# Which are the essential Apple mobile device games? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 30, 2015, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-are-the-essential-apple-mobile-device-games/726562 "2015-07-30T05:48:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-are-the-essential-apple-mobile-device-games/726562/1 "2015-07-30T05:48:21Z")
I’m going to get an IPad Air2. Yeah, I know. Pretty wild, huh? Me, who took a year to get a flippin’ pendrive, about to drop six hundred on a skinny little gizmo. It’s been a long time coming, spurred on mostly be the stories I’ve heard about how rich mobile gaming has become (and by how hard it is to find _anything_ fun for the PS3 or XBox 360, but that’s another thread). I’ve never owned a mobile device before, and I’ve been a part, active or otherwise, of the great big Apple community, so this is completely fresh ground for me. So please, educate me. What’s cool? What’s big? What’s addictive? What’s Apple’s equivalent of Super Mario Bros. or Double Dragon or Street Fighter or Dance Dance Revolution? (Oh, and I’m not into money pits, so no Candy Crush or anything.) Here’s what I remember seeing in the store: Mr. Crab: One button continuous-movement platformer a la Cannabalt. Bright, colorful, humorous, the kind of thing I can whip out and spend 5 minutes on when I need a diversion. Jetpack Hero?: 2D race-'n-collect game. I’ve seen something like it on Kongregate. Lots of powerups; should keep me busy for a while. This 2D golf thing: Tricky Temple Run (and its ilk): Tilt the device ever so slightly to stay on track! Could be a bit too fast-paced for my blood. Some Spider-Man continuous runner ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-are-the-essential-apple-mobile-device-games/726562/2 "2015-07-30T07:29:27Z")
I’m not massively into gaming, but I am addicted to Candy Crush on my iPad mini. I know you specifically excluded it, but if you’re tightfisted like me, it doesn’t take a lot of discipline to not spend any money. I’m nearly up to level 700 and have never spent anything. It’s handy because you can play for just a few minutes and it doesn’t require a lot of concentration. If you like racing games, I also enjoy Real Racing 3. Again, it tries to get you to spend money, but there’s no need to. Nice graphics and a realistic racing experience. ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-are-the-essential-apple-mobile-device-games/726562/3 "2015-07-30T14:07:09Z")
My iPod touch will no longer play most new games, but here’s a few I’ve enjoyed over the years: **Swordigo** is a very cool retro style platformer. It’s a pay game (not IAP, just a couple bucks up front), but seems to be on sale or even free quite frequently. **Traps and Gemstones** is another platformer that was a lot of fun. for ‘casual’ puzzle time wasters, **Harbor Master** and **ElectroTrains** and **Flow (Free)** are great. Flow has paid and free versions, but the free one should keep you busy for a long time. Also, if you decide to start playing **The Simpsons** , there is a very large and active Straight Dope group on that game. Yes, you can spend money on it, but I’m level 52 and still getting tons of enjoyment out of the free game. **Gun Bros** is a dual stick shooter that I found very enjoyable, but had to stop playing because it went all crashy on me. A newer pod/pad _should_ be more stable. I never spent a penny on it, but they do have pay weapons for outrageous prices (worked out once that the best weapon in the game would cost almost 300 dollars!). With that caveat, it was pretty addictive and enjoyable for a while. I’ll go through my purchase history later and give you some more recommendations, but that should get you started. ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2015, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-are-the-essential-apple-mobile-device-games/726562/4 "2015-07-30T16:22:38Z")
Well, the apple Super Mario would have to be either Angry Birds or Candy Crush, right? No idea what version of Angry Birds they’re up to these days. I think the Where’s My Water? games were also very popular for awhile and legitimately good. I’ve mostly moved on to Android stuff in the last couple years, but my now creaky and old 5S is still loaded with the stuff I liked a few years ago. No idea what the cool kids are playing now, but I can definitely remember some of the highlights. On the endless runner front, **Canabalt** pretty much kicked off the genre and is still good, simple fun. **Jetpack Joyride** and **Tiny Wings** were a bit more complex and good time killers. My favorites and most common bathroom games were **Punch Quest** and **Time Surfer**. Just the right amount of complexity for short bursts. The best platformers are probably the classic Sonic the Hedgehog games, 1, 2, and CD. They’re all very well ported. I am utterly terrible with virtual control pads but somehow could play those. **10000000** was my go to puzzle game for awhile. I hear the sequel **You Must Build a Boat** is supposed to be more of the same in a good way. **Battleheart** was a really good… touch RPG? Not quite sure how to describe it, but was deservedly very popular. **Plants vs Zombies** was pretty great. The sequel was filled with freemium crap, but the original was a great, whole experience. My current commute game is **Hungry Cat Picross**. It strikes that nice balance for me of being engaging enough for my groggy mind without being so hard as to be overly frustrating or too simple to be completely perfunctory. Lots of other good stuff (and way, wayyyyyy more freemium crap), but those would be my off the cuff recommendations with wide appeal. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-are-the-essential-apple-mobile-device-games/726562/5 "2015-07-31T05:07:13Z")
