Small World updated with single player mode

I was pretty impressed with the iPad release of Days of Wonder's boardgame Small World.

The only problem was it was initially released as a two player-only game, without a single player mode.

Now however it's been updated with artificial intelligence so you can play it solo, although that has also seen the price raised from $4.99 to $6.99. The update is free for existing owners.

As for how it plays, it's a turn-based civilisation game where you choose a race and a power and then try to take over the specifically designed small world.

Each of the 14 races has special abilities, for example dwarves gain extra resources when they control mines, while sorcerers can substitute one of their tokens for each of their opponents.

Each race is combined with one of 20 special powers such as commando, diplomat, and flying, which provide different attributes that work particularly well if you choose the right race and play the right way.

The more territory you control, the more tokens you score at the end of each round.

Further complicating matters, at any time you can put your race into decline - rendering it inactive, although still token generating - and start up a fresh combination of race and power.

This means Small World is a very fluid game, with players over-extending and declining one race, and then restarting.

Small World is out now, priced $6.99, €5.49 or £3.99.