Before the iPhone, mobile games tended to be ambitious retreads of console titles that had no prayer of working on a mobile's keypad; creaky 1980s arcade games or ludicrously amateurish software. Those days are partly over, although you still have to be careful trawling the vastness of Apple's App Store.
1. Ragdoll Blaster (£1.19)
Sublime portable entertainment in which you have to hit a target by firing a floppy figure from a cannon. Within this beguilingly simple framework appear myriad physics-based mechanisms and diversions that interpose themselves between cannon and target demanding increasing dexterity and ingenuity.
2. Drawrace (59P)
Using a finger to sketch in the racing line for your car, drawing fast on straights or slowly to round corners without slipping. With location-based online leader boards that continually goad you into one more go, this is a simple classic in the making.
3. Minigore (59P)
Without any tactile feedback, joypads drawn on the iPhone's touchscreen are usually a disastrous attempt to recreate conventional control schemes. MiniGore just about gets away with it, using one side to move, while the other directs a stream of fire at the invading horde.
4. Zen Bound (£2.99)
Part game, part relaxation tool, Zen Bound gives you a series of small wooden models to wrap in string by gently turning them with your finger. No time limit and mellow music mean an atmosphere of calm prevails, providing a pleasing break.
5. Beatmaker (£11.99)
A sequencer and drum machine that can be used to assemble quick tunes if you find yourself out of range of a recording studio. Surprisingly flexible and easy to use.
6. Worms (£2.99)
The console classic arrives untouched, with your warrior worms using a range of comedy cartoon weaponry to eviscerate each other. Frustratingly let down by imprecision in its interface.
7. Triazzle (£1.79)
This version of Triazzle retains its jigsaw-style board game forebear's pattern-matching antics, adding hundreds of puzzles and a bit of gentle animation when you get a match. Solving each level requires an engrossing mixture of observation and trial and error.
8. Harbour Master (59P)
Like Flight Control before it, this has you drawing routes through a series of busy harbours to guide boats safely to a dock, then off into the open sea. Reminiscent of early Game & Watch titles in the way pressure steadily piles on, it's a masterful use of the touch screen.
9. Sentinel 2 (£1.79)
Tower defence games go to Mars as streams of extra-terrestrials head for your base, requiring increasingly powerful weaponry to take them out. This sequel brings new turrets and a slightly less brutal difficulty level than its forebear.
10. Go Go Rescue Squad (59P)
A simple action puzzle involving cartoon firemen putting out blazes and rescuing civilians by tossing them to safety. Clearly made on a shoestring, its rough and ready graphics just about do the job, but movement and targeting throws can be a chore.
