# HardBack — user reviews > 41 indexed App Store user reviews of HardBack by Fowers Games Inc., rated 3.80/5 from 39 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hardback/id1377791842/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hardback/id1377791842.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 18 · 4★ 7 · 3★ 5 · 2★ 5 · 1★ 4 ## Newest reviews (13 of 41) ### 3/5 — App keeps crashing *2024-07-20, version 1.22* The game is great, but every so often, it just stops working for online games. ### 2/5 — Can’t log in or reset password *2022-09-03* This has been going on for weeks now. It won’t accept my password and when I try to reset, the “reset password” button doesn’t work. I was really enjoying this game until this point but it was primarily a long-distance game for me. There’s no point without online access to my play friends. ### 4/5 — Should be lower *2021-06-30* I really wanted to play this game with my wife and it looks like it could’ve been a really good game which is why I gave it four stars. Unfortunately I get an HTTP error when I try to connect to an online game. It looks like they don’t really support this anymore so I’m guessing I just got it for no reason. Too bad. ### 4/5 — Cheating AI *2020-10-12, version 1.01e* How does AI player (hard) score .06 cents on the very first turn when a player can only score 5 max. Odd. I feel cheated. ### 2/5 — Technical issues *2020-09-21* Great game but there are so many problems with the app, generic http errors!! Also the dictionary is not great - it doesn’t accept standard words. We paid for the app - can these bugs be fixed please ?! ### 3/5 — Fun game, NEEDS zoom *2020-02-03, version 1.01e* I bought this after playing the board game, which is great. The app is tiny! My vision is normal, but this is painful and hampers the fun. Please remove some of the dead space on the board to enlarge cards, and enable pinch to zoom. ### 4/5 — Good game, okay app *2019-07-26* I like the game, but the app needs to be developed a little more. Every time a game gets up to 5 active timeless classics, the AI opponent freezes and the app crashes. At that point, there’s nothing to do but abandon the game and start a new one, because the bug will keep kicking you off the app. Hopefully they’ll fix this in an update soon. It would also be nice to be able to purchase some of the fan fiction variants. ### 2/5 — Great card game. Mediocre app *2019-06-23* This is yet another so so mobile version of a wonderful card game. It does not work properly on iPhone X and it has not been updated for newer iPad pros. When the app works it is a lot of fun but the app gets in the way. On the iPhone it loses track of ink and has scoring glitches. On the iPad it occasionally freezes. I really want to love this app and I hope it gets the updates it deserves. ### 2/5 — Locks up after inspecting offer row *2019-03-06, version 1.01e* Can corroborate earlier review ### 3/5 — Great Game But Locks Up *2019-01-23, version 1.01e* I love the concept of the game. However, the game locks up intermittently after inspecting offer row cards. ### 3/5 — Could be better *2019-01-21* Edit: online system is back up and running. It’s a good game, but the scoring could be more visible, especially between online turns. Previous review: Was enjoying it, but then all my online games disappeared and it now won’t let me log in online at all. It’s no fun playing word games against a computer! Also, it crashes even on high end devices like iPad 2017. And why on earth can’t I look at my online games between turns? ### 4/5 — Great game, but... *2018-11-16* Overall, I really enjoy this game. However, when I play against the computer on the hard setting, it is almost impossible to win. You would have to be a freaking word savant to come up with aalii or anchusa. They may be considered legit in an official Scrabble dictionary, but I shouldn’t have to look up words two or three times every game because the terms are so obscure. Not fun. ### 3/5 — No way to flush the offer (corrected) *2018-10-14* I'm over my disappointment of Paperback, the app, not allowing for player powers. Because of that, I expected some of the rules to be missing from the app compared to the board game. Something as vital as the ability to flush the Offer should not have been left out [and wasn't]. I'm disappointed. I'll get over it, because it's a great game even with a stripped version. **Developer response:** You can flush the offer row. It is located on the top left of the screen. Between the Menu button and the score tracker. ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Can’t access so why did I pay for it????? *2021-04-18* At some point it locks you out of the account, says incorrect password and if you try to reset it just gets stuck so there is no way to do so...so the whole reason I overplayed to play this game with friends and family long distance asynchronously is lost as I am locked out and are games are done. Disappointing ### 1/5 — Broken on iPhone 11 Pro *2020-02-10* A great great time waster. I love this game (as I do all Fowers games). Sadly it’s broken on my new phone as the display fails to adjust to the extended screen size meaning the black ink store is hidden. So disappointing. Though hopefully an easy fix if the game is still being supported. ### 1/5 — Does not work, support ignores my request *2019-09-21* My IPad meets all the requirements but it will not run. I tape the icon, my screen goes black and then flips to the minimize state. It will not come back up when tapped. I contacted the company and they seemed to be working on it and then just forgot me. I contacted them again to be told that a closed ticket means they are working on it!! Really?????? I asked for a refund or a substitution of another game. No response. Really tired of trying to get support. ### 1/5 — Buggy and totally unresponsive *2019-02-07* A week and a half ago, all of a sudden, new invites weren't showing up in the app -- I'd get a notification, but couldn't accept. So, I figured