We seniors may not be as mobile as we used to be, but there is always time for fun and games, especially mobile games that are literally at our fingertips!
Mobile games are a great way to pass time when waiting for a bus, clinic appointment, tardy friends or just chilling at home.
Studies have also shown that digital games are actually good for seniors as playing keeps the brain active and sharp, boosts memory and focus, nurtures creativity and imagination, as well as improves mood and well-being. This is regardless of whether you play solo or with a group.
Puzzle games, for instance, are said to stimulate minds and improve cognitive function. A University of York study found that adults aged 60 and over who play digital puzzle games have a greater ability to ignore irrelevant distractions and have the same memory abilities as people in their 20s.
Meanwhile, a study by University of California, Irvine discovered that online brain game exercises can enable people in their 70s and even 80s to multitask cognitively as ably as individuals 50 years younger.
Of course, too much gaming can become addictive and also result in blurred vision, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep disturbances and heart palpitations.
“Everything in moderation” as the saying goes and as long as you are not at it 24/7, playing mobile games is not only fun, it helps keep your brain sharp and fingers nimble.
Here are some free mobile games for the different mobile game players.
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Mobile games for seniors
1. If You like word games
Word games improve memory and vocabulary skills.
- Dordle/Quordle/Octordle
Wordle:whereby you have to solve a 5-letter word in six steps, aided by coloured tiles indicating correct letters or placement — took the world by storm in 2021.
For tougher challenges, check out Dordle (2 x Wordle boards), Quordle (9 chances to solve four words) and Octordle (13 chances to solve 8 words), all of which are guaranteed to give your brain a good workout!
- Wordscapes
You form words from random letters to fill a crossword puzzle in this visually appealing word puzzle game.
Words are no longer than seven letters and there are boosters to get hints if your mind draws a blank. There are also minigames aplenty to attain boosters, coins or stylised images for your profile.
2. If You like numbers
Numbers games train logic and concentration capabilities, and also keep your numerical skills sharp.
- Nonogram-Jigsaw Puzzle Game
Nonograms are logic puzzles whereby you reveal hidden pictures by filling in grid cells using numerical clues provided along each row and column.
Highly addictive with grids ranging from 5×5 to 30×30, this vibrantly-designed game is great as you can backtrack, reset or get hints when you get stuck. There are intriguing jigsaw puzzles to solve too.
- Disney Solitaire
Beautifully illustrated, Disney Solitaire is similar to Tripeaks Solitaire whereby you
clear all cards laid out — some open cards on covered “peaks” — by choosing an open card ranked one higher or lower (regardless of suit) to the open card on your Waste pile.
Rewards entitle you to unlock enchanting scenes from Disney classics such as Beauty & The Beast, The Lion King and Frozen.
3. Games to improve memory
Card/tile matching games — or Match-3 games such as Candy Crush Saga — help enhance visual processing skills and pattern recognition.
- Vita Mahjong
This “designed for seniors” tile-matching game has large tiles and user-friendly interface for mobiles and tablets. All you have to do is clear all the mahjong tiles on the board by matching tiles with identical images.
Good for developing hand-eye coordination and pattern recognition as you play to the therapeutic sounds of clicking mahjong tiles.
- Royal Match!
In this brilliantly animated Match-3 game, you win levels to help jolly King Robert decorate and refurbish his castle, including the challenging “King’s Nightmare” levels where you have to rescue His Majesty from perilous situations.
You get to execute other gameplay skills too as minigames include a pinball challenge, an obstacle-shooting course and a Mastermind-styled puzzle.
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4. If You like strategy
Mind-challenging games that requires strategy help in critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Can You Escape the 50/100 Room Series
Escape rooms (or doors) are point-and-click games whereby you escape a locked room by finding clues or solving puzzles within the room.
Richly depicted, albeit with moody ambience and creepy music, some levels can be frustrating when clues are seemingly impossible to find.
Tip? Go to YouTube and you would probably find a walkthrough for the game level you are stuck in.
- Adventure Escape Mysteries
An absolute brain teaser, this comprises a variety of story-based escape games covering murder mystery, adventure and horror.
You advance from chapter to chapter of each well-crafted story series — be it treasure hunters, paranormal figures or the popular Detective Kate — by solving puzzles or finding objects/clues in the comic book-styled scenarios.
Puzzles range from easy to downright impossible. Again, YouTube is your friend if you are stuck.
5. If you Love city planning
City-building games engages creativity, management skills and tactical know-how.
