21. Playing Games
In this chapter, you learn how to find and play games on your iPad.
Yes, you use your iPad to send and receive emails and text messages, listen to music, watch videos, and read and post to Facebook and other social networks. You may even take a few photos or videos, or even do some real productive work.
But let’s be honest. You also spend a fair amount of time on your iPad playing games. And if you don’t, your kids or grandkids do. No need to hide it; the iPad is a great game-playing device, and there are lots of fun games you can play on it. If you’d like more information about entertaining games, check out Que’s companion book, My Digital Entertainment for Seniors, available wherever books are sold.
Finding Games to Play
A game is just a certain type of app. Just as you find regular apps for your iPad in Apple’s App Store, that’s also where you find the games you want to play on your iPad.
Download Games from the App Store
The App Store has a separate section just for games. It’s easy to browse through the game categories or search for specific games to download.
From your iPad’s Home screen, tap the App Store icon to open the App Store.
Tap the Search icon to search for a specific game. Or…
Tap the Games icon to view all games.
Scroll down the page to see recommended games by type.
To view games by category, scroll to the Top Categories section and tap See All.
Tap the type of game you want to browse: Action, Adventure, Arcade, and so forth.
Tap the game you want to play.
Some games are free. To download a free game, tap Get.
Many games cost money to play. To purchase a game, tap the price button.
Tap the Purchase button, and when prompted, enter your Apple ID and password to pay for and complete the purchase.
Discovering Popular Games
What types of games can you find in the App Store? Apple organizes games by category, as you’ll soon discover.
Action Games
Action games are those that emphasize physical challenges and require good hand-eye coordination. Popular action games for the iPad include Angry Birds, Clash of Clans, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Plants vs. Zombies, and Snake vs. Block.
Adventure Games
When you play an adventure game, you assume a starring role in some sort of episodic story. Popular adventure games include Criminal Case, LEGO City, Pearl’s Peril, and ROBLOX.
All that said, the most popular adventure game for the iPad or any device is Minecraft. This is a world-building game, where you use your block-like character to explore new environments, mine for resources, and build complex structures. While Minecraft might not be your thing, your grade school-aged children and grandchildren are probably already hooked.
Arcade Games
Arcade games for the iPad mimic the gameplay of classic coin-operated games, typically with state-of-the-art animation and operation. Popular arcade games for the iPad include Bad Piggies, Bowmasters, Candy Crush Saga (and its endless variants), Cut the Rope, and Sonic the Hedgehog. You can also find some real, honest-to-goodness classic arcade games in the App Store, including Breakout, PAC-MAN (and Ms. PAC-MAN, too), and various variations of electronic pinball.
If you like classic arcade games, you should also check out a couple of vintage game collections. Atari’s Greatest Hits includes paid access to more than 100 classic Atari 2600 and arcade games, including Asteroids, Centipede, and Missile Command. And the 80s Arcade Games pack offers authentic reproductions of Centipede, Defender, Donkey Kong, Joust, and more.
Board Games
Board games for the iPad are just like traditional board games, except you play them on your iPad screen, either by yourself (against the computer) or with others (over the Internet). Popular board games include The Game of Life, Mahjong, Monopoly, SCRABBLE, and YAHTZEE.
Card Games
There are many games for the iPad that mimic traditional physical card games. These include Canasta, Gin Rummy, Skip-Bo, and Solitaire.
Casino Games
Just about any game you can play in a casino is available in an iPad-friendly version. Popular casino games include Card Shark Collection, Gold Fish Slots Casino, Jackpot Party Casino Slots, Official Caesar’s Casino Slots, and Zynga Poker—Texas Holdem.
Family Games
If you want to occupy your kids or grandkids, check out these fun family games, including Elmo Loves ABCs, Gymnastics Superstar, My Talking Hank, My Town: Pets, and Pokemon TCG Online.
Indie Games
These are games from independent game developers (instead of the big game companies). Check here for some of the newer and more innovative games of all types.
Music Games
Many games revolve around music creation and quizzes. In particular, check out Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed, Incredibox, My Singing Monsters, Note Rush, Piano Tiles 2, and Rolling Sky.
Puzzle Games
These games require you to slide your tiles around until you solve or form a puzzle. Popular puzzle games for the iPad include Jigsaw Puzzle Collection, Merge Town, One More Brick, Roll the Ball, and Scribblenauts.
Racing Games
Strap yourself in to race all sorts of virtual vehicles in Bike Race Pro, Car Driving School Simulator, CSR Racing 2, Hot Wheels: Race Off, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and Real Racing 3.
Role-Playing Games
These are even more involved adventure games, many of them with lots of shooting and violence. Popular games of this type include Darkest Dungeon, Dragon City, Final Fantasy XV, Monster Legends, and Teeny Titans—Teen Titans Go!.
Simulation Games
When you want to simulate some fun real-world activity or persona, check out games like AdVenture Capitalist, Goat Simulator, and Terraria.
Sports Games
Just about every popular sport is represented in the App Store, including Bowling King, FIFA Mobile Soccer, MADDEN NFL Football, NBA JAM, True Skate, and WWE 2K.
Strategy Games
Strategy games require more thinking than action. The most popular include The Escapists, Plague Inc., Prison Architect, and Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.
Trivia Games
Who was the first actor to play James Bond? What is the longest river on Earth? What was the top boy band in the 1990s? Answer these and other questions in games such as 100 PICS Quiz, Guess the Emoji, Jeopardy, Tricky Test, and Trivia Crack.
Word Games
For many people, this is saving the best category for last. Word games let you put your word-building skills to the test, playing either solo or against other players. The most popular word games for the iPad include SCRABBLE, Sidewords, Word Cookies, Word Connect, Words with Friends, and WordWhizzle.