does anyone have any suggestions for good "casual"-type games for elderly folks that aren't totally braindead and don't have microtransactions? something that requires a level of mental engagement but not dexterity. ios preferable but pc okay too. 🙏
Replies
slice & dice is a cool turn based dice based roguelike on mobile and maybe also pc?
aug 30, 2025, 5:48 pm • 1 0 • view
it has a lot less text and buttons than slay the spire
aug 30, 2025, 5:49 pm • 0 0 • view
My favorite recommendation is usually Portal for new gamers, but if even that is too much, I think maybe they might just need a basic puzzle game like Picross
aug 30, 2025, 2:52 pm • 1 0 • view
he's not a "new gamer," he played doom back when it was new, but he's had a several decade gap and I'm not going to get him into something that involved, control-wise.
aug 30, 2025, 3:18 pm • 1 0 • view
balatro
aug 30, 2025, 8:02 pm • 0 0 • view
Slay the Spire surprisingly filled this niche for me.
aug 30, 2025, 4:31 pm • 2 0 • view
puzzle games are a decent choice here maybe? either that or anything that's a turn based non-traditional roguelike (slay the spire, rift wizard, into the breach)
aug 30, 2025, 4:12 pm • 3 0 • view
puzzle is probably good, any suggestions for stuff that isn't just match three?
aug 30, 2025, 4:16 pm • 3 0 • view
baba is you
aug 30, 2025, 4:18 pm • 3 0 • view
card based games would be good too but I'm not sure I could sell him on something like balatro lol
aug 30, 2025, 4:17 pm • 4 0 • view
disclosure up front that i am long-shot-ing this here but as you mentioned pinball; www.myabandonware.com/game/psycho-... there's options that allow it to be played directly in the browser, not sure if that still requires DOSbox interfacing though
aug 30, 2025, 5:26 pm • 1 0 • view
if it does then obvs you can disregard as that's just extra legwork + obviously being an old game accessibility options are threadbare. but y'mentioned your dad liked pinball and afaic in terms of pure realistic pinball sims, this tops the list imho so i thought i'd at least mention it
aug 30, 2025, 5:26 pm • 1 0 • view
I'd second slay the spire, no dexterity required and while it eventually becomes extremely difficult it starts off not nearly as hard and gradually builds up to that. Really depends on if he'd like roguelikes or card games.
aug 30, 2025, 4:58 pm • 0 0 • view
I feel like any type of Marble game could also be cool because those tend to be very simple but also pretty engaging if you’re into them
aug 30, 2025, 7:10 pm • 1 0 • view
stupid question, what's a marble game
aug 30, 2025, 7:16 pm • 0 0 • view
Kinda sorta like Monkey Ball but less overall weirdness. Theres a lot of them but this was the one i was thinking of specifically, was somewhat popular early in the Switch's lifespan then got a PC port I think store.steampowered.com/app/864060/M...
aug 30, 2025, 8:05 pm • 0 0 • view
I guess if you wanna be historical about it you could say they are games that descended from Marble Madness way back in 84
aug 30, 2025, 8:06 pm • 1 0 • view
If idle games count then I like Gnorp Apalogue
aug 30, 2025, 2:52 pm • 2 0 • view
Monument Valley maybe
aug 30, 2025, 5:34 pm • 0 0 • view
actually, and this might be a harder sell, but are there any good video pinball games on iOS? BIG bonus if it has accessibility options. I guess it's all going to be a hard sell but he used to love pinball, he'd rack up free games on lord of the rings while I played DDR. 🥲 I love my dad.
aug 30, 2025, 4:54 pm • 4 1 • view
Kat told me Zen Pinball World might be the best thing out there for mobile pinball and I would trust her more than anyone on that apps.apple.com/in/app/zen-p...
aug 30, 2025, 5:00 pm • 2 0 • view
it's an easy game of course but when I was a kid he once handed me my game boy because he didn't feel like finishing his game of Kirby's pinball land and I looked and he had eighty balls
aug 30, 2025, 5:25 pm • 1 0 • view
by "accessibility options" I mostly meant game speed control and, more importantly, any options to help with visual impairment, like that might help keep the ball highlighted.
aug 30, 2025, 4:56 pm • 3 0 • view