The rise of mobile as a legitimate gaming platform has given us a whole host of brand-new titles designed especially for our phones and tablets. Games like Angry Birds, Among Us, and Candy Crush have become an indelible part of our pop culture, and many console classics such as FIFA and Call of Duty have made a successful transition to the smaller screen.
But don’t forget the classics from yesteryear — many fantastic beloved games are also popular on mobile, and not just computer games, but board games and others. All these retro classics are helping drive mobile gaming as one of the most popular online entertainment options. Let’s have a look at a few of those classic games that have come into the digital realm.
Monopoly
The perennial family favourite — the cause of much joy, rivalry, arguments and anguish on family holidays, Monopoly was first sold in the 1930s, in its London and NYC incarnations. The game develops as it goes along, with wiser (and luckier) property magnates eventually taking their disgruntled brothers and sisters to the cleaners with unpayable rent.
Monopoly was one of the first major board games to go digital, available as a PC game as early as 1985, released on the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, MSX, Tatung Einstein, Thomson MO, Thomson TO, and ZX Spectrum. Since then it’s made its way across almost all major platforms, and allows for multiplayer with other enthusiasts online. It also helps newbies with the rules, and has some customisable features.
Bingo
The game of bingo has a long history in the UK and the US. In the United Kingdom, it was once an important part of society — a place where families would gather, the generations sharing a fun evening out with their dabbers. After a steady decline throughout the last few decades, the game has received a massive boost via its appearance online. It’s even attracting a much younger audience than the usual image it conjures up, with many in their 20s and 30s giving the game a go.
The rules will be well known to many of us, but if you’re a newcomer to the game get up to speed with the bingo guide with Skycity. With everything bingo-related at your fingertips, there are fantastic online options, with great graphics and exciting gameplay.
Scrabble
Word/anagram puzzle games are all over iOS and Android, and none are more traditional and beloved than Scrabble, a word game renowned for its unique combination of strategy and vocabulary skills. It was created by Alfred Butts, an architect, in 1938, combining elements of anagrams and the traditional crossword puzzle. The game gained popularity throughout the second half of the 20th century, and remains a favourite with those of all ages, with sets found in living rooms and pubs around the world. There are even globally sanctioned tournaments.
And it has made its way seamlessly online — again, players can compete against the app, or friends, family, or strangers online. It looks great, and is perfect for the intuitive layout of a modern smartphone or tablet.
Pinball
There is something evocative about an old-school pinball machine — the flashing lights, ringing of the bumpers and clanking of the flippers, it summons up the feeling of an old arcade, or the iconic ‘Nip’ from Happy Days. Pinball came as standard with Windows 95, and its popularity foreshadowed how well it would translate into more modern technology.
A cursory search will show you just how many pinball apps exist to choose from. They range from the simple, traditional style 1950s diner variety to the all-singing, and dancing types, with the kind of advanced gameplay, interactive features, and cutting-edge graphics we’ve come to expect from modern video gaming.
Tetris
One of the most iconic of all video games, Tetris was developed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union, and was made available across many different platforms. Most famously, Nintendo released it on the NES and most famously Game Boy, the latter version becoming one of the biggest-selling video games of all time (48 million copies sold). The premise, if you’re unaware, is a simple one. Falling geometric shapes cascade down one by one, and players must create lines that then disappear — the shapes can be rotated and accelerated but not slowed down. Anyone who was a kid in the 1990s knows the iconic theme tune too, based on an old Russian folk song, it added a whole new dimension to the game.
And of course, a game of simplicity like Tetris has translated perfectly to our modern small screens, with an official version available for both Android and iOS, and plenty of extremely similar games on the market.
These are just a few of the great retro titles to be found as playable apps on your mobile device. Think of your childhood faves, and chances are you’ll find an app out there to enjoy.
