Everyone loves a captivating game that takes a ton of focus, draws them in, and makes the whole world disappear. But what about playing games passively while listening to an audiobook, waiting for a doctor’s appointment, or standing in line at an amusement park?
Instead of remembering to bring a fidget toy, they can pull out their phone and play simple, mindless mobile games to keep both their hands and minds occupied. From Jetpack Joyride to Egg, Inc., the best mindless mobile games keep players engaged enough to pass the time but not so much that they don’t hear their name called while waiting to pick up their medication at the pharmacy.
1. Unblock Me
Unlock an endless world of wooden logic puzzles on the screen with Unblock Me. It takes just enough brainpower to keep players hooked while leaving their minds open to multitasking. The mechanics flow smoothly when players shift wooden blocks into different positions to free the red block from the puzzle.
The game’s difficulty slowly increases as the player gets better and better at solving each puzzle.
2. Candy Crush Saga
As the classic mindless game, Candy Crush remains a fan favorite. This simple tile-matching game asks players to match three or more candies on the game board to eliminate them and free up space. Each level has a new goal, like dropping an item to the bottom of the grid or earning a specific number of points by the end of the round.
The game starts slowly to teach players the mechanics and strategy, but soon enough, Candy Crush becomes more challenging, making each win a huge success.
3. BBTAN: Break Brick
This satisfying brick-break puzzle game asks its player to destroy numbered blocks before they reach the ground and end the game. Players break as many blocks as possible in endless mode to achieve a new high score.
With its recent updates, players can now access the challenge mode, which provides levels for the player to beat to earn rewards. Flinging the balls into the air and destroying the blocks takes some strategy but soon becomes hugely satisfying, especially when the player manages to break all the blocks simultaneously to earn extra stars.
4. 1010! Block Puzzle Game
1010! gives its players an empty, gridded board to fill with blocks in various shapes. When they fill an entire grid line with block sections, the line gets cleared with a streamlined woosh, leaving more space to place more blocks. New blocks appear at the bottom of the screen.
The game ends if the player can no longer fit a piece into their grid. It’s simple and addicting, but the best part? Gameplay never gets interrupted by ads. Players only see ads once they lose the game, giving them more incentive to win.
5. Jetpack Joyride
Since the release of Temple Run in 2011, endless runner action games have become a mobile gaming favorite. Jetpack Joyride, released just one month after Temple Run, quickly became one of the best side-scrolling endless runner games because of its simple yet captivating nature.
Gamers play as a cute little guy wearing a jetpack who must escape an infected lab by flying through the halls, avoiding obstacles like lasers, and collecting coins and other valuable objects. Each level grants the player a new object to keep things interesting, but each round uses the same basic mechanics that make kids and adults alike keep coming back for more.
6. Smash Hit
Searching for a mind-numbing shooter game that doesn’t involve murder or blood? Check out Smash Hit, a first-person shooter game where users must smash enough cones to earn more balls.
Players must also use their balls to destroy obstacles in their path. The game ends once they lose all their balls, and they earn a score based on the distance traveled. Players love trying to one-up their last high score in this fast-paced yet calming mobile game.
7. Threes
As a puzzle game involving combining numbers to create the largest value possible, Threes doesn’t require its players to know more math skills than the most straightforward addition. Players combine number cards on the playing board by swiping them together against a wall. Only ones and twos combine with one another, while numbers three and up only combine with the same number.
While it takes some time to develop a clear strategy, Threes remains mindless enough that players stay connected to the world outside their phones.
8. Ball Sort Puzzle Game
For some people, there’s nothing more rewarding than sorting things into various categories. That’s precisely why some gamers love Ball Sort Puzzle. The game presents its players with several tubes filled with different colored balls. The player must pour the balls into the other tubes to fill each tube with just one color to win the level.
Ball Sort Puzzle Game by Boy Howdy Technology LLC gives the player more control over the sorting process than similar water sorting games because they can move each ball freely, while in others, identical colors mix as a liquid and can’t be split apart again once combined. Plus, it has less obtrusive ads than many of its competitors.
9. Flow Free
This transfixing puzzle game provides players with a grid containing multicolored dots. The player must connect the two dots of the same color with a line while, at the same time, allowing every pair of dots to connect without the lines crossing one another.
Players find pleasure in dragging one’s fingers across the screen to connect the last two dots. However, Flow Free also helps players focus on other activities like watching TV or listening to a podcast.
10. 2048
As sliding tile puzzle games go, 2048 creates the perfect balance of challenging and simple. Players slide tiles around on their game board to combine like numbers to reach the number 2,048. If the board fills with tiles before they reach their goal, it’s game over.
Not only does sliding tiles together feel incredibly satisfying, but the process also takes some strategy and a sharp wit.
11. Two Dots
With eye-catching animation and simple yet gratifying mechanics, Two Dots earns a spot on many gamers’ lists of best mindless mobile games. Before starting a new level, players navigate to the adorable home screen to select the next one.
The game provides objectives like connecting a certain number of colored dots within a specific number of moves to allow the player to move forward. The game is simple: the player connects rows of like-color dots, which clears the dots to make room for more.
12. Hexio
This minimalist puzzle game both engages and relaxes the mind with its 96 free levels. Players must think outside the box to connect dots a certain number of times, with the connecting lines avoiding obstacles and wrapping around anchor points.
It’s the perfect casual game to play while waiting in line or on hold. It takes just enough brain power to keep the player focused, but it’s simple enough to keep one’s senses alert.
