Best Mobile Games: Top Picks You Need to Play Now

Mobile gaming has exploded in popularity as it's one of the easiest and most accessible ways to game. Not everyone can afford a gaming PC or console - but we all have smartphones! This gives us access to full libraries of games to download; but which are the top picks to play right now?

See our full list of the best mobile games below, including options from every genre imaginable to help you pass the time on travel commutes or have fun on the sofa at home.

247 Mahjong

Mahjong is a popular game originating in China and is played at casino tables worldwide. Different types of Mahjong are available, but Mahjong Solitaire is a widely entertaining single-player game. With 247 Mahjong, you have this game in the palm of your hand and can play for free on any mobile device!

At its core, this is a classic tile-matching puzzle game involving lots of strategic moves and critical thinking. You have a board full of tiles involving nice patterns and have to match pairs to get rid of them. The goal is to remove all tiles from the board as quickly as possible. It sounds easy - and it is a simple game to get to grips with - but you have to plan your moves in advance if you want to clear the board and beat the computer.

Wordscapes

If you love free word games, you can’t go wrong with Wordscapes. It combines elements of multiple word games into one fantastic game - and it’s available for free on both Android and iOS platforms. This is one of those games that pass the time on long journeys or is great when you’re at home and have time to kill. The best thing about it is that it’s a word-based game, so you’re technically learning and challenging your brain at the same time.

How to describe this mobile game…it’s like a crossword merged with a word search and then you throw anagram puzzles into the mix as well! Each level begins with an empty crossword grid and letters below in a circle. You have to come up with words from the letters in the circle and make them fit the crossword tiles. As you start guessing words and see them appear in the puzzle, you begin to understand what other words might go where. It requires a thinking cap but the replayability factor is off the charts.

Pokemon GO

Remember when the world went absolutely mad for Pokemon GO in 2016? People were out in the streets and parks running around trying to catch Pokemon - you even saw viral clips of hoards of people running to catch rare beasts. There’s not been a gaming experience like this since, and while Pokemon GO isn’t as universally popular as it once was, it’s still one of the best free mobile games to download right now.

If you like Pokemon, then this is a no-brainer. Those of you who’ve never played this game before will probably wonder what you do. In essence, you use your phone to catch Pokemon located in real places throughout the real world. An in-game map shows you where any nearby Pokemon are and you have to physically travel there to catch them. Here’s the cool twist; it uses AR technology through your camera to make it look like the Pokemon are actually in these locations! Catching them is a simple case of flicking a Pokeball on your phone and hoping you get lucky. You can also do raids with other people, fight other players in Pokemon battles, and hatch cute Pokemon eggs. It’s the ultimate companion app for Pokemon enthusiasts and easily the best Nintendo game to come to mobile devices.

Marvel Snap

The developers advertise Marvel Snap as a “fast-paced card battle game”. It’s free-to-play on all mobile devices and lets you collect members from the Marvel multiverse to build decks to battle other players (or the computer). If you’re a fan of deck-building or card-collecting games, this is one for you.

Playing is incredibly easy as each card has special abilities or points to match up against rival cards from another player. It’s hard to do the game justice by writing about it, but the tutorial instantly gets you involved and makes it very simple to understand. New cards and decks are added all the time and this is a game you can truly get competitive with if you want. If not, then it’s still a highly fun casual game to play in your spare time.

247 Solitaire

If Mahjong solitaire is slightly too complex for you, then maybe you’ll prefer classic solitaire instead! With 247 Solitaire, you have the classic card game in your back pocket whenever you want to play. It follows all the same rules as the solitaire game you likely played on Windows PCs during school lessons many years ago!

To give a quick recap, solitaire is all about getting four stacks of cards in each suit from Aces up to Kings. The game is laid out as follows: you have 7 columns of cards and four piles to build your decks. You have to try and get the cards from the columns to the piles, but you can only move them between columns in alternating colors of descending value. For example, you can move a 2 of Clubs underneath a 3 of the Diamonds. In many ways, the best way to win is by building four columns from Kings downwards in alternating colors and then you’ll be able to build up the four decks of cards in each suit. It sounds confusing, but you get the hang of it super fast when you start playing.

Call of Duty: Mobile

There aren’t any mobile FPS games as good as Call of Duty: Mobile at the moment. Fair play to them, they’ve cracked the code here. It’s a battle royale game involving iconic characters from the COD series with incredible gun skins and very easy-to-use game mechanics. Playing shooter games on mobile is notoriously difficult, but this one is far from it.

As with all battle royale games, your goal is to be the last person or team alive. Many fans believe the mobile version of Call of Duty far surpasses the “proper” versions these days. The fact the whole game is free and you only have to pay for cosmetic skins (and that’s optional) is incredible. You can make the game even easier to play by attaching a controller to your phone so it turns into a Nintendo Switch or mini games console. If you’re looking to download an FPS game for your smartphone or tablet, you won’t find any better than this!

Forge of Empires

Do you like strategy games that test you at every corner? Were you a fan of PC games like Sims City or Rollercoaster Tycoon growing up? Forge of Empires is similar to both in that your goal is to build a city. This involves creating roads, setting up farms, exploring tribes, and much more. What makes the game so addictively playable is that you’re building your city through the ages. It starts off very primitive, but with your help and careful strategic thinking, you’ll upgrade civilization and watch the entire city advance.

