Indian Joe / Android Salad
Tablets are excellent devices for mobile games. Large screen sizes let you enjoy the graphics more. It also allows developers to deploy controls for an easier and better feel. Android tablets are not the most popular devices in the world. Many developers make games that play in portrait mode and make more sense on phones. However, some games are better on tablets. Here are the best Android board games.
We’d also like to give an honorable mention to emulators. It works great on tablets, especially if you have a console. You can see a list of the best Android emulators here. We would also like to honorably mention Papers, Please (Google Play). It’s not all that much better on a tablet than on a phone, but it originally appeared on PC, so it looks a little better on a tablet.
The best Android board games
How We Picked the Best Android Tablet Apps
So what makes the game more suitable for tablets than smartphones? Well, it is actually easier to identify than one might expect. We looked at all kinds of things, including the controls, the steering, and the amount of information that was displayed on the screen at once.
Every game on this list is in landscape orientation, has simple and accessible controls, and doesn’t require players to reach the center of the screen during action sequences if the game contains action sequences. Once we excluded games that weren’t suited for larger displays, the list came together fairly quickly.
Alto Odyssey
price: Free to play
Alto’s Odyssey is one of the best runners of 2018. It has simple but beautiful graphics, easy gameplay and mechanics, and a simple premise. You skate to hit while making huge jumps and avoiding obstacles. Players collect coins along the way to unlock items in the in-game shop. The game also has 180 objectives to complete, different levels to play through, and even small extras like dynamic lighting and weather. It’s easily one of the best endless runners ever made, and its landscape orientation makes it better on tablets than it does on phones. The game is free, but you probably won’t even notice. Most in-game purchases are for cosmetics anyway.
Beamdog Games (seven games total)
price: $9.99 each
Beamdog is a developer on Google Play. They specialize in porting old PC games to Android. Beamdog currently has seven titles at the moment. They are Baldur’s Gate I and II, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Seige of Dragonspear, Axis & Allies 1942, and Planescape: Torment EE. The six RPGs have similar mechanics. It’s a massive, hardcore RPG with lots of skills, villains, dungeons, loot, and long stories. Axis & Allies 1942 is a mobile version of the classic Hasbro board game. The user interface can often be cramped on larger phones. Thus, tablets are really the best devices for these games. They run for $9.99 for the full game. There are also optional in-app purchases for things like voice packs and other customizations.
Bloons TD 6 is arguably the best tower defense game on mobile right now. The game has a few dozen levels where you put monks down to pop a bunch of balloons. It seems small at first, but you can scale things up dramatically over time. Additionally, the developers do a good job of adding new content in updates over time. Some other features include a four-hour co-op mode, challenging levels that require some creativity, and offline play. They work just fine on phones, but tablets give you more screen real estate, which is nice considering how much you can cram together in a tight space. This is a good idea and is relatively family friendly too.
Genshin effect
price: Free to play
Genshin Impact is one of the best mobile gachas you can get. It is an open world action role-playing game. Players can roam around, complete quests, kill bad guys, and level up their characters as they see fit. You summon heroes to help increase your power, but it’s not as predatory as some other games in this space. The big, open world looks better with a bigger screen, and the controls are tucked safely into the corners, so you can still play even on a tablet. Tower of Fantasy is also very good in this space if you want to try something different.
The developers also released Honkai: Star Rail in 2023. It is an excellent landscape RPG with turn-based combat and friendly F2P mechanics. It’s also worth a shot if you want something less action-packed and a bit more role-playing.
League of Legends: Wild Rift
price: Free to play
League of Legends: Wild Rift is a MOBA, and it’s one of the few good games left on mobile. Obviously, it’s a PvP game too, so you’re playing against other players. The game features 5v5 battles in MOBA style. This means pushing lanes, counter abilities, and working with your team. Each hero has his own set of abilities, and you can’t buy them, so there is no real way to pay to win in this game. Like most good tablet games, this one plays better with more screen real estate since you can see things better, and it spreads out the controls a bit. Other than some crashes and optimization issues, this is one of the best.
Levelhead is an outstanding platformer and one of the best Android board games. The core game features more than 90 levels with smooth gameplay and a few extra features if you want to speed up your game play. However, the game’s defining feature is the ability to design and upload your own levels similar to Mario Maker. You can also download and play other people’s levels. A tablet gives you more room to edit levels, so it’s actually a convenient way to play the game. The game is free with Google Play Pass and also available on iOS, PC and Nintendo Switch with full cross save capabilities. The developer’s other title, Crashlands, is another great board PC game.
