Games to play while taking care of adult responsibilities

Let’s face it, we don’t have enough time to game. When we grow up to be responsible (ahem) adults, life gets in the way. We have to go to work, commute, clean our houses, water our plants (unless you’ve read this article and bought gamer-friendly plants), prepare food (or go out for dinner), interact with our partners, take care of our furry friends, hug our kids… You get the picture. When you are a teenager or a student, you don’t have as many responsibilities and there is a LOT more time to game.  Also, for some reason, when you are a teenager or an adolescent, you apparently don’t need as much sleep. Gaming ‘till 01.00 am was totally fine a few years ago, even when I had to get up at 7.00am to go to work. Now,I stay up ‘late’ when I make it past my bedtime of 22.30pm … and the repercussions are harsh. 

Anyways, how to get in as much gaming time while also taking care of all our ‘adult’ responsibilities? Take advantage of mobile gaming! There are a lot of games that once used to be PC or console games only, that have been ported to our phones (either iOS or Android). It makes it easier to combine the necessary stuff like commuting to work with the enjoyable stuff like playing a game. And it also gives you a nice little break from reality from time to time. 

Games to play while cooking

While of course you need to pay attention while chopping veggies and meat, once you’ve put everything in a pan to boil or fry, you have some time to spare. And I even have to admit that I sometimes try to play a game even while chopping… you just have to do things a little more slowly 😉 Ace Attorney, for instance, works perfectly while cleaning brussel sprouts. Just click on the next available speech option and read the lines while you chop away. Once you’ve put the brussel sprouts in a pot to boil, you can either continue or start playing one of the other ‘cook-friendly’ games, like Game Dev Tycoon (no need to constantly watch the screen and you can pause it easily), one of the various Layton games (checking if your meat is cooked through gives you time to think about how to solve that puzzle) or Machinarium. 

Games to play while in public transport commuting to work

While you may pretend to be an environmentalist by taking the train or a bus to work, the true reason is that you have plenty of time to game while commuting to work in public transport. Whether you like RPG’s like GTA III, DOOM , Knights of the Old Republic or maybe survival games like Ark: Survival Evolved or Minecraft, or even simulation games like Stardew Valley, you can put on your headphones and dive into your own perfect little simulated piece of reality. Once you get the hang of the touch-screen controls, all these games are pretty impressive ports to phone.  Nothing beats killing pixelated monsters to drive away the smell of wet raincoats and the sound of whiney kids in the seat next to you. 

Games to play during boring meetings

Of course all of the above games can also be played during boring meetings. That is, if you remember to nod your head once in a while to let your co-workers believe you are fully engaged in the meeting. The RPG’s might be a bit hard to focus on, but Stardew Valley will probably work just fine. If you are really bored but also not really wanting to look too into the game, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp might be a good solution. Not really a ported game, but rather an adaptation specifically for phones, but fun none-the-less. 

Do you have any favourite phone-games you play while attending to your daily responsibilities? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram! Or leave a comment below!