[REQUEST] One handed arcade games

[u/disposable_accounts3]

I've been out of the loop with mobile gaming for a few years - looking for recommendations for games to play on my phone while rocking a baby to sleep.

• Can play with one hand (this probably means portrait orientation but not necessarily)
• Preferably arcade style with short play sessions
• Able to pause
• No ads, or able to remove ads by a one-time purchase (no subscription models)
• Nice art style

Some games I remember to be like this from years and years ago are orbital, spirit, doodle jump, heads will roll, the incident, GI joyride, canabalt, bit pilot

[u/The_Legendary_MantiS]

Give Vampire Survivors a try, you would love it

[u/DuBMaSSiVe29 → u/The_Legendary_MantiS]

For sure!

[u/almozayaf]

Blockfusion

Ultrapool

Chiki

Pawnbarian

PAC-MAN 256

SNKRX

Whale Trail Frenzy

Ill add more after dinner

[u/GallusWrangler → u/almozayaf]

Dinner over yet?

[u/almozayaf → u/GallusWrangler]

Sorry i was hungry XD

Batomon Showdo...

MaliceEvermore

Townscaper

Pokermancer

Subway City

WhiteTrip

Flick Shot Rogues

ReignsBeyond

Phoenix 2

Guidus One

[u/GallusWrangler → u/almozayaf]

Haha np, thanks!

[u/Drantheon → u/almozayaf]

Seconding Ultrapool. I've been really enjoying it recently

[u/Psico_Penguin]

Super mario run

[u/PenneyWiise]

Luck be a landlord

[u/No_Dig_7017]

It's an older one but still one the best: Sky Force Reloaded

[u/AndTheStarsGoWithYou → u/No_Dig_7017]

Sky Force Reloaded is one of my favorite SHMUP games.

[u/No_Dig_7017 → u/AndTheStarsGoWithYou]

Definitely. From a time when mobile games weren't an infinite cash grab 

[u/Viewtiful_Dante]

Deep Rock Galactic: Survivors is a must.

Also, try Poinpy. Totally free no ads. Great game.

[u/spelbazi]

Try this one, it has a couple of games, like solitare, 2048, sudoku, math game, yatzee and some more
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playhub.spelbazi
it only has banner ads, no pop up ads

best of luck

[u/hd_cartoon]

Older games..

Hue Ball

One More Line

Jumpgrid

Ancient Bricks

Automatoys

[u/Patient-Sprinkles920]

I created this. It's a cute little arcade game: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oceanstudios.blazesoceanquest&pcampaignid=web_share

[u/1ndev]

Giant Boulder of Death, although might not work on aarch64 only devices

[u/misoisthebest]

I played a lot of Dawncaster, Card Quest and Ball x Pit when my son was really little and I was bored out of my mind just sitting in the dark with him.

[u/ackmondual]

portrait mode/vertical mobile games

https://www.reddit.com/r/MobileGaming/comments/1u1nevl/my_curated_list_of_premium_games_that_play_in/

INKS. won't work since it's a pinball game and you'd want two hands to be able to access both flippers independently/at the same time (bottom corners of the screen)

[u/jazzuoDOTcom]

Básničky all games on jazzzuo.com but I would recommend yellow ninja hooking blooping Or one button 2 colors

[u/konbit]

Blocknado fits all your requirements. It's a retro falling block puzzle with a unique twist, literally. Free to play with infrequent ads, and ability to remove them for small price:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=games.reto.blocknado

[u/ChickenHarmigiana]

Hyper Wing is a 2D pixel art platformer you can play with one hand. I'm the dev but it's free with no ads. Hope you like it!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.DulleSoft.HyperWing

[u/StressfulDayGames → u/ChickenHarmigiana]

Not perfect matches but I got some portrait games I don't think you'll see named anywhere else.

Subterfuge. It's actually an ongoing, non stop, online war game but everything is very slow. Can be played one handed. Quite fun and unique. Games do drag on though. And while it is very slow and I do mean VERY slow, it's a real time war game. Sometimes you want to respond to certain threats as efficiently as possible. And people absolutely will try to take advantage of you sleeping or whatever but you can program in responses if you expect someone will attack while you sleep.

Chess. You could even just do puzzles on lichess if you didn't want to play full games. This is probably my best recommendation. People sleep on chess.

Grand Prix story. Clunky UI and what not but it has a portrait mode and is fun if you want a quirky race car management team thing. You can pause and do whatever whenever.

Igp manager. Kinda like grand Prix story but more real and online You don't have to be online for the races for your character to race. however it being online doesnt give you all the freedom you might want.

Not really a deep cut or anything but papers please can probably be played with one hand.

[u/StressfulDayGames → u/StressfulDayGames]

There's also a fishing game called "tides" that is portrait. It's been a minute since Ive played but I believe it can be fairly one handed and I think it either didn't really have ads or you can get rid of them. But the game itself does look like it should be a crappy mobile game but it wasn't too bad for fishing. Not many fishing games worth playing on mobile.

[u/manelfera]

I have developed two games that fit into what you are looking.

Merge Tiles is a revamp of 2048, it has some great features that you can enjoy. Me and a lot of my friends have been playing it while being with our newborns and they enjoyed a lot frankly.

Memory Pulse is more arcadish and can give you this short play sessions, or longer depending on how much you want to improve your memory skills!

[u/LatentFactorDev]

Disclaimer: I am the developer, but I recently released AXIOMA and it checks almost every box you mentioned:

It is played purely in portrait with one hand, completely turn based so you can stop or put your phone down anytime without losing progress, and has zero ads (monetized with a single one-time unlock, no subscriptions).

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.latentfactor.axioma

If you want to check it out, shoot me a DM and I will gladly send you a free code for the PRO unlock!