You would have to have been living under a pretty big rock to not know that smartphones are capable of playing video games. Social media sites are full of ads promoting various titles, often using videos of gameplay footage to show off their features.
If you open the Google Play store on your Android device, you’ll struggle to get away from the huge library of almost one million different mobile games that you can download. Just a cursory look will present you with titles ranging from the incredibly popular Among Us to lesser-known games like Sushi Roll 3D.
Some of the most famous and most played mobile games include Candy Crush, Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Words With Friends. Each one of these is relatively simple in its gameplay mechanics, graphics, and features. They’ve also all been around for about a decade, with Angry Birds first hitting app stores in December 2009 and Candy Crush Saga in April 2012.
Known as “casual” games, these titles are easy to play, can be enjoyed for just a few minutes at a time, and are usually infinitely repeatable. These attributes, and the fact that most of us have a smartphone or tablet, have made these games much more popular than video games that are played on consoles and computers. That’s why several studies have shown that more than half of all over 55s have played games on their smartphone.
There are more gaming options on your Android device than this though. The pocket-size computer that you carry around with you is actually much more powerful than you realise. Here are some of the other gaming options you may not have realised you had.
Entering Poker Tournaments
Sure, you probably knew that you could play card games like Texas hold’em on your Android smartphone or tablet. In fact, there are dozens of apps that let you do this, both for free or by wagering real money.
But you can do more than just play in single games on your phone. The PokerStars Android app goes a step further, giving you access to its extensive schedule of poker tournaments. These are the same events that are available on the desktop version of its software but in a format that has been optimised for mobile devices. It offers multiple options to players, including heads-up, 3-handed, 4-handed, and 8-handed formats.
Play Cross-Platform With Friends
In the past, playing a video game with friends restricted you to only playing against those using the same platform as you. For example, if you played Call of Duty 4 on PC, you could only join servers filled with other PC gamers. If your friends had Xboxes or PlayStations, you were unable to compete.
Today, that isn’t the case. There are several games that allow for cross-platform play, meaning gamers on mobile devices, computers, and consoles can all play together. The most famous of these is Fortnite. This free-to-play battle royale shooter is one of the most downloaded games of all time, with millions of players on every platform.
If you have friends who play Fortnite or games like Hearthstone, Among Us, Words WIth Friends 2, or Old School Runescape on their computer or console, you can join them from your Android device thanks to the cross-platform functionality.
AAA Games
Mobile players have, until now, been unable to enjoy the biggest and most intricate games because they have previously only been released for consoles and powerful gaming PCs. However, with the development of streaming technologies, this is no longer the case.
Google Stadia lets you use certain Android devices to play games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Red Dead Redemption 2 from their smartphones. To access these games, you just need to download the Stadia app and buy the games you want to play.
You can also plug in a Stadia controller to get a better gaming experience and even stream what’s on your screen to your TV.
With these tricks, Android owners have the most comprehensive gaming experience available, with more choice than on any other platform.
