Crosswords, Solitaire, and Classic Games Worth Playing
A reader emailed me in March to ask whether smartphone games are "okay." She'd downloaded one her granddaughter mentioned, played it for a week, and was suddenly being charged $9.99 a month for something called a "VIP Pass" she didn't remember buying. She wanted to know whether the whole category was a scam or whether some games were actually decent.
The answer is: most are dressed-up casinos. A few are genuinely lovely. Here are the ones I'd trust, the ones I'd avoid, and how to tell the difference.
Crosswords
The New York Times Crossword app is the gold standard. About $5 a month or $40 a year. Daily puzzle, all the archive going back to 1993, plus the smaller Mini and Spelling Bee. If you've done the Sunday Times crossword on paper for forty years, this is the same puzzle on a smaller screen with the same constructors.
For free alternatives, the LA Times Crossword and the Universal Daily Crossword apps both offer one free puzzle a day. The puzzles are easier than the Times but solidly constructed.
For variety, Crosswords With Friends and Daily Themed Crossword are pleasant casual options. Be careful with the in-app currency systems on these — they want you to buy "hint coins" that you don't need.
Solitaire
The honest answer here is that most solitaire apps are stuffed with so many ads that the game is a chore. The exceptions are worth knowing.
Microsoft Solitaire Collection is free, ad-supported, with the option to pay $20 a year to remove the ads. Same Klondike, FreeCell, Spider, TriPeaks, and Pyramid games you've played for years. If you grew up with the Windows version, this is essentially the same product.
For iPhone specifically, "Solitaire" by Brainium Studios is what I recommend. Clean interface, reasonable ads, an option to pay once for premium and never see them again.
Avoid any solitaire app that has "Cash" or "Win" in the name. These are gambling apps in disguise — you play solitaire, the app says you can win prize money, you can't unless you pay in first. Skip them entirely.
Mahjong, Sudoku, and word puzzles
Mahjong: the version by Mobilityware (the Solitaire company) is reliable. Match pairs of tiles to clear the board. Soothing. Free with ads or $5 to remove them.
Sudoku: the New York Times Games app includes Sudoku alongside the crosswords. For a free alternative, "Sudoku.com" by Easybrain has a clean interface and isn't aggressively monetized.
Word puzzles: Wordle (the original, now owned by the Times) is free in a browser at nytimes.com/games/wordle. The app version comes with the broader Games subscription. Other lovely free word puzzles include Wordament and the daily Spelling Bee.
What to avoid, in plain language
Any game that asks for your credit card before you've played a single round.
Any game that says "this game contains gambling-style features" in the fine print on the App Store page. These are usually slot-machine games dressed up as something else.
Any game with "VIP" or "Premium Pass" recurring subscriptions that you didn't explicitly seek out. The reader's $9.99 surprise was almost certainly this pattern.
Any game that uses the words "free" but requires watching a 30-second ad to do anything. These are unwatchable.
Games with names that mimic real brands — "Solitaire Cash," "Spider Solitaire VIP," anything with random capitalizations or numbers — are usually clones designed to confuse you.
The check before you install
Before installing any game, scroll down on the App Store or Play Store page to the section labeled "In-App Purchases" (Apple) or "Contains ads / In-app purchases" (Google). If you see a long list with prices like "$9.99," "$19.99," "$49.99," "$99.99" — the game's business model is selling those purchases, and the game is designed to make you want them.
Games that are honestly one-time purchases ("$3.99 to remove ads forever") or honestly free ("ad-supported, no in-app purchases") are the safer bets. The free-but-with-ten-different-subscription-tiers games are the trap.
How to cancel a subscription you didn't mean to start
If you've already done what the reader did, here's the fix.
iPhone: Settings → tap your name at the top → Subscriptions. The list shows every active subscription, including the games. Tap the one you didn't mean to start, scroll to the bottom, tap Cancel Subscription.
Android: Open the Play Store → tap your profile photo → Payments & subscriptions → Subscriptions. Same list. Tap to cancel.
If the subscription has already charged you and you want a refund, both Apple and Google have a "Report a Problem" link on the original purchase receipt email. The success rate is moderate — usually about 50/50 for accidental subscriptions. Worth trying.
The version of games that's good
My mother plays the daily Times crossword on her iPad every morning with her coffee. She's been at it for three years. The puzzle costs her about $40 a year. She does the Spelling Bee after, also through the Times Games app, also included.
That's the version of phone games that's worth doing. A small daily ritual, a real intellectual exercise, a fair price, no manipulation. The slot-machine-with-a-cartoon-frog version of phone games exists in the same App Store but is a different category entirely. Stay on the right side of the line and the games are genuinely pleasant.
Written by Margaret Holloway. Last verified 19 June 2026.