Submitted 2 weeks ago by PlzGibHugs@piefed.ca to [deleted]
Looking for games for my friend. She’s mostly looking for a casual timewaster for a bit of enjoyable escapism. She historically liked some of the “merge games” where it’s about merging icons on a grid, and a couple of the more traditional idle games but its so hard to find any without summy practices like dark patterns and abusive monitization.
So, what are some good casual mobile games? Ideally, the sort of thing your grandma could enjoy, but without the scummy practices that are widespread.
f droid has some free time waster games
I like Breakout 71, it’s deceptively simple but gets addicting f-droid.org/packages/me.lecaro.breakout
I just got this, it’s amazing
I’ve found Ricochlime to be a fun one
Pirate Solitaire is very casual too
Walkscape is a fun mobile analog to runescape where xp in a dozen skills is gained by real-world steps.
It’s still being built and expanded but its alpha stage is very playable and besides the skills has quests, challenges, items, apparel, pets and a lot of fun stuff going for it, all while being a casual, healthy game.
Looks like signups are open now.
Have they added support for any watches yet? I have had my eye in this for ages as I’d love to try it but haven’t checked in a while!
There’s a good collection called Offline Games that has a lot of decent mini games inside it.
Good choice - I was going to suggest Simon Tatham's Puzzle Collection.
Yes. Always Simon Tatham’s Puzzle Collection.
It’s freaking fantastic. Anyone sleeping on it needs to check it out.
It runs on just about anything, too, including some eReaders.
There’s so many free open source games that fit your need.
Check out this search on F-Droid: search.f-droid.org/?q=game
Unfortunately, I’m looking for more “pure” casual games, rather than ones that are primarily puzzle or arcade games. Something more akin to Cookie Clicker or Bejeweled’s zen mode rather than Tetris or Brickbreaker. F-Droid doesn’t seem to really have much like that.
There’s less, but still some great ones.
Since you asked for non-predatory games, I still recommend spending some time searching F-Droid. It’s the only place I find most non-predatory games.
On f-droid, I would try out:
And on Google Play or Aurora, check out (paid, but nice if they haven’t enshitified yet):
Anuto tower defence?
Unciv is a pretty cool game! It’s basically FOSS civ 5 that can be played on mobile. Huge timewaster haha
Zen Koi - You are a koi (fish). You eat, grow, breed, ascend to your final dragon form. Collect different combinations of fish colors and patterns. Very chill, soothing music.
Egg Inc is pretty great
Seconding Balatro. I don’t think a mobile game can get better than this
I’m really enjoying 2048. I set the board to 7x7 and have been playing the same game for weeks. Current largest block is at 131072.
Android: Merge Sweets, Cooking Adventure, Eatventure, Burger Shop (1 and 2), Hidden Through Time, Screw Jam Puzzle
I have been able to play all of these without watching ads or spending money.
Bee Sort By Sam may scratch that merge game itch
games-by-sam.com/bee-sort-by-sam/
The same creator has a fun daily deduction game as well.
I used to play the web version of Bee Sort. Unfortunately, I got stuck on level 371 and the web version doesn't have the option to skip a level. Does the app version have that option?
I play on web too, so I couldn’t say. I am on level 509, and my chief complaint is actually that the difficulty does not seem to scale up beyond level 100 or so. I wonder if they’ve adjusted things since you got stuck?
I’ve been mildly addicted to Threes for nearly 13 years now. It’s my go-to when having to wait for anything, which is especially handy when you’re as impatient as I am (getting old). Also keeps me from doom scrolling. Just best score chasing, run based, number matching goodness.
10,000,000 or You Must Build a Boat
When I played it, Hill Climb Racing is pretty decent.
That game got me through school. Great game, but last time I played it, was more than a decade ago.
Yeah, honestly, I can see why. The big issue is that there are two other games in the series, and they’re likely monetized like onion soup on a cake.
It’s been many years since I used my phone for games, but I do remember suuuuper liking kairosoft games! They were very cute, straightforward, and progression felt fun. They also didn’t have any micro transactions. They’re kind of simulation type games, but they are also very approachable for new players!
I like Meow Tower. It’s a nonogram puzzle game which was new to me, you get the hang of it pretty quick and it’s nice to have something other than a merge puzzle. Plus cute cats!
Not exactly on topic, but depending on the phone hardware, GameNative may allow to run PC games. I think, it’s worth mentioning because hardware becomes more performant, and emulation support improves over time, and I didn’t expect to be able to play something from Steam on my phone, and yet recently I started doing just that (in my case it’s Slay the Princess, the game is great, but doesn’t fit the bill of what you’re looking for)
Infinite Minesweeper.
Clues by Sam. It runs on a website, do no installation necessary. Perfect for a quick round on the commute.
Another one that I found fun to start with and it grows with your skill is shattered pixel dungeon
Atomos is a simple game about combining atoms to make higher value atoms, a bit like 2048 but in a circle. Very easy to pick up and put down, have kept it on my phone for years and years.
bejewled 2 is good, it’s old but may still run if it’s an android
Considering valves translation layer for arm we might be able to play all games on phones. Main issue would be controls, but I guess emulators exist.
Umamusume
/s
Kards. It’s a WW2 card game that’s super easy to play and fun.
I quite liked Necromerger. It has a very fun monster aesthetic, the little guy talks like invader zim, and I honestly wasn’t put off by the minorization. Had about 100 hours and no reason to delete it after 8 months, so I bought the premium version, 9 bucks, 1 time purchase, just gives you more energy or something.
I ultimately ended up out doing myself, got to a point where I got my satisfaction and still had energy left so I ended up playing longer than I wanted. Can’t say I’ve ever complained about getting more game per game, but it was hard to put down when whatever I was waiting for showed up.
Grindstone (iOS, Switch, Steam)
Simon Tantham’s puzzles
Löve Solitaire
Hole Down
Gridland is less casual, but I enjoy it. Turn off the music at first opportunity tho.
Vector Pinball
Kyle_The_G@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
balatro and ballxpit. Both very fun time-wasters.
janus2@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I second Balatro. Best $10 I ever spent
pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Yes! Balatro!
In that vein, does anyone know if Monster Train 1 or 2 has been ported to mobile?
v4ld1z@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Monster Train 1 has been for sure. Works pretty well and switching between the levels of the train is fine too. Some text can be a little small depending on your phone screen size