Knock-offs
I downloaded Battle of Gundabad for iPhone yesterday. It’s a 1:1 rules-clone of the card/boardgame Dominion. There are good and bad elements to the implementation, but I mostly wonder why Rio Grande Games doesn’t release their own official iOS version. A $3 app with $3 for each expansion would be a goldmine for them. I don’t understand the economics that would entice a third-party independent developer with no name recognition to knock off their game and not try to get one on the market themselves. There are people at in the BGG community who severely dislike knock-offs, but when the rights-holder doesn’t use their own property, (and it’s not illegal to create a game rules-clone), there’s no alternative to the user other than wait. And I’ve tried waiting before…
A few years ago a Greek invented a higher-order type Rubik’s cube called a V-cube. Instead of a 3x3x3, now you can buy a V-cube that’s a 7x7x7. He even has a patent up to 11x11x11. It’s been a few years now and there’s still absolutely no word on any other cubes higher than the 7x7x7. That doesn’t mean you can’t buy an 11x11x11, but you’d have to go to a third party and V-cube wouldn’t see any money for their patent. The online puzzle-making community bans all discussion of such knock-offs. This is fine, but if the economics are there for a no-name Chinese company to produce these, why is the branded and established V-Cube company not doing anything with their patent?
In the meantime while I’m waiting for my official V-Cube 11, I’ll be playing Battle of Gundabad on my iOS.
