From assembling Avenger cards in Marvel Snap to discovering the joy of embroidery in Stitch, these five mobile games were some of the best entertainment you could access straight from your pocket.

If you’ve got a smartphone in your pocket or a tablet device on charge, then you’re more than ready to enter a world of mobile gaming that has grown in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. 2022 has been another big step forward for mobile games across iPhone and Android, as developers have used the medium to craft unique experiences, put fresh twists on familiar genres, and improve on established games with feature-packed upgrades.

One of the biggest shifts in this space was Netflix’s entry into the mobile gaming market, as the streaming giant is laying the foundation for its future by offering its subscribers access to some of the best games on the market. With 55 games in development, the construction of a brand-new studio in Finland, and development on a “AAA” game having kicked off, Netflix is betting big on interactive entertainment.

Elsewhere this year, Microsoft continued to improve on its cloud gaming initiative with more day-one releases through its Game Pass subscription service and improved touch controls, Apple Arcade continued to be good value for money, and Google announced that its Stadia platform will be shutting down in early 2023. We’ve seen plenty of great games released between the headlines this year, while revenue from the Google Play and Apple App Store has reached new record-breaking highs.

For the best mobile games of 2022, we’ve looked at those games which look, play, and feel best on this platform (excluding any cloud-based games). These are games that are designed to be accessible, provide quick bursts of fun, and deliver imaginative ideas that you may not see on PC or console.