HardBack

Name: HardBack
Price: 4.99 USD
Rating: 3.8 (40 reviews)
Author: Fowers Games Inc.

By: Fowers Games Inc. App

Board

Overview

Version:

1.22

Last updated: 2022-08-04

Ranking

#204,097 ▲ 1,117

Overall

Features & Capabilities

Hardback is a deck-building word game. As an aspiring 19th-century novelist, you work to pen your next masterpiece, earning prestige along the way.

Hardback is a deck-building word game, a prequel to Paperback. As an aspiring 19th-century novelist, you work to pen your next masterpiece, earning prestige along the way. Specialize your deck in certain genres to exploit card combinations, and press your luck to draw extra cards — but make sure you can still string a word together!

Players build a deck of letters with various powers and race to 60 fame points to win.

Features: 1-5 player hotseat and online async 3 levels of computer opponents to challenge you.

Gameplay No wilds in your deck - any card can be wild. Push your luck for more cards with the Ink system. Match genre colors to gain bonus abilities on your cards. Fight over the coveted award cards. Timeless Classic cards stay in play, until someone uses them. New hardcore mode - can't repeat a word!

User Growth & Download Statistics

App

By:

Fowers Games Inc.

Rating:

3.80

(40)

Version:

1.22 Last updated: 2022-08-04

Version code:

851318973

Creation date:

2018-08-03

Bundle ID:

net.fowers.HardBack

Compatible devices:

Size:

281.09MB

Price:

4.99

Website:

http://www.fowers.games DR 43

Privacy policy:

https://www.fowers.games/pages/privacy-policy

Support:

http://www.fowers.games

Full description:

Source:

Apple Apps Store

Data ingested on:

2026-10-24

Compare stats and ranking:

Contact the developer

Chrome-Stats does not own this Apple app. Please use these information below to contact the Apple app developer.

Developed by:: Fowers Games Inc.
Apple Apps Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hardback/id1377791842
Website:: http://www.fowers.games

User Reviews

HardBack is a faithful, enjoyable digital version of the board game with strong word-building and strategy. Reviews praise its depth, visuals, and ease of learning, and many players enjoy playing with others, including long-distance. However, the app suffers from persistent online issues (social features and connectivity), stability problems (crashes/hangs), and user-experience frustrations (input responsiveness, clunky controls, and missing UI features). Some bugs were fixed in updates, but online play and account issues remain recurring concerns. Overall, the core gameplay shines, but stability and online reliability need improvement.

Pros

Faithfully represents the board game with deep word-building and card‑play mechanics.
Engaging word game that challenges vocabulary and rewards clever play.
Nice interface and visuals with a clean, easy-to-learn UI.
Appeals to players who want to play with others, including long-distance asynchronous play.

Cons

Online multiplayer is unreliable and social features (adding friends, invitations, connectivity) frequently fail.
Frequent crashes, freezes, or stalls during play, especially on AI turns or long games.
Touch controls and UI are finicky—tapping may be unresponsive, dragging letters can be cumbersome, and some feature gaps (no zoom/back button) are noted.
Account/login problems (password resets not working, locked accounts) and weak support response.

Recent reviews

The game is great, but every so often, it just stops working for online games.

by Og***** 2024-07-20

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)