellion in an oppressive society.
Fruit Ninja HD. Your fingertip becomes a razor-sharp samurai sword, and your mission, young apprentice, is to slice fruit tossed in the air. While this can be relaxing (or even therapeutic after one of those days), your reflexes need to be as honed as your blade when the produce comes flying. If you miss three times, it’s Game Over. To complicate things, sometimes a bomb floats up instead of fruit. The two-player mode lets you go head-to-head with fellow salad warriors.
Plants vs. Zombies HD. One of the first iPad titles available from PopCap Games (maker of Bejeweled, Peggle, and several other multiplatform casual games), this $10 app relies on you to protect your home against an invading zombie army by sowing flowers and other plants that attack the badly dressed undead as they advance across your lush green lawn.
The Solitaire. Need something free and familiar? Look no further. This particular version of the solo card game finally added an automatic three-card draw, and, well, the price is right. As you can imagine, though, there’s more than one version of solitaire in the App Store to search out.
