Free browser games that play well on a phone

Plenty of browser games technically load on a phone and then ask for keys you do not have. This list is the opposite: every game here was made to be played with a finger, and all of them work with the phone held upright, so you can play one-handed on a bus or in a queue. Most need only one kind of touch, a tap, a hold or a drag. They all save your progress in your phone's browser, so there is nothing to sign up for.

STACK

STACK is a tower of slabs and one button. A slab slides back and forth across the top of the tower, and a tap drops it. Whatever overhangs the slab below is sliced off, and what is left becomes the floor for the next one. Your score is simply how many slabs tall the tower gets, and the home screen keeps a top-ten table.

It is the purest one-tap game on PLAYPILE, with no power-ups and no levels. Tip: there is no timer, so if a pass looks wrong, let the slab go by and wait for the next one. Perfect drops add a sliver of width back, and from the third perfect in a row they add three times as much.

HELIX DROP

HELIX DROP is a tall tower of spinning candy rings with a bouncing ball on top. Drag left or right anywhere on the screen to spin the tower, so that a gap comes round under the ball and it drops to the next ring. Coloured parts are safe and red is deadly. Fall through three rings in a row without bouncing and the ball catches fire, smashing the next ring whatever its colour.

The game says it was made for touch, and it shows: the tower follows your finger exactly. There is a levels mode with fixed towers and an endless tower that changes every time. Tip: once the ball is on fire, you do not need a gap. If the next gap is a long way round, let the ball smash the ring for double points.

SUBWAY RUN

SUBWAY RUN is an endless three-lane runner through a graffiti train yard at sunset. Swipe left or right to change lanes, up to jump and down to roll, or just tap to jump. You dodge parked and moving trains, hurdles and high bars, run along train roofs and pick up spray-can power-ups. Coins go into your bank even when you crash, and crew missions raise your score multiplier.

It is a familiar kind of game done carefully: the yard is built so that every row has a lane you can get through. The screen flashes red when you crash and orange when you stumble. Tip: clipping the side of a train only makes you stumble, but a second stumble within 3.5 seconds ends the run, so play safe straight after one.

SUSHI CONVEYOR

SUSHI CONVEYOR puts you behind a sushi counter with up to three speeding belts. Customers show what they want in a thought bubble, sometimes a named dish, sometimes any plate of a colour or anything under a price. You drag, flick or tap plates to the right face before their patience runs out. There are twelve days at four restaurants, a cat that steals plates, a chef you can call on and a shop of upgrades.

It changes its layout to suit a phone: held upright it shows three bigger seats and larger plates, and you can turn the phone mid-day. Tip: every serve in a row adds 5% to your tips, and one wrong plate wipes the bonus, so if you are not sure a plate is under the price, wait for the next one.

STACK ATTACK

STACK ATTACK is a burger-stacking game in a cartoon diner. Food drops from the ceiling and you drag anywhere on the screen to slide a bottom bun under it, catching the order in the right sequence. Every piece hangs off the one below on a springy hinge, so the tower wobbles and leans, and lean too far and the top falls off. There are ten shifts that add junk, wind, sauce and a seagull, and an endless Rush Hour mode.

The drag control is smooth and simple, but the physics takes some learning. Tip: if the top piece is a wrong ingredient, let the seagull steal it. That takes the mistake off your order.

GOLF ORBIT

GOLF ORBIT is a one-button long-drive game. Tap once to lock the angle and again to lock the power, and the ball flies along a chain of tiny resort islands that curve like little planets. It skips over the sea, slows in sand and bounces off giant beach balls. Starfish you collect buy five upgrades, including a mid-air rocket boost.

It is the most relaxed game on this list, with no characters and no flashing. Tip: stop the power meter on the dashed sweet spot for a PERFECT shot with 15% extra, and keep the angle low and fast. A low shot skips off the water better than a high lob.

DRIFT TOWER

DRIFT TOWER is a one-button driving game. A little clay car drifts along a zigzag road floating above the clouds. Hold your finger down to drift left and lift it to drift right, and switch at each corner so the car follows the road. Your score is the number of corners you clear, and gems you collect buy new car colours.

It is easy to learn and hard to put down, and it gets quicker as your score rises. Tip: switch just as the car reaches the bend, not before. Once the straights get short, feeling the left-right rhythm works better than reacting to each corner.

TUNNEL DIVE

TUNNEL DIVE sends you down a black-and-white op-art tunnel. You cannot move yourself; instead you hold the left or right half of the screen to rotate the whole tunnel so each gate's gap lines up with you. It gets faster every 700 metres, and later zones bring spinning gates and twin gaps.

A real warning: the whole game is fast, rotating, high-contrast patterns, and the screen flips between black and white on crashes and new zones. If patterns or flashing make you feel unwell, skip this one. Tip: tap rather than hold. Short taps make small, exact corrections, while holding swings you a long way.

For one-tap play, start with STACK or GOLF ORBIT. If you want something with more to unlock, SUSHI CONVEYOR and STACK ATTACK have days, stars and shops to work through. Many other games on PLAYPILE have touch controls too, but these are the ones that feel most at home on a small screen held in one hand.