- SimCity BuildIt
SimCity is one of the best city-building games and its BuildIt series boasts gorgeous visuals and enhanced gameplay.
As Mayor, you are to build a booming and prosperous city by building infrastructure such as houses, shops and roads to meet the needs of a growing population.
Tackle real-world issues such as crime, traffic and pollution, while ensuring the city finances are in tip-top shape.
- City Island 6
As its name suggests, you build cities on islands with different terrains – namely grass, beach, water, snow, rock and mud.
Aesthetically pleasing, you can either build buildings size by size, or purposefully design a city with proper pathways, gardens and decorations.
Good money management is needed when expanding your island domain, as well as in minigames where you can win ultra rare buildings.
6. If you fancy yourself a business tycoon
Business simulation games sharpen your entrepreneurial skills and financial management (although most are designed to be much easier than IRL(in real life)!)
- Hello! My Cozy Inn
Designed with charming animation depicting an ancient Chinese village, you play the sassy innkeeper who provides accommodation, dining, teahouse and rooftop sauna for visitors and locals alike.
Create delicious Chinese dishes, set up an antique showroom and offer a bodyguard escort service to gather profits and tokens.
There are also brain-teasing Merging, Card-Matching and Fishing minigames in this laidback countryside game.
- Idle Cinema Empire
In the “Idle Tycoon” series, you build and manage a business or empire and earn income even when not actively playing. Businesses include cafes, hotels, theme parks and ski resorts.
If you love movies, Idle Cinema Empire lets you manage a cinema complex, purchase films to screen, and establish food and entertainment outlets, till you can grow a cinema chain.
7. If You Feel The Need For Speed
Not Top Gun-styled games but those that nonetheless require fast hand-eye coordination and strategic thinking.
- Subway Surfers
With vividly-hued animation, this endless runner game is literally breathtaking.
You play as young Jake who surfs the subways dodging trains, trams and obstacles, whilst collecting coins and power-ups on the way.
The action is relentless, so if your heart is beating too fast, just brake and let the grumpy station master and his dog grab you back to the starting line!
- Cooking Madness
In this time-management cooking game, you are the star chef who gets to cook mouth-watering dishes from over 30 countries.
It starts off easy-peasy and then gets very challenging when you have to cook multiple dishes, each with many ingredients, in the higher levels.
You will need to strategically use coins, boosters and gems — as well as top-speed hand-eye-coordination — to complete some really tough levels.
8. If You Like To “Catch-Them-All”
Augmented reality (AR) mobile games encourage you to go out and play. But do play safely: last April, a 72-year woman was robbed while playing Pokemon GO at 1am in Toa Payoh!
- Pikmin Bloom
This game is a step tracker steeped with cuteness. You grow seedlings to produce uber-cute Pikmin (half-plant, half-animal) who will follow your avatar, collect fruit, eat nectar, and grow flowers wherever you walk on the virtual map.
To collect all 3,000 Pikmin, lots of walking is required as most seeds require 1,000 or 10,000 steps to grow.
- Jurassic World Alive
Are you a dinophile? Then hunt virtual dinosaurs in the real world via your device’s GPS and harvest DNA from them to clone a collection of prehistoric beasts.
There are over 400 dinosaurs to collect with plentiful ways to get rewards to grow your brood. You can also have your fiercest dinosaurs fight each other in Battle Mode.
9. Games for chilling
Calming and stress-relieving, such games there are.
- Tsuki’s Odyssey
This is a charming pensive adventure game where you follow Tsuki, a bunny who lives a quiet life in Mushroom Village. You decorate his treehouse using carrot currency to buy new furniture and sell old ones at the General Store.
Tsuki goes about doing his own thing. He loves fishing, taking selfies with friends, and just lounging around. He lives the life many of us wish we had.
- Happy Color
This is simply a Paint-by-Numbers game. Soothing and therapeutic, there are over 30,000 images to colour, from scenery to wildlife to still life. There is also a Disney section as well as a mystery-based series.
If you feel the image is too small to view on a phone, simply zoom in or play on a tablet.
10. If you just want One game app
- NYT Games: Word, Number, Logic
This app alone has nine brain games including the famed New York Times (NYT) Crossword, Spelling Bee (make as many words with 7 letters), Strands (find hidden words for the day’s theme), Wordle (which NYT acquired in 2022) and logic-based numbers game Sudoku.
Just create an account to play for free or get a subscription for unlimited access.
