The mobile game industry is booming, and with good reason. You can now play just about any type of video game you could imagine on your smartphone or tablet computer. From slinging birds at pigs to shooting zombies to collecting rare candies, there’s no shortage of options in the app stores.

The most popular mobile games have to be simple to learn but hard to master, and they also have to be engaging enough to keep players coming back for more. The best ones offer a new challenge or reward at regular intervals, like earning a rare item in a treasure chest or unlocking a brand-new character to fight alongside. Many of them are available for free, with in-game purchases to extend your gaming experience, but others require an additional subscription service, such as Apple Arcade or Netflix (Fox, 2022).

There are now even a number of mobile games that have educational, lifestyle and health improvement purposes. These include speech-language therapy for children in hospitals (Finnish startup Rehaboo!), acquiring useful habits or languages (Habitica) and improving your fitness (Memrise).

Mobile games are a great way to relax, but they can also be used as a form of therapy. For example, games like Minesweeper are known to enhance pattern recognition and critical thinking skills, as well as improve eyesight, reflexes and memory. Other games help with hand-eye coordination, which can be a problem for people with physical or mental illnesses. In addition, they can act as a form of socialization for those who don’t feel comfortable spending time in real-life crowds (Fox, 2022).

When it comes to multiplayer games, mobile is the place to be. With a larger screen and improved processing power, smartphones can run multiplayer games just as well as consoles, or even better. This is why some of the most popular mobile games are multiplayer shooters, strategy titles and even MOBAs.

Some of the best mobile games have been spin-offs from major AAA franchises. Examples include the hit Clash Royale, which mixes a card-battling strategy with MOBA-like base raiding, and Hitman GO, from Square Enix Montreal, which doesn’t slavishly follow the look or gameplay of its parent title but still delivers a fantastic mobile experience.

The development of a mobile game requires a lot of work and patience, but it can be rewarding when it takes off and becomes one of the top-grossing games in the app store. However, it’s important to balance the time spent playing games with other activities and not let them take over your life. Inappropriately long periods of playing mobile games can lead to psychological problems such as depression, anxiety and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in some people, especially those who are dissatisfied with their real life circumstances (Fox, 2022). This is why it’s so important to set clear boundaries between your game time and the rest of your life.