Casual Games - Galaxy Ace

So ya got yourself a Galaxy Ace or an Android phone. Whaddya do with it?

As I mentioned before, it is a wonderful way to kill time especially while waiting and thanks to the Android Market and Amazon Appstore, one has access to a ton of games - games to suit every age, mood and pocket.

Of late I find myself automatically reaching for the Ace during a short wait and fiddling around with games. Here are a few casual yet fun games to while away the time.

Random Mahjong

A nice take on the Mahjong games. The graphics are really sharp and rich and contribute immensely to the overall experience. I need to really squint to figure out the designs on the larger groups of tiles, but a nice feature is that as tiles are removed the remaining tiles grow in size to fit the screen. On a larger screen, it is likely a better experience.  

I wasn’t really able to complete more than 4 levels without losing lives but it is not a frustrating game. There is no timer, no pressure at all and it is a wonderful minute-gobbler.

Solitaire Free Pack

This is really a huge bunch of card games. I have only played the Solitaire and Freecell variants but there are tons more. The layout is simple and uncluttered, the card suits are clearly visible, the games are challenging and really give the brain a little workout. I have been up late into nights trying to beat the game. A very satisfying game in all.

If online, the small strip above the main card dealing area runs ads. This thankfully doesn’t happen in the offline mode.

Checkers

I wasn’t really interested in Checkers before I stumbled onto this app and started trying it out. This is a barebones game without fancy graphics but then you don’t need any for a board game like this one.

I have only played the single player mode and at the easier levels. Sometimes the CPU (the opponent) misses out on rather obvious ‘captures’ but that is more probably due to the lower degree of difficulty of the game. You wouldn’t want to stop in the middle of the game for anything or anyone.

Fruit Ninja

This global phenomenon is a firm family favourite. The Sibling is addicted to this one and hogs the phone trying to beat the scores. Who knew that a no-brainer game based on slicing various fruit could be so much fun? Well it is and the craze is unlikely to die giving how wonderful the overall experience is. Slicing the fruit and listening to the ‘sploosh’ and ‘squish’ is strangely very soothing.

The Sibling went upto a high score of 530 in arcade mode while yours truly managed a barely respectable 360. Of course the high scores completely depend on the ‘bananas’ generated and flung across the screen by the game. But it has tremendous replay value and on a bigger screen, 2-3 kids can easily mess around trying to cut fruit simultaneously.

These games should run on almost any Android phone. So get yourself to the Market and treat yourself to some games.