Can You Play Games on Apple Watch? [Top Apple Watch Games]

The Apple Watch has much more to offer than tools to track your workouts.

 But, can you play games on Apple Watch? 

The answer is yes. You can play games on your Apple Watch that are specifically designed for its tiny screen. 

If you’re among the 35% of US Americans who own one, here’s how you can download games to it and the top 10 games you can play on your wrist in 2022. 

How To Get Games on Apple Watch

There are two ways to get games on your Apple Watch: you can download them directly on your watch or use your iPhone.

Your Apple Watch

Your smartwatch has an App Store where you can find apps and games to download on the Apple Watch designed for its wrist-size screen. 

To download games on the watch directly from the App Store:

1. Open the App Store on your watch. 
2. Tap Search to find apps. You can use Scribble and Dictation to search for games on the Apple Watch or scroll down to the featured section.
3. Once you find the game you’re looking for (or one you like out of all the games you can play on Apple Watch) tap on the app. This will open a screen where you can see its ratings and reviews, description, screenshots, and more.
4. Tap Get (if the game is free) or tap the price to get the game on your Apple Watch. 

Your iPhone

The process of getting games on your Apple Watch is the same as downloading any other app on your phone– with a few extra steps.

To get games on your Apple Watch via your iPhone, the devices have to be paired. (If you don’t want them connected, here’s how to unpair your Apple Watch from your iPhone.)

That means you’ll need a verified Apple ID and enough battery on both of your devices to get games on your Apple Watch.

To download games on your iPhone:

1. Open the App Store on your phone.
2. In the search bar, type the name of the game you want to download.
3. Check in if the game has an Apple Watch version.
4. Tap Install.

To get the game on your Apple Watch from your iPhone:

1. Open the Watch app on your phone.
2. Tap the My Watch tab.
3. Scroll down to the Available Apps section. 
4. Tap Install to add the app to your watch. 

Top 10 Apple Watch Games

In 2022 and beyond, everything is going mobile. Last year, market projections showed that almost 60% of the global revenue will come from mobile phones and games are part of that trend.

Although the games that work on Apple Watch are limited in size, resolution, and control options, the App Store on your watch has plenty to offer.

Here are our top picks for the best titles you can play on your watch’s tiny screen:

Pocket Bandit

Pocket Bandit is a puzzle game that’s fast-paced, fun, and quite popular among Apple Watch gamers.

In this Apple Watch game, you play the role of a safe cracker. You need to spin the crowd to unlock safe combinations before your time runs out. If you think that’s too much “shooting in the dark” the game offers haptic feedback to let you know whether you’re getting anywhere close to hitting the right combination. 

The game costs just under a dollar and once you pay for it, you’ll have access to it forever.

Tiny Armies

Tiny Armies is an exciting strategy game.

The Apple Watch version lets you command four blue troops all at once with a swipe of your finger. You navigate your tiny soldiers that follow your lead regardless of what stands in their way.

The objective is to take out your enemy, the four red troops. To claim victory, you need to be the last one standing– with at least one soldier remaining. The levels increase in difficulty and the opponents are tougher to beat. 

Besides solo, you can play this game with your friends on iMessage; The multiplayer mode offers real-time battles with up to four players locally or online, where players need to work on a tactic to beat the enemy. 

This fun distraction costs $0.99 in the App Store.

Elevate

If you’re looking for educational games you can get on your Apple Watch that offer brain exercise, then Elevate is the right game for you.

This award-winning app puts your brain to work with the help of research-based mini-games that test cognitive skills, such as reading, comprehension, and memory. 

The app will assess your skills before you officially start playing the game and offer a training program that helps you work on your shortcomings. 

You can choose to follow the training program or ignore it— and pick any game from Elevate’s library. The difficulty level will depend on how well you performed on the initial test and any progress you’ve made up to that point. 

However, Elevate doesn’t come cheap. After the 14-day free trial, it will cost you $40 a year.

Pong

Pong is exactly what it sounds like and unlike most games you can play on your Apple Watch, this one is free.

In this game, you play against the clock to keep the ball in play by using the Digital Crown to move the paddle.

The longer you hold out, the better your score– which will help you rank higher on the Apple Game Center’s leaderboards.  

The game boasts 8 different modes– including Ultra, Parallel, and Local Versus– and different levels of difficulty. You can also unlock classic arcade games in Pong, which will cost you $1.99, and customize the in-app theme for $0.99.

KOMRAD

KOMRAD is at the top of the list of games to play on Apple Watch for history buffs.

This interactive fiction game lets you chat with a 1985 Soviet AI that may be connected to the second-largest nuclear arsenal and prevent it from destroying the world as we know it.

In the game, you are the first person to contact the Soviet AI since the end of the Cold War. The AI doesn’t know the war ended and has been training for 30 years.

What you say to the AI determines the fate of the world– the computer you’re communicating with has access to all kinds of military weapons, so you need to be resourceful. 

You can persuade them not to use them by carefully choosing your words.

Chess

For those who like the classics, chess is an excellent way to kill time while training your brain in the most popular game of strategy that goes back almost 1,500 years.

In chess, you can play against the computer and choose between an easy, medium, or hard difficult level or challenge another player in the versus mode.

The goal is to checkmate your opponent’s king. 

Although chess requires players to be familiar with the basics of the game, this chess app is beginner-friendly and lets you learn the rules of chess as you play. You also get access to chess lessons and the ability to analyze your previous matches.

Trivia Crack

Trivia Crack is one of the most fun games for Apple Watch that tests your knowledge of a variety of trivia and lets you learn something new while playing the game.

As with any trivia game, you answer questions by choosing the correct answer from a multiple-choice list of options.

The game boasts hundreds of questions that are neatly divided into six different categories, including entertainment, science, sports, art, history, and geography. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can always create your own category in the app. 

Players earn points and win crowns by answering questions correctly. The first one to collect all six crowns wins the game.

Classic Snake Game

The Snake game is a great choice for those looking for games for Apple Watch that can help you turn back the clock to a time when Nokia dominated the mobile phone market.

If you have already played the game, then you remember the rules: collect the dots that show up on the screen and don’t hit any of the walls or your own tail. If you do, you’ll have to start from the beginning.

Your snake grows bigger the more dots it collects and the bigger your snake is the higher your score.

Rules!

In Rules!, It’s one of the games for your Apple Watch that does an excellent job of training your memory and perception. 

The goal is to clear the screen by following a set of (as the name suggests) rules. The rules are simple, but you have to remember them because you may need to apply them as you move up through the levels.

Rules! takes things slowly but quickly sucks you into its world of puzzles. You can choose from three difficulty levels: Beginner, Expert, and Timeless. 

If you’ve never played the game, it’s best to start with the easiest level.

Wordie

Wordie is one of the games to play on your Apple Watch that tests both your knowledge and vocabulary.

The game shows you four pictures on the tiny screen and lets you guess what they have in common– in one word. 

The challenge gets harder as you move forward in the game and there are more than 600 classic levels to master. If you don’t like the classic, you can choose from one of the player-created levels and if you’re having trouble finding the right word, you can use hints or ask for help from friends on social media.

You can also play against your friends, ask for a rematch, complete challenges, and create your own puzzles.

Bottom Line

Can you play games on your Apple Watch? The answer is yes. The App Store has plenty of 

 fun Apple Watch games you can choose from that are specifically designed for the small screen on your watch. The games come with limited control options, graphics, and size, which is just enough to have some fun on the go.