I absolutely love games. Board games, that is. But no one seems to be asking for a top 5 board games list. No, they want the best mobile game apps. However, even with the cajoling of girlfriends and family, I’ve been slow to engage in the gaming phenomenon.
It’s not that we’re luddites here—heck, my kids literally think Connect Four is a game only to be played during snow storm power outages. It’s just that I like to be able to look my opponents—primarily my brothers-in-law—in the face and tell them to bring it on before I crush them. So if anyone knows of an app where I can do that, let me know. In the meantime, here are the five game apps that finally got me hooked:
Scrabble
Of all the board games that have been turned into mobile apps, this is the most successful adaptation. Now I know there are a lot of Words With Friends devotees who will squabble with my Scrabble pick over their beloved game. But I played the two games simultaneously with random partners to test out the difference. First of all, you can play Scrabble on any phone while WWF is only for iPhone users, so it limits your opponents. Second and most important, Scrabble has the original point system and rules, while Words With Friends has altered the game slightly to keep it legal. Since, I am at heart a traditionalist, I will stick with playing the old-fashioned game on my new-fangled smartphone. Besides, I only had 30 minutes before my son woke up—and I have no interest in playing a game over a two week period—so I had to resign and Grandma won.
Read Related: Moms are the New Hardcore Gamers
Fruit Ninja
If only cooking dinner every night was this much fun. There is something so gratifying about slicing citrus with a samarai sword. The sound effects alone make you feel like you could conquer any ninja master or celebrity sous chef. And you don’t have to clean up the mess.
Plants vs Zombies
If you have a garden or any living foliage in your home, you know it can be a real battle. So it’s very satisfying defending my perfectly manicured cyber lawn against a pack of zombies with shooting plants and a few well positioned sunflowers and walnuts. And there are cherry bombs you can use when all else fails. Oh, how I wish I could use those this weekend on the weeds taking over my garden. But I don’t think that’s sanctioned by the HOA, or the EPA for that matter.
Air Hockey
Do you remember when you were single and dating and somewhere between the second and fourth date, he took you to a sports bar and you played darts or pool or air hockey? Well, I never took to the darts nor most dart-playing guys, but the air hockey stuck. And now I can play it every day—without ever having to answer where I’m from, what I do, or where I went to school.
Cut the Rope
All of these games are for me, just me. I know there’s this whole pass-back effect happening with parents handing their phones to their kids, but the last time my child touched my phone, it ended up in the pool. So I’m not interested in sharing these with my kids. Though this one has the cutest monster, Om Nom, and you have to help him get candy and what kid couldn’t connect with that? But alas, they will have to wait until a computer version comes out ‘cuz they are not touching my phone.
Let me know what’s got you hooked.
And before I get a slew of complaints on the omission of Angry Birds, check out this Game in: Mamis are the New Hardcore Gamers article.
(And for my fellow board game fans, I am going to do a top 5 list around the holidays, and it’s going to be so awesome they will have to publish it, so send me those favorites as well.)
