10 Games Your Mum Needs To Play On Her iPad

8 years ago

May 5, 2016 at 6:45 am

My mum bloody loves her iPad. She’s that 62-year-old you see on your morning commute who fires it up the second her arse hits the train seat. Whether she’s reading a book, checking the news or stalking me on Facebook, she’s rocking that bad boy. The same goes for her iPhone, but that generally involves sending me texts at 5:45am asking how my weekend was.

Mum was never a gamer when I was growing up, despite the over-abundance of consoles in our house. However, I have began to notice that she has been getting into mobile games and will often ask me for recommendations. The Mothership may be an anomaly in many ways, but she certainly isn’t the only one in her age bracket who I’ve noticed this trend in. Quite a few of my friends have confirmed that their own parents are beginning to dabble in mobile games and I’m beginning to notice it on public transport as well.

I can’t be the only one with a parent or two who asks them for hot game tips, so I thought I would compile a list of titles that casual, parental type newbies may enjoy. In the very least it will be a good distraction next time they call about accidentally “deleting the internet” off their HTC.

Ticket to Ride

This digital version of the best selling board game is the perfect example of adaptation done right. I find that I have a lot more fun playing on my phone because there is no arduous set up, the playtime is shorter and there’s zero risk of losing one of the thousands of pieces.

My mum loves Ticket to Ride because it’s simple but addictive. All you need to do is fulfill your tickets by building tracks between cities and whoever has the most points wins. On top of that, the AI is pretty well balanced so it won’t be too tough on anyone new, at least until they’re ready for it to get brutal.

Price: $10.99 (iOS), $9.78 (Android)

Cook, Serve, Delicious!

One of the most hardcore but addictive sims I’ve ever played, Cook, Serve, Delicious! combines speed with having a nose for business. Menu upgrades, challenges and daily specials are all part of the strategy so you can grow your shitty 0 star diner into a world class restaurant. It’s also important that you are super fast at tapping your screen in the correct sequence to get those perfect orders out to your customers.

I would not recommend playing this on public transport lest you get sucked into the lunchtime customer rush so hard that you miss your station. Yes, that really did happen. It’s also worth keeping an eye out for the sequel which is due out later this year.

Price: $7.99 (iOS), $4.44 (Android)

twofold inc.

Beautiful, unique and simplistic, twofold inc. is ideal for parents who loves puzzles. Combine colours in order to fulfill the orders that the cute alien gives you – that’s it. It’s quite similar to 2048, but prettier!

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of gameplay, planning your moves is important, particularly when the alien gets demanding and colours become scarce. twofold inc. is great to play casually on the go as it can be over quite quickly.

Price: $5.99 (iOS), $4.99 (Android)

Agar.io

Possibly one of the simplest massively multiplayer games to exist, Agar.io has recently shot to mainstream success due to being featured in the latest season of House of Cards.

Set in a petri dish, players assume the form of a cell who is trying to grow as large as possible. You do this by consuming smaller cells/players whilst trying to avoid bigger ones who often have hilarious names. It’s perfect for the morning commute or just unwinding on the couch.