It’s no secret that both the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store are absolutely flooded with games. Both app stores are packed to the brim with games of all variety, and more importantly, of varying quality. One of the biggest issues you may run into with many of these games is a requirement for a stable network connection. As you’ve undoubtedly seen in day-to-day life, there are definitely times when you absolutely do not have a stable network connection.

At first glance, an app titled Offline Games – No Wifi Games sounds appalling. The name itself reads like malware, but you can’t judge a book by its cover. There is a reason this game has wiggled its way up the top charts of both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. Beneath the very generic bordering on virus name, there is a solid set of time killers to have some fun with.

Price, availability, and specs

Offline Games – No Wifi Games is available on both Android and iOS. The app is optimized for both tablets and phones alike, so if you want to download it on an iPad or a Pixel Tablet , it will look good on the larger display.

Price wise, Offline Games – No Wifi Games is completely free, but there is an available upgrade for $5.99 that removes ads from the app. However, this $5.99 payment does not remove ads that you choose to watch, such as ads that you would watch to get a second try at a game.

What I liked about Offline Games – No Wifi Games

Bundles are always better.

Offline Games – No Wifi Games is a collection of 32 games that are all some variation of a traditional board game, or an old school kind of mobile game. The list is pretty exhaustive, and includes a lot of fantastic time killers.

• Block Fill
• Water Sort
• Fruit Merge
• Number Connect
• Color Cards (Uno)
• Color Connect
• Freecell
• Ludo
• Solitaire
• Sudoku
• Hearts
• Sea Battle (Battleship)
• Number Slide
• 4 in a Row (Connect 4)
• Word Finder
• Tic Tac Toe
• Word Guess (Wordle)
• Minesweeper
• Hangman
• Sound Memory (Simon Says)
• Snake
• Chess
• Chess Puzzles
• Checkers
• Pool
• Memory
• Tap Match
• Sliding Puzzle
• Ping Pong
• Blocks
• Dots and Boxes
• Mancala

All of the games are pretty solid time killers on their own. But, as one succinct bundle, Offline Games – No Wifi Games becomes downright must have. The amount of Word Finder-type games that exist on the App Store that you’ve probably seen endless ads for is dizzying. With a Word Finder game being part of this bundle, why not opt for Offline Games – No Wifi Games instead?

On the subject of ads, Offline Games – No Wifi Games does have ads within the app. These ads primarily show when exiting a game, but they do tend to show up between rounds of a game. I haven’t had one interrupt a game, but I have seen plenty show up when going back to game selection or after finishing a round of Sudoku. While it is always unfortunate to see ads, Offline Games – No Wifi Games’ ad placement and frequency is nowhere near as egregious as other free games’ use of ads.

Offline Games – No Wifi Games use of ads is also subject to one of the many classic ways in which free games get you to watch more ads — second chances. Whenever you lose in the midst of a high score type game like Snake or sound memory, Offline Games – No Wifi Games will offer you the chance to watch an ad in exchange for picking up where you left off. If you do fork over $5.99 to remove ads from the app, you will still be able to watch ads for retries.

When launching any of these games, you’ll first notice that you’ll be presented with a difficulty slider for puzzle-based games and competitive games such as chess or Mancala. The most important thing to know with these sliders is that they are absolutely not all created equally. The jump in difficulty for Ludo felt more like a boosting for the computer opponent’s RNG. Whereas for puzzle games like water sort, it increased the complexity of the puzzles. Some competitive games do see a genuine bump in strategy with difficulty increase, most notably games like Chess, Checkers, and 4 in a Row.

I noticed when downloading the app that the makers of Offline Games – No Wifi Games also published a two player games app that I’ve had on my phone for quite some time. I was pleased to find that many of the games within the app that would work with people are playable with two players. Ludo, Mancala, and Color Cards lend themselves to a quick burst of play with another person pretty well.

As far as games within the app that I found myself getting the most time out of, I had a particular enjoyment for Number Connect, Dots and Boxes, Sudoku, and Fruit Merge. Although just about every game within Offline Games – No Wifi Games is worth killing some time with.

What I didn’t like about the Offline Games – No Wifi Games

Ads, difficulty, and semi-responsive controls.

One of the biggest issues I ran into with Offline Games – No Wifi Games is the controls of games that rely on swiping and precision. I typically love Snake, I have a lot of memories of playing Snake on any family member’s flip phone I could get my hands on. However, Snake within Offline Games – No Wifi Games just feels unresponsive a lot of the times, which in turn makes the game feel far less fun. While it is most noticeable in Snake, the issue also pops up in games like fruit merge or ping pong, which require some aiming from the player.

Additionally, the difficulty slider does have some trouble with actually increasing the difficulty for some puzzle games. Word guess, Offline Games – No Wifi Games’ version of Wordle, has an abysmal difficulty slider. What I would’ve expected is making the word longer or shorter. Instead, it is still a five-letter word, but changing the difficulty results in certain letters being removed from your keyboard at the start of the game. While this might not sound that bad, it becomes downright awful when you realize that “very hard” just means traditional Wordle.

There are also some competitive games where it feels like the difficulty slider does nothing towards making the computer opponent more competent. Dots and boxes in particular feels like it never gets more difficult, no matter how much you bump up the difficulty slider. On the flip side, some games don’t even feel playable on anything less than very hard. Sea Battle stands out as one where any difficulty below very hard felt akin to playing the game with yourself. Even in the face of my absolutely horrendous luck, I still won against a hard computer that inexplicably chose to check the same two directions after landing every hit, even if it was obvious that those directions were wrong.

And of course, there are the ads. The ads are, by my own admission, not as a bad as some other apps. But, the level of terrible some apps have in terms of ad frequency doesn’t excuse some of the ad placement within Offline Games – No Wifi Games. Having a Word Finder game built into the app is nice, but the whole reason I don’t have a dedicated Word Finder app to begin with is because of ads. Every puzzle being followed by an ad is downright unbearable, and unfortunately, Word Finder within Offline Games – No Wifi Games has the same level of ad frequency as an independent Word Finder app.

Should you download Offline Games – No Wifi Games?

Some things are just meant to be played on a phone.

I love emulation. Ever since emulators made their way to the iOS App Store, I’ve put a lot of time into replaying some of my favorite retro games in my downtime. However, I almost always prefer to play these kinds of games on a retro emulation device rather than my phone. More importantly, there’s a different kind of game I find myself drawn to on my phone. That type of game is games that were meant for being played on a phone.

The kinds of simple puzzle and challenge games sprinkled throughout Offline Games – No Wifi Games are the exact kind of game I love to sink some time into while in a waiting room or standing in a line. A quick burst of Sudoku or Water Sort makes for some great fun that I don’t feel too bad about putting down after two or three minutes. And the amount of two-player games within Offline Games – No Wifi Games is incredible. I’ve always loved being able to pull up a quick game of Checkers or Mancala with my wife while waiting at a restaurant, and Offline Games – No Wifi Games perfectly houses many of these kinds of games under one umbrella.

Yes, the ads are bothersome. Especially, if you plan to play a game that’s going to have a combination of quick rounds and ads between rounds. Otherwise, you’ll probably never have to think too much about ads within Offline Games – No Wifi Games.

Is Offline Games – No Wifi Games the only game you’ll ever want on your phone? No. But, it does collect every game that feels like an essential mobile game all within one app. So if you’re the type of person to crave a quick game of Snake or Minesweeper when you have a couple of minutes to kill, I cannot recommend downloading Offline Games – No Wifi Games enough.