With the vast selection of puzzle games to choose from in the Apple App Store, it’s sometimes hard to not feel paralyzed by choice. Here’s a list of the best puzzle apps for iPhone and iPad to help you out.
These games are available for the iOS platform. Check individual app requirements to make sure they are compatible with your device.
Best Tetris Tribute: 1010!
Tetris is undoubtedly the most popular puzzle video game of all time. Even after all these years, it’s rare to find a new game that plays tribute to Tetris while providing something unique, but 1010! accomplishes this seemingly impossible feat.
Enjoyable, slightly less frantic pace than Tetris.
Simple and appealing design.
Addictive gameplay.
Must pay to remove ads.
Shares data about you with advertisers.
Occasional crashes.
A less panicked game than its loose inspiration, 1010! challenges players to position Tetris-style shapes in a 10x10 grid. If you form a complete line, that line disappears and creates more space, which you use to make more lines. Don’t let the slow pace of 1010! fool you; without practice, you can quickly find yourself rushing headfirst into a game over.
Most Visually Stunning: Monument Valley 1 & 2
If you like puzzle games that are dripping with style, substance, and a sense of discovery, Monument Valley has everything you’re looking for. This Escher-inspired puzzle tells the story of Ida, a princess in a world of impossible geometry. You explore and discover her world as she does, guiding her through stairwells and doorways as you poke, prod, and move the environment to help her progress.
Beautiful game visuals.
Expansions to continue gameplay.
Challenging and surprising puzzles.
Storyline is simple and not very deep.
Too short.
Sequel is an incremental improvement over the original.
Monument Valley is a thing of beauty that tells its story without words. Maybe that’s why it’s taken home awards such as the BAFTA Award for Mobile & Handheld Games, the Apple Design Award, and the IMGA Grand Prix prize.
Best Card Game for iOS: Pair Solitaire
If it seems strange to see an iOS card game included in a list of great puzzle apps, that’s because you haven’t played Pair Solitaire yet. The debut release from Vitalii Zlotskii, who also released Domino Drop, Pair Solitaire asks players to do something seemingly simple: Match pairs of cards.
Simple gameplay, but requires strategy.
Free (with in-game purchases).
Attractive card designs.
No music.
Ad volume can be loud.
Lacks overall polish.
The challenge comes from having to match pairs that are separated by just one card, and such matches only remove one of the cards in the pair. So if you have two hearts, you only remove the one you touch. If you have two kings, it’s the same story. The goal is to clear as many cards from a standard deck of 52 as possible before you run out of moves.
Most Zen Puzzle App: Prune
Are you looking for an experience that somehow manages to balance tranquility with progressive difficulty? If so, Prune is the tree-trimming puzzle that will help you find bliss. It’s a game about helping tree branches grow and find sunlight so that they can flower as nature intended. To accomplish this, you neatly nip off new branches that are growing in the wrong direction and steer your tree around different obstacles.
Visually gorgeous.
Unique puzzle gameplay.
Sync games between devices to continue play.
Not enough levels.
Later levels are more action oriented.
Making fine changes can be hard on small screens.
Most Atmospheric Puzzler: The Room (Series)
In the The Room, players explore elaborate puzzle boxes that can only be opened by uncovering switches, levers, and unseen mechanisms hidden behind intricate brain teasers. Each box requires a variety of solutions to advance the spooky narrative. The Room is sopping with atmosphere thanks to the creepy music and visuals. If you like the first one, then you’ll definitely enjoy the sequels.
Very atmospheric with great music.
High-quality visuals.
Intuitive but challenging gameplay and puzzles.
Limited replayability.
Story is secondary to the game.
Controls can be tedious.
Best Memory Game for iOS: Rules!
Rules! is a game about following the rules. You must follow all the rules in the order you received them, only in reverse. If it’s starting to sound complicated, that’s because it is.
Three difficulty modes.
Clever and engaging memory game.
Great visual design and quality.
Memory intensive gameplay may not be enjoyable for some.
Time limits are frustrating.
Rules! tests your memory and reflexes in a way no other app does. Each round asks you to clear certain tiles using a specific rule, and then the following round asks you to do the same and introduces a new rule. You’ll need to remember all of the rules in reverse order if you want to see your way to the end.
Challenge Your Imagination: Scribblenauts Remix
A game where the only limit is your imagination, Scribblenauts Remix asks players to dream up their own solutions to 50 puzzles pulled from the best levels of Scribblenauts and Super Scribblenauts. The Word Pass upgrade (which requires an in-app purchase) increases the number of levels to more than 140.
Good vocabulary building game for kids.
Word Pass in-app purchase expands puzzles to 140.
Clues help when you’re stuck.
Combines content from previous two games.
In-app purchases required to expand the game and add avatars.
Outside-the-box thinking can make puzzles too easy.
What do imagination-based puzzles look like? Imagine you need to get a star down from a tree. You could give your avatar an ax to chop the tree down, or a ladder to climb to the top. If you can think it, and you can type it, Scribblenauts Remix can make it come true.
Fun With Numbers and Math: Threes!
A beautifully simple game that’s accessible to all skill levels, Threes! is so good it inspired countless impersonators only weeks after its release. Threes! tasks players with sliding all the numbers on the board together in one of four directions. If two identical numbers are squished together, they create the sum of those two numbers. The goal is to keep squishing like numbers together until you run out of possible moves and tally your score.
Smart and fun math game.
Simple design.
Easy to pick up and play in short spurts.
Music is repetitive.
Ads for merchandise between games is disruptive.
Only one game mode.
Most Thought-provoking: Touchtone
TouchTone proves that a game can provide a challenging puzzle and a riveting social message. It presents you with wiggly lines that need to connect to like-colored nodes. To do this, you slide objects in rows and columns that can split and redirect the lines in different directions. They’re communication lines, and as the latest citizen tasked with monitoring communication as part of your civic duty, you’ll follow a tantalizing story as you determine whether what you’re listening to is pertinent to protecting the country.
Interesting story with twists and surprises.
Excellent writing.
Challenging puzzles.
Not much help if you’re stuck.
Getting stuck interrupts the narrative.
Problematic and off-putting story elements.
World of Goo
One of the App Store’s early puzzle hits is still one of its best. World of Goo perfected the bridge-building style of physics-based games when it launched on the Wii and desktops, but it never felt more at home than when it came to the iPad and iPhone.
Fun and creative art design.
Award-winning physics gameplay.
Great atmosphere.
Music becomes repetitive.
Multiplayer gameplay is not compelling.
Recent update didn’t add new content.
Players drag adorable, anthropomorphic balls of goo to create structures that, while wobbly, will hopefully stand the test of time. These structures are needed to help rescue other goo that are stranded just out of reach. Unique, charming, and challenging, World of Goo feels like a physics simulation designed by Dr. Seuss, making it an excellent app for kids.
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