GAMING 101

Play with one thumb

Single-digit shenanigans.

The simplest ideas are the best, they say. And what could be simpler than a game you can control using just your thumb?

Thanks to these games, you too can embrace the blissful freedom that comes with being able to play while simultaneously holding a fresh Earl Grey or stroking an insistently needy cat.

Ordia

Help an oddly adorable little blob bounce their way out of the primordial soup and up the evolutionary ladder in this colourful fling ‘em up.

Just pull back and release to catapult each creature through increasingly challenging stages, dodging hazards and unlocking secret paths as you go, so that they can emerge at the end as a... well, we don’t want to spoil it for you.

There’s something truly delightful about how wobbly your little gooball is.

Rumble Stars Football

Take a gang of zoo escapees and turn them into a functional football team just by flinging them onto the pitch.

Think tactically before you catapult your menagerie: you’ll want to drop a friendly dog at the back to set up the pass to your striker tiger up front, but watch out for any raging bulls who might charge you down.

If you think your local team play like a pack of animals, they haven’t got anything on this lot.

Turn on the sound for this one: your team’s grunts are a guaranteed giggle-inducer.

Thumb Drift

It takes dextrous thumbwork to nail the perfect drift: hold the pressure steady, don’t swing too far and you’ll slice through that corner like a hot knife through butter, picking up points and coins as you go.

Mess it up though, and you’ll get the consolation prize of a very entertaining slow-motion crash with overblown explosions and extreme close-ups. So really, you can’t go wrong.

There’s a pleasing level of challenge behind the simple act of sliding.

Sudoku Sweeper

It’s mine-sweeping. Also: it’s Sudoku. Also: you can play it entirely one-handed – and if that’s not a strong pitch, we don’t know what is. We’ve happily lost hours to this mathematical mashup and it’s oddly satisfying to use your Sudoku skills for bomb disposal.

With a variety of modes from the chilled-out to the infuriatingly difficult, this is a game well worthy of a spot on your homescreen.

A world of clear rules where there’s always a solution to your problem. Imagine that.

Super Mario Run

We’re still pinching ourselves to think that we live in an age where you can play a Mario game entirely on your iPhone using just one thumb. We’ve come so far!

Beneath the tap-to-jump controls there’s a world of design brilliance in Super Mario Run, with spooky mansions, Bowser boss fights and plenty of Goombas to stomp. Lovely!

Get into a good flow and controlling Mario feels amazing with one thumb.

Golf Clash

Pull back to set your swing strength, release at just the right moment and then.... whack!

In these multiplayer golf showdowns, timing is everything – and when you nail a long putt uphill or curve a tee shot into the wind so it’s carried right around the trees and onto the green, it’s truly magnificent.

You’ll need that spare hand for all the celebratory fist-pumps.

The real challenge, of course, is restraining the urge to yell “FORE!” every time.