Good Mac Games for my Grandma?
January 10, 2018 7:11 PM Subscribe
My grandma lives by herself in the midwest, and can easily get bored during the brutal winters (My family is helping her with this in other ways out of scope of this question). She loves playing games on her recent model MacBook Air with a large external display. She plays FunBridge, Plants Vs. Zombies, and Bejeweled for about 20 hours a week, but could use some new games. Any recommendations? Accessibility/technical requirements and a description of her tastes inside.
• As mentioned, she has a MacBook Air with an external display, and has no interest in playing games on her iPhone or on any iPad we might buy her. She does not dual boot into Windows and doesn't have the technical capability to do so.
• She's not very computer savvy and her vision isn't great, so the UI of the game has to be simple and pretty large.
• I'm uncomfortable installing games that aggressively use in app purchases, because she can easily not realize that real transactions are taking place and rack up a ton of charges (fortunately it'd be to my credit card, not hers). That being said, I happily pay $100 a year for a no limit subscription to something like FunBridge because of how much she plays it.
• It must be a game that she can play for many, many hours. I've bought her some plot driven games in the past but she powers through those very quickly and doesn't come back to them. She really enjoys puzzle games.
• Not too high speed. Plants Vs. Zombies is about as fast as she can move a mouse, so anything that requires faster mouse or keyboard input than that won't work for her.
• She tends to like games with a more cartoony, bright aesthetic. I looked into HearthStone but that fantasy aesthetic turned her off.
I've been tearing my hair out looking for games on the Mac App Store, Steam and GOG, but it seems like there's not a lot of Mac games that fill this kind of niche market. Any suggestions?
• As mentioned, she has a MacBook Air with an external display, and has no interest in playing games on her iPhone or on any iPad we might buy her. She does not dual boot into Windows and doesn't have the technical capability to do so.
• She's not very computer savvy and her vision isn't great, so the UI of the game has to be simple and pretty large.
• I'm uncomfortable installing games that aggressively use in app purchases, because she can easily not realize that real transactions are taking place and rack up a ton of charges (fortunately it'd be to my credit card, not hers). That being said, I happily pay $100 a year for a no limit subscription to something like FunBridge because of how much she plays it.
• It must be a game that she can play for many, many hours. I've bought her some plot driven games in the past but she powers through those very quickly and doesn't come back to them. She really enjoys puzzle games.
• Not too high speed. Plants Vs. Zombies is about as fast as she can move a mouse, so anything that requires faster mouse or keyboard input than that won't work for her.
• She tends to like games with a more cartoony, bright aesthetic. I looked into HearthStone but that fantasy aesthetic turned her off.
I've been tearing my hair out looking for games on the Mac App Store, Steam and GOG, but it seems like there's not a lot of Mac games that fill this kind of niche market. Any suggestions?
Puzzle Quest series in particular, key term “puzzle rpg” in general.
Take all the puzzle fun of Bejewled/match 3, add in interesting special mechanics, skin it with (granted, workmanlike) plot and some character progression, and you can get about 100 hours worth of grandma-addicting fun for $10 or so, maybe 200 if she’s a completionist.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:26 PM on January 10, 2018
Take all the puzzle fun of Bejewled/match 3, add in interesting special mechanics, skin it with (granted, workmanlike) plot and some character progression, and you can get about 100 hours worth of grandma-addicting fun for $10 or so, maybe 200 if she’s a completionist.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:26 PM on January 10, 2018
Response by poster: Thanks mochapickle! I'll take a look at Stardew Valley, but am concerned that even that might be a bit too complex. For example, she has an Apple Magic Mouse and doesn't know or care to learn how to "right click", which seems like it'd be necessary for a game like that. What's so great about Bejeweled or Plants Vs. Zombies is that she can play it solely by clicking the mouse.
posted by dtschust at 7:26 PM on January 10, 2018
posted by dtschust at 7:26 PM on January 10, 2018
I have been really into MiniMetro lately. I also like the cool math games site.
