Maybe you just purchased an iPad or received one for the very first time. Perhaps you think your Apple tablet is boring and outdated and can’t do anything fun anymore.
You’re wrong, my friend. The App Store has a lot of great gaming options for anyone, even those who have spent a lot of money to purchase the iPad.
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– Word games
For your perusing pleasure, our lists include the top free iPad puzzle, racing, platform, and other games. They are divided into categories (one for each page).
You can also check back every month to see our top-rated iPad game.
You can also read our complete guide to the best iPad apps. This includes both paid and in-app purchases options. Here are the top free games.
- Are you looking for an upgrade? Take a look at all the best iPad deals
The best iPad game free!
(Image credit: Christoph Minnameier)
Dungeons of Dreadrock
Dungeons is a puzzle game that defies conventions. After a brief introduction – your sibling is kidnapped and the hero resolves to rescue them – you enter a tile-based dungeon and must find the exit. It’s easy enough to do so on the first screen. This is a fun game, even if it feels a little boring.
You soon escape a large troll who chases you down to the next single screen challenge. Dreadrock commands you to think quickly, which adds tension to an otherwise simple game.
These surprises and rapid changes of pace are not to be missed. The iPad’s stunning visuals are packed with personality, which elevates what is already a mini masterpiece in mobile game design.
Best free iPad arcade games
Our top iPad arcade games include brawlers, fighting games, party games and pinball.
(Image credit: :DUMPLING design)
Traffic Mr.
Mr. Mr. Your job is to keep the inevitable pile-up at bay by tapping on cars when it’s safe to do so – or when they need braking.
This is not a new concept for iPad users who have been playing the game for years. However, Mr. Traffic is a unique game that adds personality and flair to this type of game. You’ll be able to see UFOs flying across the screen or ghosts being chased by a famous stationwagon.
It’s especially good for iPad. The square display gives you more warning about vehicles appearing from the sides and the larger screen area helps you to be precise when dealing with virtual drivers.
(Image credit: Thomas Young)
Super Fowlst 2
Super Fowlst2 is the third in a series free iPad games. It follows Fowlst and Super Fowlst, which sees a hero chicken save the world from an evil invasion. Tap the sides to flake your principled chickens, and gravity will make itself known. By hitting them on the head, roaming enemies can be defeated.
Its high speed, bizarre control system, and level design make the game frenetic and chaotic. The landscape is dotted with explosive crates filled with bees, spike-filled corridors and pinball table components. The game is visually stunning with beautiful pixel art and lots of character.
You can also upgrade your chicken to gain a downs-smash movement and poop bombs, which adds to its longevity.
Tree Men Games, Image Credit
Astalo
Astalo (opens new tab) places your tiny fighter on a square piece of land that has sheer drops at each edge. You’ll also find a lot of monsters out to destroy you. You might have to be a little more careful if you don’t want your death to be horrible.
Drag a finger in the direction that you want your fighters to go, then let go and watch them cut through other foes. It is fast, especially in endless mode. This mode reminds me of the arcade classic Robotron’s relentless, claustrophobic nature.
Astalo is similar in that it leaves you staring at the screen for a long time. Story and endless modes provide replay value. The game is especially good on iPad because your finger doesn’t cover half of the screen while you swipe to survive.
Fancade
Fancade is a game-building kit that makes a lot of money, as all the mini-games inside were created using the app.
Given what you get, this is quite an accomplishment. Over 50 game styles are included, many of which echo other iPad games like auto-runners and puzzlers. There is also an architectural path-finding title, which closely resembles the Mekorama creator (opens in new window).
Fancade allows you to create miniature masterpieces from scratch or with one of the pre-built kits. You can also view the work of others in the gallery.
Fancade, even if you don’t make your own games is a great tool that offers endless levels of gaming pleasure. It’s a huge freebie that the App Store will ever see.
Oddman
Oddman is a high-intensity brawler. It takes place in a world with strange protagonists, floating islands and instant death. You aim to throw your opponent’s character at them, much like a crazy version of sumo.
Oddman tries to bring variety to your life, even though you don’t have a lot of moves or any sense of subtlety. Over time you will encounter new foes, including bosses and environments that change the way you approach fights. Although it’s very immediate, it’s also quite silly. However mastery can take a while and you’re always just one swipe away from disaster.
This free iPad game is also available in a multi-player mode. On the same device, you can play with a friend to test your swipe skills in two-player brawls that make use of the iPad’s relative acres.
Allstar: The King of Fighters
Free iPad game King of Fighters ALLSTAR opens in new tab. It’s a bit like Final Fight or Double Dragon. This is because you will mostly be duffing up bad guys on side-scrolling streets before getting into a big bad.
You can create a team like other King of Fighters titles so that you can tag others in your fights. You can also unlock arena-style modes after you have completed the story.
