# A Brief History of the World — Designed by Ragnar Brothers > Turn-based historical strategy board game adaptation for mobile devices. (iPhone/iPad app by Codito Development Inc..) - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/a-brief-history-of-the-world/id490152130 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`) - Developer: [Codito Development Inc.](https://appshunter.io/developer/320719488) - Category: Games, Education - Price: $1.99 (on sale, was $6.99) - Rating: 4.20/5 from 78 App Store ratings · 50 written reviews indexed - Age rating: 4+ - Requires: iOS 8.0 · 146 MB - Languages: English - Released: 2013-07-26 - Data updated: 2026-06-10 - Monetization: paid - User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/a-brief-history-of-the-world/id490152130/reviews.md ## What is A Brief History of the World? Take a sweeping ride through the history of mankind in the famous board game from Ragnar Brothers! "4/5: Conquering a country is really cathartic and very intuitive. The app works well and is clean and polished. Very fun… I definitely recommend you pick this one up!" - BoardGameGeek.com "4/5: Fun … strategy game with bags of historical flavour. Works brilliantly when played asynchronously against other people." - Gamezebo "... simple and straightforward, which makes it a decent alternative to more in-depth historical sims like Civilization Revolution.” - Slide to Play Control the decisions of major leaders and conquer the world! Lead your empire to victory in this turn-based strategy game! Play as the character of Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, or Napoleon Bonaparte and command armies through 6 riveting epochs in history, with 42 major empires and 15 minor empires. Choose from over 40 event cards to enhance replayability and alter the course of history. All set to an epic soundtrack (or listen to tracks from your own music library) with beautiful graphics and original artwork from the Ragnar Brothers’ board game. With no setup time required, no pieces to lose, and no arguments about the rules, the future of board games is here and A Brief History of the World gives you exactly what you want -- to play! Features include: - Easy-to-learn and easy-to-play - Comprehensive tutorial - Play solo against varying levels of AI - Enjoy a game with family and friends around the table or as “pass and play” - Online multiplayer games available for up to 6 players - Post your scores to Game Center and climb the leaderboards This Universal app runs on all iOS devices. Please send us your feedback and requests, and rate the game once you've bought it. Sage Board Games is an independent software developer, focusing on bringing award-winning and classic board games to mobile devices. With a veritable "who's who" of Euro games already licensed and many popular titles already published, Sage Board Games has become one of the premiere sources of iOS board games. Visit us: sageboardgames.com Like us: facebook.com/sageboardgames Follow us: twitter.com/sageboardgames Ragnar Brothers have designed a range of popular board games and game rules over the last 20 years and this version of one of their top titles has been fully approved by and developed in cooperation with them. ## Key features - Turn-based strategy - Control historical leaders - Command armies - 42 major empires - 40 event cards - Solo, local, and online multiplayer - Epic soundtrack and artwork ## Recent user reviews (10 of 50) All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/a-brief-history-of-the-world/id490152130/reviews.md ### 4/5 — Faithful to the Boardgame; minor glitches *2022-06-26, version 1.5* Great value! Highly repeatable game play. AI is a bit wonky where the AI players sometimes don’t take obvious overrun opportunities. Occasional glitches with event cards. Mostly faithful to the board versions (but I haven’t played the most recent versions, so take that with a grain of salt). ### 2/5 — USA broken *2022-04-21, version 1.5* The event card won’t let me use the event action which means it’s not as worth having. ### 2/5 — Boring *2020-06-21, version 1.5* Was really looking forward to play this game, saw it was on sale (from $5 to $1) and got it. Got disappointed quickly. Maybe I was looking for something like Civilization, which this is definitely not the case. ### 3/5 — Great game, but currently broken *2019-08-15, version 1.5* I’ve been playing this for a few years, but currently I can’t pick areas to affect with events, which may be a bug related to one of the recent targeting patches. Update: A year later and I still can’t use Sea Power because no matter where I click it still won’t deploy a ship ### 1/5 — Tutorial *2019-08-11, version 1.5* I can’t get past the tutorial. This is my 3rd complaint with zero support. I am on an iPad Air2. ### 2/5 — Ok, but some of the features don’t work *2019-04-05, version 1.5* Great