As well as being overjoyed at how many favourite old computer games have reappeared on the iPhone and iPod Touch, I’ve also been delighted to see many childhood pastimes dusted off and revived on the platform.

From popular board games to slot car racing, it’s easy to revert back to being a kid with a quick delve into the App Store.

Marbles, one of my favourite playground games of old, is the latest to make an appearance, getting a digital makeover and released as Play Marbles by Darkside Entertainment.

Play Marbles is a joy to play, and not just in terms of providing a nostalgic kick.

The design team have perfectly nailed the physics of rolling little glass balls around on the floor, and have also managed to recreate the friendly but competitive atmosphere of the original game.

Even if you’re not old enough to have played marbles at school, you should still get this as whatever your age it offers an easy-to-play, fun and addictive game with old-fashioned simplicity at its heart.

Your Local Guardian: Play Marbles

It may only be marbles, but right from the word go it’s clear this game has high production values. From the loading screen, through to the menus and into the game itself, everything is really slick.

The menu screens feature various marbles with the different options inside each one. A nice touch.

From the main menu you can do all the usual kind of stuff, like alter game settings, check your profile and decide whether to launch a single or multi player game. There is network play for people with newer devices to play against other humans, but multiplayer just seems to be pass-n-play on my 1st gen iPod.

When you select single player you then choose from quick play, tournament, league and career. I’ve haven’t tried career yet but when I do I’m hoping it will go better than my real-life marbles career as a kid when I lost a lot more than I won.

Once you’ve chosen the type of game there are several other decision to make concerning which of four playing environments to use, how many games within each match, which set of marbles to play with (you can even customise a set to include your own pictures!) and which of three difficulty levels you want to play against.

Your Local Guardian: Play Marbles

You must also select which game mode to play from the three currently available. The options are moon, pound and ringer. I’ve got no idea what version of marbles I played as a kid (it was a long time ago) so I’ve mainly stuck with ringer so far which involves 13 marbles that you need to knock out of a circle with your shooter marble to win the game.

Once you’ve made all your selections it’s on to the game, and this is where the real fun begins.

Aiming a shot is really easy. Simply use the tilt controls to rotate the playing field. There are on-screen buttons to change view and zoom to help hone your aim.

Playing a shot is equally simple. Swipe upwards on the screen to shoot the marble. The angle and speed of your flick determines the success of your shot.

While everything in Play Marbles is very easy to pick up, proper skill is needed if you’re going to get good at it, just like in the real game.

As good as the controls are great and as impressive as the number of options is, what really make this game stand out are the graphics and the movement of the marbles. The look and feel of playing marbles have been captured really well.

Your Local Guardian: Play Marbles

Darkside deserves praise for deciding to put the game of marbles into a video game in the first place. The fact that such a good job has been made of it is worthy of extra kudos.

It’s great to see marbles making such a stylish comeback. All I need know is an iPod app for collecting football stickers and the digital reincarnation of my childhood will be just about complete.

Verdict: 8.5 out of 10 – Let the good times roll with this fantastic revival of the classic game of marbles.