5 phone games perfect for busting plane boredom on long-haul flights
Minimise the threat of awkward in-flight conversation with strangers by immersing yourself in one of these ace titles
Screaming children, rude flight attendants and just general disregard of personal hygiene. Let’s face it, flights- whether long-hall or not -are awfully uncomfortable and mind-boggling. But, do NOT fret! Follow Mr Hyde’s advice and swing by the app store ahead of your next trip.
Get more great Tech and Gaming content sign up for Mr Hyde’s weekly email
Fuel An Empire
Find entertainment as your own personal plumber!
Aquavias, iOS/Android, £1.99/Free
We all grew up wishing we were Roman aqueduct architects, right? Right? That’s the gamble the developers of this app made, and it works out – rotate sections of ancient piping to plumb the city and help the empire. It’s simple and compelling enough to play for ages, although the constant flowing water can have something of a hypnotic effect and send you into a fugue/Zen state. Good if you’re going long-haul and need to sleep, bad if you arrive all groggy and covered in drool from your olden-day-plumber’s nap.
Approx time to complete: 4 hours 45 minutes
That’s a flight to: Santorini!
Nail Holes-In-One
The ‘Old Man’ Sport to play whilst you’re young
Monogolf, Android, Free
The problem with golf is that it takes ages (actually, that’s only one of the problems with golf – and not even the biggest one, which is that it’s really really hard), but that’s A-OK when there’s hours left on the plane and you’re determined not to achieve anything in them. Monogolf is one-shot-per-hole mini-golf, and comes with a flight-filling 150 holes. If you get through them all due to a plane delay or just being really dang good, there’s a level creator where you can design your own hideous, physics-abusing golfing monstrosities.
Time to complete: 2 hours 40 minutes
That’s a flight to: Murcia!
Dazzle Your Eyes
Colorfully complicated, can’t get enough!
It’s always nice when a fiddle-some-hours-away app looks like a beautiful modern-art project. It makes it feel like you’re bettering yourself. Dissembler is an undemanding colour-matching puzzle game that could potentially be repackaged as some sort of really expensive colour therapy. And it genuinely is endlessly playable – there’s an infinite mode that could keep you going until your journey, holiday and life itself are nothing but distant memories.
Time to complete (non-infinite mode): 3 hours
That’s a flight to: Sofia!
Rescue Astronauts
Time-for once-will not be against you
The passage of time is a curious thing, no more so than when travelling. A fortnight on a sunny beach seems to fly by in a day and a half, while an hour waiting for a delayed train in the dead of night easily takes between two and five years. In this outer space adventure you take control of the direction time flows in, making adjustments to let stranded cosmonauts escape a cold isolated death millions of miles away from anyone who loves them.
Time to complete: 4 hours
That’s a flight to: The Azores!
Battle the Ocean
Fish & Trip, iOS/Android, Free
Take control of a small animated fish and do your damnedest to survive the watery depths in this charming yet perilous journey. Can your constantly replaced, multi-species shoal survive encounters with all the dangers lurking beneath the waves in spiky, bitey form? Take challenges or just swim around for hours, looking for mermaids and wondering what life could possibly be like on dry land.
Time to complete: 2 hours 45 minutes
That’s a flight to: Lisbon!
