What are THE phone games?

Hey pals,

So, I play a lot of games. But there's an entire GENRE I've missed completely- the phone game. Now, the last time I played a phone game was Ridiculous Fishing on the iPhone 4. I just got a really nice android phone this weekend, and I'm looking for the cream of the crop of phone games.

What should I play? I'm hearing stuff about "Monument Valley" and "Solitairica" from Drew. If over 50% of people are playing phone games or whatever ridiculous stat it is, I should prob try them out?

Please no anime gacha games. I have zero interest

80 Days - kind of a choose-your-own adventure type deal based off Around the World in 80 Days. Fantastic game, sharp writing.

Bloons (any of them, really) - great tower defense with plenty of types of towers so you don't feel locked into playing it like a puzzle game. It looks cartoonish and kid-like, but even the Adventure Time game is stupid amounts of fun.

Giant Boulder of Death - Great time waster, though some of the game progression is gated by a sometimes brutal score system. Still worth a look.

10000000 and/or You Must Build a Boat are still staple time wasters for me.

The Room series. If you like puzzle boxes and want some shiny graphics, they're best in class.

I loved Hitman Go and Lara Croft Go. Skip Deus Ex Go.

Solitairica is top tier.

Jetpack Joyride.

Threes!

super hexagon and sword & sworcery are the only mobile games that held my attention for more than an afternoon.

I have been playing Holedown for a year and half. It's probably my favorite mobile game ever. It's engaging enough you can kill 15 minutes playing it, but simple enough you can play it for 30 seconds while waiting for something. (It's a good work time killer for those "Well this search should take about 60 seconds" moments)

I also highly recommend Florence. It is a great way to tell a story through gameplay. It is pretty short though, so it's not something that super stuck with me. It's an excellent example of what else you can do with mobile games type of game.

Cytus II is my favorite rhythm game I've seen on mobile. (Your mileage may vary depending on your tastes in music / how interested you are in buying the Hatsune Miku DLC)

The games from hap Inc. are pretty dang funny. I highly recommend the Hidden my game by mom games and My brother ate my pudding.

Holedown is simple, but satisfying.

The Room series is fantastic. You have to have some level of interest in the puzzle box element of it of course, but to me that stuff is actually secondary to why I like them so much. They're not exactly horror games, but the setting and atmosphere has a weirdly compelling eeriness to it, and they actually manage to develop a narrative over the course of the series that adds an extra layer of intrigue and makes it so much more interesting than just solving a bunch of puzzles for the sake of it.

I always recommend the Rusty Lake and Cube Escape games. Pretty simple point-and-click escape room type games with an overarching story with weird Lynchian vibes. Most are free but there's a few longer ones that are paid. The studio also put out The White Room, which Alex mentioned on the Beastcast a few weeks ago.

You like management games? Most anything by Kairosoft is good. Gamedev Story's a fun one.

I still really like Bejeweled Stars. The F2P model is pretty light in it compared to other match-three games and it's a great way to kill some time!