13. Automatoys
Bright animation, complex, mechanized puzzles, and balls with adorable smiley faces make Autamatoys a stand-out mobile game. Players send their cute little ball friends on a journey through an obstacle course that almost resembles those bouncy house mazes at county fairs.
When moving each mechanism, they must get the timing right, or the ball might plummet back to the starting point. Just as visually pleasing as it is fun to play, Automatoys keeps players hooked from start to finish.
14. I Love Hue
This gentle, relaxing game doesn’t demand its users’ entire attention and instead draws them in with its calming color palette and satisfying end results. When players open the app, they see a game board covered in different colored squares. The user must place blocks in different positions to match the hue of the blocks nearby, ultimately creating a relaxing gradient color image.
I Love Hue congratulates players by completing a letter with a lovely white heart before letting them move on to the next puzzle.
15. Fruit Ninja
Swift, funny, and a bit juicy, Fruit Ninja earned a place in gamers’ hearts starting in 2010. It has many different modes and challenges, allowing players to switch up gameplay rules to keep things interesting. But the main gist of the game remains the same: fruit gets tossed into the air, and the player must swipe at it with a sharp blade to cut the fruit into pieces. If they miss a fruit, they incur penalties.
While new players may find Fruit Ninja takes a lot of focus, repetition makes the game’s actions feel like second nature over time.
16. Tetris
Initially released in 1984, Tetris has remained popular over the past few decades. Recent studies even suggest that Tetris can reduce symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It’s a puzzle game with falling blocks that asks players to place them in specific positions to create as many horizontal lines as possible to clear a row. If the blocks pile up too high, the game ends.
For many years, players found Tetris to be the perfect waiting room game and it still sustains that title to this day.
17. Solitaire
This classic solo card game helps players pass the time on long flights or during boring Zoom meetings at work. While it may take some time for first-time players to learn the ropes, it won’t be long before these players start timing themselves and trying to set new records.
With hundreds of different Solitaire apps, anyone can find the one that’s right for them. Fan favorites include Microsoft Solitaire and Solitaire Master.
18. Egg, Inc.
Futuristic, industrial, and full of clucking hens, this idle clicker game brings users into a strange alternate reality where chicken eggs reveal the universe’s secrets. The farmer’s primary goal is to make as much money as possible from their egg farm, which begins as a small coop and slowly transforms into an industrial operation.
Players release chickens, sell eggs, and upgrade eggs to find rare, expensive eggs to add value to their farm.
19. Where’s My Water? 2
Based on actual physics, the mechanics in Where’s My Water? 2 stay intuitive and challenging through every level. The player must guide an adorable, chubby alligator named Swampy through waterways as he rushes home to bathe. But a sinister gator named Cranky continues to thwart his plans, obstructing the flow of water and keeping Swampy dirty and unhappy.
The player must dig trenches in the sand to guide their scaly friend. Where’s My Water? 2 contains adorable animation and compelling gameplay to keep players engaged.
20. My Sushi Story
Travel to a cute Japanese restaurant to serve memorable customers delectable sushi and other Japanese specialties in this restaurant simulation mobile game. Players step in as the boss of the sushi restaurant and not only cook the food but also purchase supplies, serve customers, and train the waitstaff.
Most of the fun in My Sushi Story comes from the players’ freedom. Users can decorate the restaurant however they like, choose different management styles, and befriend their favorite customers. It’s easy to tap away at orders and interactions while watching a movie or to destress after a long day at work.
21. Parking Jam 3D
No one likes a packed parking lot, which may be why Parking Jam 3D draws so many players into its puzzles. The player must remove cars from a busy parking lot until the entire lot empties. The player must rearrange the vehicles to squeeze through tight gaps and obstacles like little old ladies crossing the road to make it out onto the main road.
The first few levels feel sickeningly easy, but once the player gets to levels with more than ten cars, the puzzles become captivating while remaining mindless.
22. Cats & Soup – Cute Cat Game
Create a wholesome village of the cutest cat chefs on Earth in this idle clicker game. Many Cats & Soup fans download the game simply because its art pleases the eye. But people stick around because they get drawn into the world and become attached to their growing collection of kitties.
Players collect new cats and place them in the woods, where they all work together to make soup. Much of the fun comes from dressing the cats in silly outfits and decorating their slice of the forest with new booths and attractions to draw in more cats.
23. Cut the Rope
Equally compelling and charming, Cut the Rope requires players to feed a little blobby reptilian monster named Om Nom candies that dangle from ropes above. The player must cut the rope at the right angle to launch it towards Om Nom’s waiting maw.
But they must watch out for obstacles that destroy the candy by utilizing mechanics based on physics, like bubbles and air cushions. The player can only move onto the next level once they’ve collected enough stars and Om Nom gets his treat.
24. Stack
Simple and effective, Stack asks its players to do one thing: press the screen to add a falling block to a stack. The player must try their best to get their timing right to make the block land on the stack with no edges hanging over the side.
If the edge peeks out even slightly, the shard gets cut off, and the landing platform for the next tile gets smaller. Players try to build their stack as tall as possible in this straightforward yet surprisingly challenging mobile game.
25. Clusterduck
The player does nothing but click on eggs to make them hatch and achieve their primary objective in Clusterduck. This wacky game operates by asking its player to hatch as many ducks as possible to create genetic mutations in their original duck. Eventually, when enough eggs hatch, the player will have a massive flock of strange-looking birds.
It’s silly and charming, providing great delight for little effort. Just don’t get too attached to the ducks, because many of them will be sacrificed to the monster in the hole.