The global games industry is worth some $220 billion as of 2023. That encompasses everything from triple-A blockbusters like the award winning Elden Ring, to hyper-casual minigames. There’s never been more choice for discerning gamers than there is today. Yet sometimes all this novelty can ring hollow. While there are millions of games available at your fingertips on mobile platforms today, how many of these are genuinely worth your time?
The truth is, many games are knock-offs, clones or unpolished sequels of better games. However some titles are much, much older than the smartphone. Some even date back to the dawn of written history – and often these are just as fun to play today as at any other point in their history. In fact, their survival across time and space are a good indicator as to just how good they are.
Here we’re going to take a look at a couple of classic games that have made the jump to mobile platforms in recent years where they are being rediscovered by a new generation of tech-savvy gamers.
In certain cases, these modern app versions of traditional titles may even be better than their physical counterparts due to incorporating modern features such as matchmaking and statistics.
Poker
There are several card games popular the world over, but few have exerted the same kind of pull on culture as poker. The modern card game first rose to popularity in 19th century America where it became a favourite pastime of pioneers and prospector’s living on the frontiers of the American West.
However its true origins can be taken at least as far back to the Persian game of As-Nas, which shares much of the same format and rule-set as poker. Nowadays, most people choose to play poker on mobile, due to the on-demand benefits this offers. Since the early 00s poker boom, online poker in general has gradually displaced its physical counterparts as the most widely enjoyed variant, and the latest apps from leading platforms are but the latest iteration of this worldwide craze.
Chess
The game of kings, chess has been around for a long time, with its earliest examples dating back to classical India, some 1500 years ago. Chess as we know it today took shape in the Persian empire, where it acquired its name – Chess is a corruption of the Persian word for King – ‘Shah’.
Chess enjoyed great popularity over the course of the 20th century, with many grandmasters emerging to popularize its cerebral gameplay. Yet nowadays, the most popular way to play is online through the leading chess portal Chess.com and its app.
Chess is once again riding a wave of popularity today, though this time it is one intimately associated with technology. New chess prodigies like Magnus Carlsen are helping renovate the game’s image as the world’s newest esport, and the runaway success of Netflix’s 2020 mini-series The Queen’s Gambit has also been credited with reviving interest in this ancient game. This has brought the already popular game to a whole new player base.