> [@DKW](#): > > I’m going to get an IPad Air2. FWIW, Apple normally announces its newest iPad about mid-October, so if you can hold off a few months, you can either get an updated Air 3, or at least a discounted Air 2. There’s no guarantee it will come out that soon, of course, but it’s happened the past few years. [Flight Control](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flight-control/id306220440?mt=8)- really fun and has a pretty limitless replay value. You touch and drag randomly appearing airplanes to landing runways making sure they don’t crash into each other. [Wild West Pinball](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wild-west-pinball-machine/id310158471?mt=8) has great realistic pinball physics. [Little Galaxy Family](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/little-galaxy-family/id576764076?mt=8)- you revolve around planets, jumping from one to another making sure to time your jumps so you don’t go flying off into space. [Monument Valley](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/monument-valley/id728293409?mt=8)- buildings are puzzles to be solved. [Mini Motor Racing](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mini-motor-racing-hd/id479470272?mt=8)- a racing game that can be both addictive and repetitive at the same time. [Threes](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/threes!/id779157948?mt=8)- slide numbered tiles together to add them up into as big a number as you can. [Jet Ball Arkanoid](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/jet-ball-arkanoid/id941454677?mt=8)- just about the best Breakout clone. Better than [Anodia](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/anodia-unique-brick-breaker/id430656073?mt=8). [Tiny Wings](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiny-wings-hd/id541517597?mt=8)- already mentioned so I’ll second it. [Hangman RSS](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hangman-rss-+/id349427842?mt=8)- automatically generates hangman puzzles from current headlines. Word games like [SpellTower](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spelltower/id476500832?mt=8) and [Bonza](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonza-word-puzzle/id662053009?mt=8). Bonza has a large free selection of its puzzles, but once you get through those you have to pay for new packs. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-are-the-essential-apple-mobile-device-games/726562/6 "2015-08-22T21:05:14Z")
Would’ve been back sooner, but it took me a while to commit to the purchase (it was seven hundred, not six…I didn’t want to be left short on memory), and a bit longer to get it up and running. This thing runs completely unlike anything I have ever owned in my life; it’s been quite an experience just setting everything up. The majority of the games seem to run on the old shareware model, i.e. play a very limited or annoying game for free, and if you like it, pay for the real deal. Most of them don’t charge all that much. I used to pay a buck for one damn song on Rock band, so getting a full game out of that is a heck of a deal. Mostly, I’ve discovered that tablet gaming is one of those things were you just have to dive in with both feet and see what pops up. You can find the most quirky or weirdly enjoyable things just be searching. (Three words: Llama or Duck 😛 ) Thanks for the responses. I think I’ll just save this whole thread and look up your suggestions when I got the time. zbuzz- No, trust me, I really _am_ that desperate. There was no way in hell I was going to hold out until October. I’m not the kind of guy who always needs the latest thing, so if there is an Air3, they can have it. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2015, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-are-the-essential-apple-mobile-device-games/726562/7 "2015-08-22T23:46:33Z")
I wrote up a summary of the ones I recommend, and why, here: [Tablet games recommendations – Persistent Beta](http://kevinmatheny.com/wordpress/2015/01/14/tablet-games-recommendations/) The list: Dream Quest King of Dragon pass Ascension FTL Rebuild Plants vs. Zombies Some others worth considering: Letterpress, if you like word games and have friends Sentinels of the Multiverse is a superhero team card game, and is excellent. Star Realms is a deckbuilding game designed by former Magic Pro Tour players, with a limited card set but deep strategy and replayability Card Crawl is a simple but fun solitaire card game with a dungeon theme Puzzle Quest (not Puzzle Quest 2!) is a match-3 engine used for an RPG (PQ2 is kind of the same, with some art upgrades but more tedium, which is sad) ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-are-the-essential-apple-mobile-device-games/726562/8 "2015-08-24T06:45:58Z")
I think 99% of games on the iPad/Phone suck balls, but heres a few gems I personally like and have stayed on my devices without getting deleted: World Series of Poker And two rare games that take full advantage of the iPhones hand held capability: High Noon—you “holster” your iPhone/iPad before firing away at other old-timer Western challengers. Earn points to upgrade your character. FREE. Field and Stream Fishing----this time you pull back your device, and throw it forward to throw your orient to catch BIG fish. Very addictive, and free. My favorite use of the swipe feature is: Big Cup Cricket----such intuitive features, and fun cartoon like graphics and sound effects. Its $1.99 but Ive gotten more than my moneys worth on both devices. No swipes or gravity but Patrick Kane Hockey is a lot of fun too. Once game that seems to have disappeared is Fight Night had a great game for the iPhone, and I played it on iPhone # but it seems to have disappeared. Matador Hero is a fun bullfighting game. Finally, if your not from Australia, you cant get this game to work on your consoles, but AFL:Gold Edition and AFL:Live 2 are worthy additions if you ever wanted to try Australian Rules Football as a video game! ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2015, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-are-the-essential-apple-mobile-device-games/726562/9 "2015-08-24T06:52:22Z")
I think 99% of games on the iPad/Phone suck balls, but heres a few gems I personally like and have stayed on my devices without getting deleted: World Series of Poker And two rare games that take full advantage of the iPhones hand held capability: High Noon—you “holster” your iPhone/iPad before firing away at other old-timer Western challengers. Earn points to upgrade your character. FREE. Field and Stream Fishing----this time you pull back your device, and throw it forward to throw your orient to catch BIG fish. Very addictive, and free. My favorite use of the swipe feature is: Big Cup Cricket----such intuitive features, and fun cartoon like graphics and sound effects. Its $1.99 but Ive gotten more than my moneys worth on both devices. No swipes or gravity but Patrick Kane Hockey is a lot of fun too. Once game that seems to have disappeared is Fight Night had a great game for the iPhone, and I played it on iPhone # but it seems to have disappeared. Matador Hero is a fun bullfighting game.