Like every game on our list of the best mobile games to download, this one is completely free to install. It won’t cost a penny if you don’t want it to - though there are options to buy things to speed up the city development process if you will. Again, you’re not obliged to spend any money, but some players like dropping a few dollars here and there to upgrade aspects of their cities. The goal is to go from a city with minor buildings and small farms to a futuristic metropolis with flying cars and epic spires dotting a huge landscape. It’s very enjoyable and you’ll love it if you’re into this style of game.

Clash of Clans

If you’ve never tried Clash of Clans, then you’re not a true mobile gamer! It’s what many consider the original mobile game that took tower defense strategy games to the next level. Your job is to build a village and raise a clan to defend it against attackers. The difference between this and a game like Forge of Empires is that your city is focused solely on defensive/offensive maneuvers.

You’re not building a village or city to function properly; you’re simply setting up different defensive positions and using tactics to defeat oncoming enemies. It’s remarkably good fun and the game keeps updating to bring in new “troops” or mechanisms to either use against enemies or learn how to deal with. There’s an element of multiplayer thrown in too as you can attack other people’s villages or team up with friends to defend one another. A fantastically enjoyable strategy game - and one that’s spawned a lot of copies from other developers.

Clash Royale

The people who developed Clash of Clans created a spin-off game called Clash Royale - which many argue has overtaken its predecessor as one of the best mobile games available today. Describing this game is difficult as it almost does everything. It brings characters from the Clash of Clans franchise along with “Royales” to create a real-time multiplayer game with collectible cards, deck building, tower defense, and battle arenas all thrown in for good measure.

We find it hard to stick this title in a specific genre as it transcends so many and has almost created a new genre on its own. You can collect and upgrade cards to use in battle arenas while there’s still a tower defense element to protect your area. You’ve got to download and play it to truly understand what’s going on - but it keeps getting rave reviews and so many companies have tried to mimic it since it was launched.

247 Sudoku

Sudokuu is comfortably the most entertaining number-based game you’ll ever find. It’s one of those puzzle games you keep going back to as there are almost endless variations of it. You can enjoy all the sudoku you want with 247 Sudoku including daily challenges and unlimited games whenever you feel like it.

The goal of sudoku is very straightforward. There’s a 9x9 grid that’s split into nine sections - 3 big boxes across the top, 3 in the middle, and 3 at the bottom. Some of the smaller boxes in the 9x9 grid are pre-filled with numbers between 1-9. You have to fill in the rest of the empty spaces with numbers between 1-9, ensuring that every row, column, and section includes all 9 numbers. You can’t have duplicate numbers in the same row/column/section so it’s about figuring out which numbers go where. Start with the easiest difficulty to get a feel for the game and learn specific strategies before graduating to the harder puzzles.

Candy Crush Saga

Candy Crush Saga is an iconic mobile game with multiple awards and one of the highest player counts of all time. It’s what many see as the original mobile game that spawned the popularity of this type of gaming. You can play this for hours on end without getting bored - and you don’t need an internet connection to enjoy it, making it ideal for plane or train journeys.

How do you play Candy Crush Saga? You have a grid full of different colorful candies and you need to click on ones that match. If they’re touching, they explode and the other candies in the grid fall around it with new ones also coming. Match loads of candy combos to clear the entire grid as fast as you can and you go to the next level. It sounds like a very basic game but there’s more depth to it than you think. People have literally played it for over a decade and not got bored, so it’s well worth downloading and adding to your collection. Here’s a crazy stat for you; it’s got over 1 billion downloads on the Google Play Store alone!

Tetris

Few games manage to transcend time quite like Tetris. It’s a title many of us have played before, but usually on a portable games console - like an old Gameboy or Nintendo DS. Whoever created the concept for this game was on to a winner from the very start. You all know how this game works; different-shaped blocks fall from the sky and you need to clear them before they reach the top. Get a full row of blocks and it clears, meaning you have to think ahead with your moves and plan your way of attack.

If you don’t like Tetris, then you simply don’t like puzzle games. It’s hard not to enjoy a game like this and the mobile version is identical to the classic game - but with slightly updated graphics and some funky music. You can play classic Tetris as much as you like or prove your skills in “boss battles” and other fun twists.

Geometry Dash

Some of you might have played Geometry Dash on the PC as it’s a popular free rhythm-based action platformer. Cool music fuels the background as you make your way through difficult levels as a small square block. You have to bounce over different obstacles - timing your bounces is all about falling into the right rhythm. It’s colorful and wonderfully addictive, if a little bit frustrating. We put this in the same category as a game like Flappy Bird (only much better) in that it’s designed to be hard and you’ll fail a lot, but that keeps tempting you back to play more and beat your high scores.

The full Geometry Dash game will cost a few dollars, but there’s Geometry Dash Lite available for free as well. Most of you will be happy with that - at the very least, it gives you a chance to try the game before spending any money.

Monopoly Go!

We often see classic board games get transformed into great mobile games and Monopoly Go! is the latest one to get this treatment. It gives you Monopoly in the palm of your hand but with a wonderful twist.

Rather than play the classic board game, you roll the dice and quickly make your way around themed boards to collect properties, pick up chance cards, and do battle with other players. Experience fun graphics and a modern take on everyone’s favorite board game as you collect rent from other online players to dominate the Monopoly world!

You’ve got plenty of great games to pick from on this list if you’re after the best mobile games of this generation. Every single option here has a free download available, so you don’t have to spend money to have a bit of fun. Add all these titles to your collection or pick ones that fit with your favorite genres.

DISCLAIMER: The games on this website are using PLAY (fake) money. No payouts will be awarded, there are no "winnings", as all games represented by 247 Games LLC are free to play. Play strictly for fun.