map and overall concept, but the execution and factory testing is somewhat lacking. Some of the event cards don’t work. Example, I chose a disaster event card, the interface then told me to select a province to apply the disaster to (it even highlighted the eligible provinces), but when I clicked on a province nothing happened. I clicked everywhere on the map, nothing happened. Now I am stuck in the event card transaction with no way to get out of it except close the app and start a whole new game. Very frustrating. ### 5/5 — One of my favorites *2019-01-22, version 1.5* Great transport of a great board game. One of my all-time favorites! ### 4/5 — Addictive *2018-12-31, version 1.5* I’ve been playing this game pretty addictively for about 9 months. It combines a high level of difficulty (even playing against the AI) with a short (10 minute) playtime, so you always want to try just once more. The primary game dynamic is that if you’re winning in one time period, you get last choice for civilization during the next period. This creates an always topsy-turvy game that defies easy wins; but it also goes the other way, giving you a chance if you were losing to suddenly be the Romans or the British Empire and kick some booty. It’s fun! Great sound design and interface. Originally I had difficulty selecting provinces or naval zones. I tried the game on the iPad which makes it much easier although it’s still a little tricky. It is playable on the iPhones...you just have to know -exactly- where to tap and to tap for just the right length of time. Once you get it, the game becomes completely playable. My only other complaint is that playing online against people is too slow so no one waits around; instead it becomes a “play by mail” type game almost, where you take one or two moves a day. The way they’ve designed the turns you may wait a whole day for your opponent to make his move and then all you do is get to select a card before waiting some more. Despite these frustrations, this is a great board game! Here’s my original review: It’s too hard, as certain cards and abilities don’t work (on my iPhone 8 with the latest iOS). Namely, placing navies or playing cards that require you to select a country to play on such as Pestilence don’t function because there’s no way to select the target...and I’ve tried every combo of tapping and dragging, etc. The same goes for abilities that require tapping on them to activate or selecting a target. There seems to be no way to proceed so I have to pick undo. Please fix so that you can actually pick things!!! ### 2/5 — Buggy. Couldn’t get past tutorial. *2018-04-07, version 1.5* It got to a point during the tutorial where it said I should end my turn, but pressing the hourglass did nothing. Skip this buggy game. ### 4/5 — Very good adaptation of the board game *2018-02-26, version 1.5* History of the World is a very good board game. This is a fun adaptation. You can pass and play with others or play solo against AI players. However, you need to correct some spellings. It is “siegecraft” not “seigecraft”. LOL ## Frequently asked questions about A Brief History of the World ### What is A Brief History of the World? A Brief History of the World is a mobile adaptation of a popular board game. It's a turn-based strategy game where players control historical leaders, command armies, and guide empires through different epochs of human history. The game features event cards to alter historical outcomes and offers various ways to play. ### What are the key features of this app? Key features include controlling major historical leaders like Julius Caesar, commanding armies across 6 epochs with 42 major and 15 minor empires, and utilizing over 40 event cards for replayability. It offers solo play against AI, local 'pass and play' with friends, and online multiplayer for up to 6 players. ### How much does A Brief History of the World cost? Based on the provided information, this application is a paid app. There are no mentions of in-app purchases or advertisements, indicating a one-time purchase model. ### What devices is this app compatible with? This is a Universal app, meaning it runs on all iOS devices. This includes iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches, ensuring broad compatibility within the Apple ecosystem. ### Who would enjoy playing A Brief History of the World? This app is designed for individuals who enjoy strategy board games, particularly those with a historical theme. It's suitable for players who like turn-based gameplay, empire management, and the challenge of leading historical figures and armies to victory. ## Version history (last 1 release) ### 1.5 — 2017-11-20 This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon. Fixed AI crash bug with Arabs Empire. 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User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*