The quiet joy of games you can play with one thumb

A lot of mobile games forget where they are being played. On a train, on a sofa, in a queue, usually with one hand busy. The designs that embrace this feel better than the ones that demand two thumbs and full attention.

Coin Strike nails it. The entire game runs off a single drag-and-release gesture, so I cleared most of it standing on a tram. Neon Draft manages it too with touch steering that works fine for one-handed play.

It is a small design discipline that pays off constantly. If I can pick up a game for ninety seconds between things and make real progress, I open it far more often than a game that needs a proper sit-down.

When we review, portability is a real category for us, not a footnote. A brilliant game that needs your whole attention is a worse phone game than a good one you can dip into anywhere.