So why are mobile games so popular? Portability, accessibility, and addictive gameplay loops are often found in phone based games, which keep people’s brains engaged with the apps. Let’s take a trip to the app stores of history and check out some older mobile games that are still popular. These games released at least ten years ago, and have kept their popularity up. That’s a monumental feat for any game, but especially on a phone which has users following trends for apps, memes and obsessions.
7 Candy Crush
Anyone who’s had a smartphone in the last ten years will, almost definitely, have downloaded Candy Crush at least once. The bright and saccharine game took the world by storm, and despite having several spin-off games, remains on top.
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The addictive additive-filled game has players swapping candies around to create colored groups. The aim is to either collect specific amounts of each sweet, to drop certain ones to the bottom of the board, or to break through layers of crystallized candy. Even in 2022, 10 years after release, Candy Crush remains on the top download lists.
6 Clash Of Clans
Clash of Clans is another smartphone game that has stood the test of time. It was one of the first real mobile strategy games, and remains free to play. Clash of Clans has players train and build armies to attack others, while also building up their own villages. There’s customization available, and the ability to play with others and team up.
Developers Supercell have made sure to keep the game updated and in line with new technology and trends, and there is in fact new Clash games coming out soon! It’s no wonder that people are still playing it ten years after release.
5 Angry Birds
Ah, Angry Birds. Plenty of young adults today distinctly remember playing this game in high school, having tournaments among friends. Angry Birds came out in 2009. For any game, that is an impressively long life span. It doesn’t stop with apps and games, though — the franchise even has movies and even a Star Wars tie in.
The games featured a weird and wacky concept: throwing different kinds of irritated birds at structures containing green pigs to break them. Most different colors of birds had new and exciting abilities that allowed players to shake up how to destroy the crude pig structures, and there were almost endless levels to keep players engaged.
4 Roblox
OK, this one is a technicality, but it still remains a hugely popular game on mobile devices. Roblox itself was created way back in 2006, but it wasn’t until 2012 (for iOS) and 2014 (for Android) that there was the ability to play it on smartphone devices.
Roblox is wildly successful, and for good reason. Not only is it a wide selection of playable games, but it also includes the ability for players to actually make and program their own games within it. Some Roblox adventures are still absolutely teeming with activity, and developers recognize this by releasing codes regularly for players to redeem to boost their characters or quests.
3 Temple Run
Launching in 2011, Temple Run is one of the longest-running and still active smartphone games. The game is simple: an endless chase through (as the name suggests) a temple, where if the player slacks, they will get caught by monkeys.
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Temple Run was one of the first big mobile games (along with the aforementioned Angry Birds), and as such gained a lot of popularity very quickly. It kept people amused while on journeys, in class, or at home, and didn’t have loads of ads or paywalls. To this day, it remains a simple but addictive game.
2 Subway Surfers
Along with Candy Crush, the pivotal game Subway Surfers also landed on app stores in 2012. It is an endless runner game, where players control Jake as he must run, dip, and dodge past obstacles and avoid the oncoming inspector.
Since release, the game has garnered over three billion downloads, and remains popular to this day. The game goes on and on, and has missions and power-ups to aid the cool cast of characters. The best thing is that none of Subway Surfers’ content is locked behind paywalls, meaning everyone can enjoy it to its full potential.
1 Coin Master
Ads for Coin Master are spotted so frequently that it would be a miracle for anyone to not have seen the name. But what is it? Essentially, this game is an interactive slot machine that players use to get coins, that are then spent on building up and improving villages to gain levels.
On the surface, it looks boring, and can be off-putting for a lot off people due to the pop-ups for bundles and social media connections. However, there is an addictive core aspect to Coin Master. Hit the button, win big, and continue. It is one of those apps that requires players to wait for refills of the slot machine spins, so keeps them coming back repeatedly in a day.
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