Forkyz
Let’s start right at the top. Forkyz isn’t necessarily a game in the purest sense, but it does support one healthy habit of mine: doing crosswords. I’ve been on a mission to exercise my brain a little more each day, and completing these interlaced word puzzles is the perfect way to do just that. Forkyz can download puzzles from a myriad sources, including Newsday, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The Guardian. You can select exactly how many crosswords you want to download daily, from which source, and select various settings to help you along your way.
Andor’s Trail
It’s difficult to imagine just how large-scale a game like Andor’s Trail really is, but it encompasses over 600 maps and offers players more than 80 different quests. As RPGs go, that’s extensive, even for desktop OSes. The game embraces typical RPG mechanics, including turn-based battles, branching dialog choices, skill trees, items you can equip to aid you on your journey, and treasure. Despite its free and open source tag, Andor’s Trail receives regular updates and rebalancing. The amount of love that has gone into this title over the years is impressive. And, if you’re so inclined, you can mod the title yourself.
Breakout 71
When I got my first computer back in the late 2000s, there was a block-breaking game that I got worryingly addicted to. Thankfully, this was eventually eclipsed by F1 Challenge, but I ultimately rekindled my love for it on Android. Breakout 71 isn’t that exact game, but it comes very close. You control a paddle that ricochets balls into destructible blocks. Your goal is to destroy all the blocks and catch falling coins. Once all the blocks are gone, you move on to the next level. The gameplay is simple on paper but a little more complex in practice, and the higher levels demand better finger-eye coordination and forethought.
2048 Open Fun Game
If you prefer math-heavy games over those that rely on physics, consider grabbing 2048 Open Fun Game. The title is a mouthful, but it’s a free and open source version of the popular 2048 puzzle game. The goal is to shuffle tiles around to create the largest number possible. Only tiles that display the same number can be joined into a single tile. It took me a long time to embrace this game, but once I got the hang of it, it’s now one of my favorite games to play on short flights or grocery shop queues.
