Games

Hard and fast are different things. Almost every game confuses them, and these do not.

The best party game on a phone is the one nobody has to read the rules of.

Half the apps called Solitaire are a currency system with a card game printed on top.

A fighting game on a touchscreen is a different genre wearing the same name, and some of them are excellent at it.

The appeal is not winning. It is reversing a trailer into a loading bay at the second attempt.

The store size is the beginning. Several of these download as much again the first time you open them.

A good game for a four year old is one where every tap does something and no tap costs anything.

The question is not whether the game is good. It is whether the game wants fifty hours or wants you back every day forever.

Aeroplane mode and a turn-based game will outlast any setting inside the game itself.

A game designed for a thumb beats a great game wearing a virtual D-pad.

A great shooter with bad touch controls is a worse game than an ordinary one designed for thumbs.

The genre is excellent and the monetisation is where it gets decided. Check for timers before you invest a week.

The good ones are a puzzle you solve before the wave arrives. The bad ones are a timer with towers drawn on it.

A brilliant multiplayer game with an empty queue is a worse game than a mediocre one with a full lobby.

A good mystery makes you write something down. A bad one just makes you tap the glowing thing.

The good ones are a puzzle about efficiency. The bad ones are a slot machine with a progress bar.

Each run starts with a weak deck and ends with a clever one, or with a defeat that taught you something.

A phone is a surprisingly good horror device. The screen is close to your face, the sound is in your ears and nobody else can see.

Some of the notes you blamed yourself for missing were the Bluetooth headphones.

The easy ones are easy on purpose. Here is where the difficulty hides.

The difference between a building game and a waiting game is whether the timer is there for pacing or for payment.

Ten minutes buys a frame of pool or a half of football. It does not buy a season, whatever the menu suggests.

A board game night survives distance surprisingly well, as long as the game allows a move a day.

Holding a rail with one hand rules out most of the games people recommend for a commute.