I’ve always been a fan of Texas Hold ‘em games, and I have quite a few of them on my device. It is interesting to see how Rounders stacks up to the rest of them.
In Rounders, you play as your character, Mike, and work your way up through the streets to try and recover from a humiliating loss to Teddy KGB. You start out broke, and have five days to play at various poker locations before attempting to beat Teddy on the fifth day.
You can also choose from a wide variety of male and female avatars to fit your look. You can change everything from what they’re wearing to whether or not they have a beard or mustache.
In Rounders, there are two game modes. There is a quick play mode, which is as it would seem, is for a quick game of poker on the go. In a quick game, you have the options to change your name, raise or lower the stakes, set the number of opponents, and set the bankroll. I really like it when quick play modes are so highly customizable.
The other game mode is the Rounders Challenge, in which you play Mike in the aforementioned storyline. You will need to go around the city, get loans, do jobs for money, and play some Texas Hold ‘em at various locations. Some will have a minimum amount of cash required, some will have entry fees, and others will not have any restrictions at all.
You also need to take into account how long it will take to travel to where you want to play, because you only have five days until your showdown with Teddy. You need to manage your time wisely and do things efficiently.
You can also save your game, which is a must for any mobile game in this genre, because poker games can last a long time (especially one with a storyline).
When in the game, there are buttons at the bottom of the screen to call, raise, fold, exit, and view the players’ stats. At the top of the screen it displays the place where you are playing, the day, and what time it is. Then there is a miniature map of the table in the lower left, showing the amount of cash in the pot and how many players are left.
However; all of these things bring me to my biggest problem with the game: it’s not optimized for the iPhone.
As we’ve seen with many other ports, there are quite a few things that some people will categorize as extreme annoyances for a game on the iPhone. My first example of this is the text and buttons. The call, raise, fold, and stats 
button are tiny, and without looking directly at them from a close distance, it’s hard to see that the buttons are even there (and I have 20/20 vision). I did find that I was able to press the correct buttons though, so fat fingers shouldn’t be a problem!
The game will also display quotes and other various texts throughout the game; which just like the buttons are tiny and very hard to read. It is at the point where I don’t even want to read them, because it requires too much effort.
The graphics are also a common problem that arises with ports – they aren’t bad, but they just aren’t up to par with the iPhone’s standards. I mean, this is the type of game that I would be seriously impressed with playing on my flip phone, but it needs some major optimization for the iPhone’s capabilities.
However; even with its flaws, Rounders is still very fun to play, and provides a great Texas Hold ‘em game with a very nice storyline. I can tell that the storyline alone, without the quick play mode even, will keep me busy for a long time.
Even though the app store has a massive amount of poker games, none of them really have a full blown storyline, which is what really sets Rounders away from the rest. I found the game to be fun, even with its major design flaws. If you are one who can look past these flaws, I can highly recommend this game, but if these flaws are too much for you, than I might suggest holding off until an update.
The Good
- Fun gameplay
- Storyline!
- Has some depth to the gameplay
The Bad
- Text could be much more legible
- Small buttons
- Feels like a normal cell phone game
Note: This is footage of the cell phone version, with slightly worse graphics.
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
EXactly the game i am looking for
For anyone interested this is 99 cents right now.
congrats to chumbake the winner of the free app!
Thank you very much. I cannot wait to try this game out. Thanks Glen, and Appversity crew.
appVersity crew! (pet peeve)
I just added this feed to my bkamkoros. I have to say, I very much enjoy reading your blogs. Keep it up!
As a writer, I love games with a storyline. That alone interests me in the game. Most poker games is just get as much money as you can. I like the times limit aspect. It might force you to go all in when you normally wouldn’t. I think that’s a great addition to a normal poker game. Sounds like the buttons aren’t too big of an issue.
What with the get loans/do jobs for money. Is that like dope wars type stuff, or do you actually do something to earn the money
You can get cash by doing stuff like driving trucks (you don’t actually do anything, you just hit yes and it does it for you), but at what cost? TIME!
I'd rather get something like Zen Bound. But for a poker game…this seems like a great idea. The time-limit storyline sounds pretty good, too, and I'm sure that it plays fine. But to price an app at $5, you need to polish it, and polished this one is not.
Nice looking
But for 5$ I’d rather get the one made by apple
Look ok, but a game based around a card game? Meh..
hmmm…another poker game. Well, i guess there are alot of them but this one seems polished and has a storyline.
good looking poker game. But for $5, i could get something else.
Great card game.
Nice review.
who doesnt love poker? and a storyline makes it unique. Only problem is it is 5 bucks.
The graphics did not look the best like the rest of the iphone games. I think I pass on this one.
i like poker and i like apps on my phone so the two seem to mix well for this game.
nice looking poker game.
looks like a nice poker game but for $5 i could get zen bound or sway so this has to get put off for a little bit.
i love texas hold em. Nice looking game.
looks cool .. its too expensive for me right now .. i bought too much games last time
hope i will get it for free
Looks good but there are a lot of other games I’d rather spend $5 on right now.
Exactly. Sway, Zen Bound,etc.
Looks like the apple version, does look like a direct port from a Phone game. The select a card option dosen’t look that good but otherwise sounds good
Shame it isn’t real rounders (Like baseball)