posted by notjustthefish at 7:32 PM on January 10, 2018
posted by notjustthefish at 7:32 PM on January 10, 2018
I got recommended here "Joining Hands 2", which was great. It meets all your criteria except that there's a relatively small number of puzzles and she might get through it pretty fast.
posted by bleep at 7:41 PM on January 10, 2018
posted by bleep at 7:41 PM on January 10, 2018
There's tons of free solitaire Mah Jong games for her to at least try. Mah Jong is my top favorite puzzle game; endless fun if it scratches an itch.
posted by kestralwing at 8:15 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by kestralwing at 8:15 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Was excited to mention Mini Metro but notjustthefish beat me to it. You can try it out online for free on it's website first.
posted by cgg at 8:16 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by cgg at 8:16 PM on January 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Maybe Playrix’s match 3 puzzle games could be up her alley? Our mom has played a LOT of Gardenscapes (follow a light plot with Austin the butler) and Fishdom (collect fish and decorations in themed tanks) on her iPad, and it looks like they’re available for Mac too. They both have bright cartoony aesthetics with large graphics and many progressively difficult but still mechanically simple levels including holiday special events. On the free iOS apps you can buy game coins and power upgrades and whatnot, but they’re not too aggressive, and maybe you can turn off purchases? Happy gaming!
posted by eyeball at 8:18 PM on January 10, 2018
posted by eyeball at 8:18 PM on January 10, 2018
Yeah, if two dots is available for mac, that's what you want. It does have in-app purchases, but isn't there a child-mode that disables in-app purchases on all apps?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:41 PM on January 10, 2018
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 8:41 PM on January 10, 2018
Peggle! It’s a ridiculous game (simple yet engaging) that she might like
posted by raccoon409 at 9:04 PM on January 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by raccoon409 at 9:04 PM on January 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
It's not shiny, but it's simple enough that freerice.com might work for your grandma.
posted by aniola at 9:05 PM on January 10, 2018
posted by aniola at 9:05 PM on January 10, 2018
Kestrel wing has it absolute right, Mah Jong is a perfect gold star game for this situation. Very absorbing, try it if you've never played. Scrabble may also be fun if there is a computer interactive version.
posted by karmachameleon at 9:36 PM on January 10, 2018
posted by karmachameleon at 9:36 PM on January 10, 2018
If she likes straight up logic puzzles, she might enjoy Nikoli.com. High quality logic puzzles on a subscription model. The interface is a little old school though, and it requires Flash to be installed (also at least once upon a time actually paying for the subscription was annoying, as it was a Japanese site, but I think it is easier now and you could do that part anyhow). No bells and whistles, just puzzles.
posted by nat at 10:52 PM on January 10, 2018
posted by nat at 10:52 PM on January 10, 2018
If she has any interest in word games, Alphabear? It has a cartoony aesthetic; the desktop version has no in-app purchases and fills up the screen.
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 11:43 AM on January 11, 2018
posted by fire, water, earth, air at 11:43 AM on January 11, 2018
Does she play solitaire? Regency Solitaire is available on Steam for the Mac and is a silly way to do various types of solitaire.
posted by telophase at 2:10 PM on January 11, 2018
posted by telophase at 2:10 PM on January 11, 2018
Big Fish Games has plenty of games for Mac. You get an hour trial with each one to make sure she likes it and then they are $5-10.
posted by soelo at 5:23 PM on January 11, 2018
posted by soelo at 5:23 PM on January 11, 2018
Chuzzle Deluxe and Peggle Deluxe. Really any Popcap games; they were recently re-released on Steam.
The Hexcells games, particularly Hexcells Infinite, are interesting Sudoku-style puzzles.
Pictopix. See also this impassioned defense of the style of game your grandma likes.
posted by Nelson at 6:49 AM on January 12, 2018
The Hexcells games, particularly Hexcells Infinite, are interesting Sudoku-style puzzles.
Pictopix. See also this impassioned defense of the style of game your grandma likes.
posted by Nelson at 6:49 AM on January 12, 2018
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posted by mochapickle at 7:20 PM on January 10, 2018 [4 favorites]