With a phone in hand, it’s always the perfect time for gaming. Whether you are waiting for a giant console game to finish downloading or are sitting on your throne dealing with life stuff, you can make plenty of progress in mobile games in a short period of time. From legacy games like Clash Royale and Tap Titans 2 to lesser-known releases like Bonza and Spire Blast, the Game Informer staff has some picks that may interest you. This isn’t a roundup of the best mobile games to date, but is instead a quick listing of what some of the editors are currently playing.
We’d love to hear your recommendations as well. Leave them in the comments section below!
Andrew Reiner
I play Clash Royale, Pokémon Go, and Jurassic World Alive every day. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I am hooked on all three games, and put in at least five minutes into each one (sometimes getting hooked to the point that time flies and I have to stop playing because my battery is almost dead). I love what all three games bring to the table. Clash Royale is one of my favorite competitive games of all time, and I don’t need to go into the exploratory hooks Pokémon Go delivers. It’s a phenomenal experience. Jurassic World Alive is the one game that I could probably jettison from the rotation as it scratches the same itch as Pokémon Go, but I love my clan, enjoy the battles, and just dig the hell out of the dinosaur designs. The hybrids are super cool.
Brian Shea
Ever since it launched in 2018, I’ve been hooked on Marvel Strike Force. I love not only building the perfect teams comprised of my favorite Marvel superheroes and villains, but the turn-based combat is really solid (even if I put it on auto-play for a lot of the more menial tasks). The game absolutely has its problems – content bloat, low-quality screen time, way too many in-game currencies – but when I’m able to level up my characters to complete the task I’ve been trying to accomplish, it’s supremely rewarding.
Alex Stadnik
The hype that surrounded Pokémon Go back when it released in 2016 has died down significantly, yet here I am still filling out my Pokédex almost five years later. The creature collector from Niantic has served as a godsend during the days of the pandemic, as it’s been an avenue for me to stop doomscrolling through social media and proved to be a great distraction when I’m feeling burnt out from the rest of the world.
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Alex Van Aken
Bonza is an elevated approach to crossword puzzles, and you can play the game on your phone. Each level gives you a clue and a few strings of garbled letters that you have to reassemble to complete the correct words. I’ve been playing Bonza for years on my iPhone, and I highly recommend checking it out!
Jeff Cork
I am a little ashamed to admit that I am still playing Tap Titans 2. It is a time and money sink of the highest order, seemingly designed to siphon cash off whales and annoy everyone who touches it. And yet, I still keep coming back to it. Maybe it’s because I like griping about it with my clanmates while we continue playing. If you are happiest when you’re miserable, boy do I have a game recommendation for you…
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Liana Ruppert
The games I’m playing are Among Us, Alto’s Odyssey, and Ridiculous Fishing. I really like Among Us because it is crossplay with other versions, so I can still play but it’s not demanding enough where the controls are unbearable. I really like Ridiculous Fishing too because every game should offer fishing; it’s relaxing, it’s an easy time dump, and it’s heckin’ cool. Alto’s Odyssey is wonderful so far, but I’m still really early on in this game and don’t have a firm grasp on the whole story yet.
Ben Reeves
I’ve been playing Konami’s PixelPuzzle Collection, which just helps fix my Picross addiction. I love this little math-based picture puzzles and they are a great way to kill a few minutes — or a few hours if you’re not careful.
Marcus Stewart
“Threes! Mobile games come and go for me, but Threes remains the perfect phone game and I still love topping my high scores.”
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Matt Miller
Spire Blast, on Apple Arcade, is about as light and fluffy as they come, challenging players to fling color-matched balls at a rickety tower of blocks, with the aim of bringing the whole thing tumbling down. It’s simple, colorful, and gradually adds just enough complexity to be engaging. And like when you were three, it turns out it’s still a ton of fun to knock over carefully stacked blocks and make a huge mess.
Dan Tack
Hearthstone: I play a ton of Battlegrounds, which is the best auto-chess variant out there, and is always adding new quirks and units to learn,. I’m also playing Legends of Runeterra, which is a fun way to interact with the League of Legends cast in a polished card game with a ton of modes. I especially enjoy the Limited “Expedition” format.
