Ask HN: What games do you religiously play on your phone browser?
I play a few word games every day - Wordle, connections, crossword - but I feel I need to look at non-word games to keep the brain agile. Looking for ideas.
The opponents are not AI powered but claude wrote some much better procedural opponent game rules and strategies so its much more challenging than 247 hearts.
It's been a bit since I've done anything other than Wordle.
Really Bad Chess was a daily driver for me. I loved the chaos, which strangely collapsed to recognizable patterns and strategies based on difficulty and board layout.
Oh, you said phone browser. Are you against native apps?
2048 is fun - you can probably find a browser version of that.
I don’t like installing apps but that’s a personal peeve. 2048 is a good one. Thank you.
Chess gives me anxiety - like I’m supposed to play to win and not just enjoy the game, unlike, say, Sudoku where getting stuck or filling the grid wrongly doesn’t seem as life or death.
I like the art and storytelling -- the characters are somewhere between unbearably cute and tough special forces lifestyle. It fits my kemo lifestyle [1]
I like the tower defense genre in general, there is a lot of depth to the mechanics, and many of the levels are challenging. It is a gacha game but it's fun to play if you don't spend any money or if you just get the $5 monthly card which I think is fair for the entertainment I get compared to other games. Unlike other gacha games (say Azur Lane) it doesn't try to take over your life with notifications and the UI is refined [2] Unlike, say, Genshin Impact, download sizes are reasonable.
saimiam's comment mentioned 2048, so I'll plug my variant:
https://quuxplusone.github.io/2048
https://spottedmarley.com/hearts
The opponents are not AI powered but claude wrote some much better procedural opponent game rules and strategies so its much more challenging than 247 hearts.
Of these, I think Pips is probably something I should try more seriously.
Really Bad Chess was a daily driver for me. I loved the chaos, which strangely collapsed to recognizable patterns and strategies based on difficulty and board layout.
Oh, you said phone browser. Are you against native apps?
2048 is fun - you can probably find a browser version of that.
Chess gives me anxiety - like I’m supposed to play to win and not just enjoy the game, unlike, say, Sudoku where getting stuck or filling the grid wrongly doesn’t seem as life or death.
You may find the same anxiety as in real Chess but for me RBC is just a fun, soft brained exercise.
https://tapokgames.com/dicemerge.html
https://tapokgames.com/yatzy.html
Connections daily
Lichess most days
At a high level, why do you like Arknights?
I like the tower defense genre in general, there is a lot of depth to the mechanics, and many of the levels are challenging. It is a gacha game but it's fun to play if you don't spend any money or if you just get the $5 monthly card which I think is fair for the entertainment I get compared to other games. Unlike other gacha games (say Azur Lane) it doesn't try to take over your life with notifications and the UI is refined [2] Unlike, say, Genshin Impact, download sizes are reasonable.
[1] https://mastodon.social/@UP8/tagged/kemolife
[2] ... not like FGO or those games where you collect clothes other than Love Nikki