I'd log out and back in to see if that would fix it, but none of the various passwords I tried worked. Tried resetting the password, TWICE, and never got a response back. I just tried to create a new account, and the app refuses to let me create a new one with my email address. So, the makers of this app can just go to @&$! -- I'm never downloading one of their apps again (Paperback is buggy, too). ### 1/5 — Fully Non-Functional on iPad 3 iOS 9.3.5 *2018-09-15, version 1.01d* This backgrounds instantly on launch 100% of the time. I restarted my machine and reinstalled the app. No changes. I'm hoping this can be fixed. I'm a fan of Tim's other designs. ### 1/5 — Bombs out on IOS 9.3.5 *2018-07-15* Very sad as I really like this table top game. Hopefully they will find a fix ### 1/5 — Won't work on iPad mini OS 9.3.5 *2018-07-03* Title says it all - love paperback and was looking forward to this one. Just blinks black & bombs. Hopefully a bug they can soon fix. ### 2/5 — Poor dictionary, annoying UI *2024-06-22* The dictionary is missing common words, which is a cardinal sin for game of this type. A number of cards involve choices (e.g. 1 coin or one VP), and the UI needs a cumbersome number of clicks to navigate this. Just give us a coin-VP slider and a ink-vs-remover slider! ### 2/5 — Multiplayer is broken *2022-09-30* The game itself is enjoyable but as others have said the online multiplayer is unusable since I cannot add new friends on the new server. The developer has not yet responded to my support requests. I’d hold off on any purchase until this is resolved. ### 2/5 — Fan of physical, OS version could use work *2022-09-05* Online issues still continued. I am unsure to add new friends when my list is empty. I just lost all my friends and all my open games. Same with other people I know. Something is broken as I can't add them back now. The UI feels clunky especially async online play. Dev should model this more after the old Carcassonne game where players can see the board even if it isn't their turn. You should have a bar along the bottom that displays players score and ink counts. All buttons should be more defined and identifiable. Would be great to be able to zoom and pan around the board to see details of cards. Play a sound with the notification so we get a buzz. Would love to see this game realize its full potential. ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — Hardback is great! *2023-12-07* Hardback faithfully represents the board game. I haven't played with any of the optional additional mechanics, but a few comments for the developers: 1. You can quit on your turn, and some times you'll get a different hand of cards. This seems like a remediable cheating angle 2. You *have* to quit fairly frequently, because the game will get into a state where it won't accept taps, which is annoying. 3. I'm not a huge fan of how easy it is to accidentally move letters in your word into your letters you're not using. This wouldn't be a big deal if you didn't need to drag things so much, but I'd prefer a swipe-down or something to single tap dismissing a letter 4. It would be really nice if the keyboard worked, so if I typed letters, they'd just move from my list of letters up to the word (and keyboard shortcuts for pressing your luck would be nice, too) ### 5/5 — Great game! *2022-12-28* This is one of my favorite deck-building games. German localization would be great! ### 5/5 — Excellent, but……… *2022-08-13* Great game! Will certainly stretch your vocabulary to find the right word to get the extra 3 points you need to snatch victory in the last turn. A few suggestions that really really do need attention. 1. For a word game to include spelling errors in the labels/game instructions is just plain shoddy workmanship. Fix them! 2. Really need some form of statistics for keeping track of local scores - how many games played, won, lost, highest scores, champion words, etc at various levels. 3. Would vastly improve replay value if there was a leaderboard function. Notwithstanding the above, excellent game and highly recommended! ### 5/5 — An incredible gem *2022-06-04, version 1.01e* This game is perfect and the app is perfect. ### 5/5 — Great game but… *2021-05-15* One of my favorite word games ever but there’s a glitch that eventually disallows you from playing online. I have reached out to technical support several times but they tell me they will not look into the issue. Terrible customer service. Don’t bother picking this up. You will be disappointed. ### 5/5 — Loads of fun! *2020-10-19, version 1.01e* Great game! Loads of fun! I enjoy this one more than paperback... & I love paperback! ### 5/5 — Great multiplayer game for couples *2020-01-11* There aren’t enough turn taking games like this made in such great quality. My wife and I love playing this game and we even bought the real life version. The tutorial is good but could be a little better. You need to read the rules to really understand what the abilities do. The online play is very solid but I’d prefer to stay in the game and play with my letters while waiting for my turn. ### 5/5 — Perfect on iPad Air 2 *2019-03-31, version 1.01e* No problems. Good game. ### 5/5 — Great game, great app *2018-11-10* I would recommend this game, and this app, to players who are familiar with other "deck-building" strategy games, specifically ones such as Star Realms and Ascension. I think fans of deck-builders will like this even if they don't like other word games. I suspect, though I don't know, that word game players may find this game a little too heavy on the game and too light on the words. But it's worth a try, because it's a great game and a great app. Solid graphics, music, gameplay. Highly recommended! ### 5/5 — Great! *2018-10-30* Very good game! If you liked Paperback, you should definitely buy this one too! It’s more advanced in game mechanics and possible options for a player. Not to mention cool retro design! 10 out of 10 --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-08-28.*