Maine Craft
price: $6.99 with in-app purchases
Minecraft dropped the Pocket Edition title in 2017. It is not the full version of the game. This means that it is playable with the Xbox One and PC versions of the game as well. We recommend this one for tablets because all the controls are there. There is a lot to do in Minecraft, including exploring, crafting, building, and doing other things. Microsoft sells servers at a monthly cost in case you don’t want to build your own. In addition, the mobile version is cheaper than the console or PC versions. Anyway, it is one of the excellent Android board games.
Old school runescape
price: Free / $10.99 per month / $99.99 per year
New School Runescape (OSRS for short) is one of the most popular MMORPGs in the world. You can play it on mobile devices, tablets, web browser and on desktop. There is a huge world to explore, a healthy player base to interact and trade with, and plenty of missions to complete. Unlike most, this one works on a subscription basis. Members get some additional benefits like a bigger bank. It’s up to you if you want to play the free version or the subscription version. This is probably the best MMORPG on mobile and has a landscape mode that works well for tablets. In addition, the developers have finally released an official RuneScape client (Google Play) for Android, which will also be better on tablets.
pocket city
price: Free / $3.99
Pocket City is a city building simulation game similar to Sim City. This is a harsh sentence to say out loud. Anyway, this is a fairly basic city sim. You build different types of buildings, roads and facilities to make your city run smoothly. It features weather disasters combined with positive things like parties that make your city feel alive. Players gradually unlock more lands, more buildings, and more objects as they play. The free version is just the basic game. The premium version includes more features, a custom sandbox, and no ads. This is a surprisingly good Sim City-style game and we like that it’s not free-to-play. You can also play in landscape or portrait mode.
Rebel Inc
price: Free to play
Rebel Inc is an excellent game for tablets. It’s by the same developers as Plague Inc, so you know this is going to be good. You fall into troubled territory, and you must fix the problem. The game includes seven scenarios, tons of rebel strategies to defeat, and a branching story based on your decisions. The developers researched most of these things as they made the game to make it as realistic as possible. There are also eight rulers with different abilities to try out. It’s free to play, but honestly, it’s one of the best out there.
Sideswipe League Rocket
price: Free to play
Rocket League Sideswipe is right up there with Alto’s Adventure as a great arcade game for tablets. You participate in 1v1 or 2v2 matches that last about two minutes each. The goal is to drive the car towards the soccer ball in a way that ends in a goal being scored. The action-oriented gameplay is addictive, and the short matches let you play anywhere. Some other game features include offline games against bots, casual mode where you can play without affecting rank, and private matches. It’s not the deepest game on the list, but it’s definitely more fun to play on a larger tablet screen.
SquarePants Spongebob Battle for Bikini Bottom
price: $9.99
SpongeBob SquarePants Battle for Bikini Bottom is an adventurous platform game with some puzzle elements. You play as SpongeBob, Patrick and Sandy as you foil Plankton’s evil plot to take over the city. The game is a remaster of an earlier console game. It includes the full platform work experience from 2003, but with better visuals, full hardware controller support, and Google Play Game Services. It’s pricey at $9.99, but we prefer premium games on tablets since it’s better not having to scroll through menus for in-app purchases. This is an excellent game.
Square Enix games
price: Free to play / varies
Square Enix is one of the best game developers on mobile. They have a large selection of tablet games ranging from console ports to games designed for mobile. You can find eight Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Adventures of Mana, Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider II, Chaos Rings 3 and many other great titles. Most of them play perfectly fine on a phone, but having a tablet really helps the experience shine. Prices vary from free-to-play to over $20, so there’s a little something in there for you, no matter what you’re into. Their latest big release was Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition, an excellent addition to the tablet game lineup. Square Enix has free games, like Final Fantasy Brave Exvius or Final Fantasy Record Keeper. However, these are best suited for phones, not tablets.
Stardew Valley
price: $7.99
Stardew Valley is one of the best new tablet games of 2019. It is a farming simulation game with a bunch of extra features and things to do. Players start by converting their overgrown fields into functional farms and expand from there. You can also get married, attend town events, keep and raise animals, and even fish if you feel like it. There are many ways to customize the old farm itself, all unlocked through gameplay. This is a solid contender for the best of 2019, and it plays beautifully on a tablet. The game is also free via Google Play Pass if you use it.
Streets of Rage 4
price: $8.99 + $2.99
Streets of Rage 4 is another port of a console game that we absolutely love. It’s a 90’s style Beat ’em up game where you choose a character and pass a level. The goal is to defeat all the villains and bosses without being defeated. It’s a simple premise, but the gameplay is pretty great on a tablet. This version of the game includes few different game modes, 13 playable characters, pixel graphics setting and more. There’s also a $2.99 DLC that adds a survival mode and a few other goodies. We think it plays great on modern tablets.