This game’s button-mashing on iPhone is a bit fiddly. However, it works well on iPad’s larger screen, which allows the beautiful visuals to shine. For newbies, there is ‘auto’ movement. However, veterans can choose’manual’. This echoes the console fighting games and offers more nuance than the bland, rote fare in the Transformers and Marvel mobile brawlers.
Snake Rivals
Snake Rivals looks like a classic mobile title Snake was smashed into Fortnite. A slew of reptiles is dumped in an arena and the last one standing wins.
There are three ways to test your tubular terror: Classic allows for endless respawns, so you can build strategies and learn the ropes; Gold Rush lets you obliterate other snakes to make them into gold; and Battle Royale allows you to take out the opponents while the arena shrinks to a small island surrounded with lava.
Snake Rivals is a simple arcade game. However, it works well when an iPad is flat on a table. This allows you to see rivals and not have your fingers obscure the screen. The freemium aspect of Snake Rivals isn’t too bad either, with the exception of the limited customization options for snakes.
Knight Brawl
Knight Brawl is to 2D fighters the Anchorman is for journalism. Knight Brawl is funny, silly, and entertaining. But it is not trying to be realistic – which is why it is so much fun.
Knights must relieve their opponents of their armor in side-on battles before they can deliver the final blow. The controls and physics are all that matter in this anarchic game, where characters can bounce around on trampolines like they’re on trampolines.
This would have been great fun if you had nothing else. It’s a medieval version of Rowdy Wrestling (opens new tab), and features pointy weapons. There are multiple battle modes and missions that allow you to raid castles or steal bling. This is not a joke, it’s a serious game that will keep you entertained for the long-term.
Williams Pinball
Williams Pinball (opens new tab) adds a selection classic pinball tables and animated remastering to your iPad.
Initially, you only get one table to play at unlimited. You’ll be playing it quite a bit so pick a good one, such as Attack from Mars, The Getaway or Medieval Madness. You’ll gradually acquire the parts through daily challenges.
Although it sounds terrible, this is what pinball is all about. You can also learn the tables by playing pinball, as the challenges often offer unlimited balls. Keep going and you will eventually be able to improve these already excellent recreations by adding tough pro-level animation and physics.
Fly THIS!
Fly THIS! is a reminiscence of Flight Control’s early App Store release. You draw paths for planes and follow them. The older title was a tedious test that constantly increased panic and made it difficult to win, but this game is more strategic and manageable.
Although the planes are smaller, the maps are much more difficult to read. You also ferry passengers between airports, so you don’t just make planes land. Weather and mountains are another problem.
Fly THIS! is a level-specific game. Each level has a target point total. It’s great for short bursts of play. It’s an intelligent reimagining of an iPad classic, which is in many ways more appealing than the original game.
Beat Street
Beat Street (opens new tab) is a tribute to scrolling brawlers. A single determined hero defeats gangs and saves the day. Beat Street is a series of giant vermin that terrorize Toko City and won’t stop until you repeatedly punch them in the face.
Beat Street on iPhone is a one-thumb success, but iPad users will be better off playing landscape. You can dance with your left thumb and use your right thumb to smash the screen (and other opponents).
The large iPad display showcases the amazing pixel art but the real star is the fierce gameplay. From taking on many opponents simultaneously to beating them with a baseball bat, you can have fun. They do make them like they used too.
The Wall is Up
is an auto-runner that has an edge. Or, more accurately, many edges. Instead of being played on one plane, Up the Wall frequently requires you to abruptly turn 90 degrees corners. Some of these will see you zooming up vertical walls.
It’s a fast-paced, snappy experience that can be disorienting. However, the game’s design is very smart. Each challenge is predetermined and finite. Up the Wall doesn’t rely on luck or randomness. It is about mastering layouts and striving for perfect runs.
It also nails all the other aspects. It sounds fantastic, has vivid visuals and imaginative environments. You don’t often find yourself directing a burger in a fever dream world of milkshakes, ketchup bottles and skulls.
Silly Walks
Silly walks (opens new tab) This arcade game features wobbling foodtuffs that must brave the horrors of nightmarish kitchens (and later gardens and gyms) in order to get their fruity chums out of cruelly-caged cages.
The hour’s hero, initially a pineapple cocktail, rotates on one leg. Tapping the screen causes him to move his foot on the other side of the screen, changing the direction of the rotation. This could be considered a step. With practice it is possible to make a decent dodder.
You’ll be required to. While you may not need to fall from tables at the beginning, you will soon be dealing with meat pulverizers and hero-slicing knifes.
Although it’s only a single-level program, Silly Walks contains almost everything in its first levels. However, the smart design, amazing visuals and unique control system make it worth downloading.
