Best Free iPod/iPhone Games

You can't forget FreeCell! This simple but classic game works perfectly on the iPod Touch and is a must-have standard.

SpiderFree is your iPod Touch version of Spider Solitaire, another classic card game. Choose from varying levels of difficulty and save games to finish later.

I found playing Shanghai Lite Mahjong on the iPod Touch tricky because the screen is small and my finger is a bit fat in comparison. Next time I'm going to try my Nintendo DS stylus to get a better grip on the right tiles!

Start with blocks in a particular pattern and shift them from side to side until you can release the red one. The only catch? They only move in certain ways, only until they hit something else, and you only have a few squares of blank space.

It's Unblock Me, and it's another standard puzzle game everyone should have. It's my choice game for passing time at the doctor's office, and with hundreds of levels, it will be a while before you need to purchase the full version.

What would an iPod be without Sudoku on it? This version allows you to save games, keep records, solve four levels of difficulty, and create notes, so if you're not sure if that center spot holds a 4 or an 8, you can mark it for later.

I didn't appreciate the leveling features of the iPod Touch until I got Labyrinth Lite. By holding your iPod Touch parallel to the floor, you can title the board and guide the ball through a maze of walls and holes to the final hole. Don't fall in holes along the way, or you'll start from the beginning!

In Enso Dot you're given a grid with solid and open dots. Connect the dots to form a continuous string that matches the pattern at the top of your screen. One rule that makes it just a bit more challenging is the fact that your first and last dots must be attached, to form one entire loop.

Great for kids and road trips, Word Search is your basic word-find puzzle game that includes themed word list options and a timer for friendly competitions.

Nowhere near as good as I'm sure the $4.99 REAL Wheel of Fortune game is, The Wheel Lite tries (key word try) to give you a little of that puzzle solving satisfaction. It isn't one of my favorites, in fact, it only makes me want to spend that five bucks for the real thing, but it's the only free game of that type.

A "spin" on Boggle, start Whirly Word by creating words out of the six letters on the wheel. You can't move on until you've created a certain number of words OR until you've discovered the six-letter word hiding in the wheel. You can "whirl" the wheel and mix up the letters as many times as you need to for a little added help, and the words you find are listed alphabetically, which can help you find new words.

Memory Block is basically Simon, but even simple games like this can be addicting ways to pass the time.

Doodle Destroy is an addictive game that uses "gravity" to make you consider how your actions will affect the game. The mission is simple: remove the red blocks by tapping on them, and when all the red blocks are gone, the blue block must be sitting on top of one of the grey blocks.

Sounds simple!

But check out the image above. As you can see, just removing the red blocks won't cause the blue block to fall onto a grey one. You must remove the red boxes in a certain order, tip the blue box to the side - not too far! - dumping it just perfectly in the right spot. Think you can?

The Impossible Test! game is addicting in that it's a no-win test against the machine. Each screen features "instructions" for getting through the next screen, and sometimes, you just have to take what you read literally.

For example, in the screenshot shown, the instructions tell you to tap the green water droplet, but the droplet shown obviously isn't green. What do you do? Each page holds some tricky solution that you must figure out to keep going. They did add a checkpoint, which you can go back to once you pass it, but otherwise, failing is miserable and you must start all over! Choose wisely, grasshopper.

Since I've owned this game the developers have added several updates that add new screens and challenges to the test. The best part is handing off your iPod to an unsuspecting friend and watching them attempt to solve the puzzles!

It took me a while to grasp the idea of Color Connect but once you get it, it's an addicting race to clear the board in limited moves and time. Each time you touch a color on the bottom of the screen, the top left square, and all the squares it's touching that match it's current color, turn to that new color. The goal is to make every square on the screen match, but you have a time limit and can only use so many moves!

I didn't truly appreciate the leveling sensors of the iPod Touch until I downloaded FallDown! You literally must tilt the iPod to roll the ball back and forth on platforms, and force it to drop down to the next level before. All this must happen WHILE the screen is scrolling up. If the ball gets squished between a platform and the top of the screen, it's game over.

I am NOT good at this one! It really gets my heart racing.

Bubbles Lab reminds of me of one of my favorite time-wasting computer games, Snood. Shoot colored bubbles, match like with like, and clean the slate before the time runs out or the ceiling comes down on you.

Games like this are great for kids because it helps them understand trajectory and geometry in motion. But still not as good as Snood. ;)

I call Angry Birds another of my "physics" games. The birds are angry because the pigs have taken off with their eggs, so they're launching an attack, literally, against the green goobers.

Use the slingshot to launch birds at intricate glass, wood, and rock "houses" and smash the pigs. Some birds multiply when you tap them in mid-air, and some speed up.

Hints:
1. If you're not happy with your score, you can hit the circular-arrow button to retry the level.
2. When you're calculating a trajectory, use patterns in the background to mark your spot.
3. Glass breaks easiest and moves most, then wood, then stone. Items must fall ON the pigs, or they must fall from an object, to break.
4. The mini-birds will split into three when you tap them. The farther back from the building you tap them, the farther apart they'll spray. The closer to the building you tap them, the tighter pattern you'll have.
5. If you let a yellow bird get close to an object before tapping it, it will fly into it with greater force than if you tap it farther back.
6. You get extra points for birds you don't use, so wait a bit for the building to settle and any remaining pigs to pop before using the next bird.
7. Remember your physics lessons to guess where to hit things for the maximum effect. Items can get wedged together and create safe shelters for the pigs that are hard to penetrate.

If you like tricky mind games, and don't mind that Eskimos walk slow, try Iced In. Use the Eskimo character to shove blocks of ice across the red buttons so you can free the penguin from his cage. It isn't as easy as it sounds. The blocks of ice will go until they hit something, and there isn't always a way to easily make them line up for your next shot. I'm still stuck on level 4!

Does anyone NOT have Shrek Kart?? While the free version only allows you to choose from one character (Shrek), one vehicle, and one racetrack, the unique steering system (tilting the iPod) makes you want to try again and again to perfect your moves.

Not as much a game as a fun free way to doodle, Scribble Lite lets you draw on your iPod Touch with your finger, and save your creations or erase it by shaking your iPod.

You can't have iPod games without Farmville! The released their iPod application in June 2010 and allowed me to take them with me wherever I go.

There are some cons to this app (as of press time). It's slow. You can't use bushels for double crop mastery. It's slow. You can't access all your gifts. It's slow. Did I mention it's slow?

You CAN, however, get special gifts and rewards ONLY through the iPod/iPhone app. Like my Rainbow Apple Tree and Silver Pony!

Before Farmville came out with their iPod app, I tried Zombie Farm. Since it's built just for the iPod, it's much faster and more reliable than Farmville. Plant crops and zombies and take over your neighbors' farms. It works much like Farmville with the crop time limits, only instead of Farmville Cash, you have BRAINS!