If you’re looking for the hottest must-have iPad games, look no further! Here’s a list of 5 of the most addictive ones for your gaming pleasure. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what your favorites are.
#5. Diner Dash: Grilling Green
The first time management game to launch on the iPad, this one has a lot finger-tapping fun. The Diner Dash series puts Flo (the waitress) into various restaurant situations. In this particular game, she’s helping restaurants see the greener side of things. Drag and move customers to the tables, take their orders, serve the food, and clean up the tables after. Work quick and efficiently to earn enough money to move onto the next level. The game takes advantage of the extra multi-touch functions of the iPad. Not only can you move Flo around the restaurant in one hand, but you can also help her grandma cook in the other hand. There’s lots of finger-tapping fun in this game!
Purchase Diner Dash: Grilling Green | $4.99
#4. We Rule
Just one word — Addictive. Build your kingdom by visiting everyday to harvest your crops, earn money, and purchase new shops and buildings. It’s the repetitiveness that makes this game so addicting. Compete and compare with your friends’ kingdoms and keep building! Power users have found themselves stuck at Level 30, but 5 new levels have been added recently as well as news shops and goodies! Best of all, the game is free and is also available on the iPhone and iPod Touch in addition to the iPad! A (free) Plus+ account and internet connection is required to play.
Download We Rule for iPad | Free
#3. Words with Friends
Think you’re the Word Game Champion? Go head to head against your friends and see who scores more. If you’re familiar with word games like Scrabble, then you have no trouble picking this up at all. The only difference is that you can only play against one other person and you can earn so many more points in this game. Letters have higher values and there are many TL (triple letter) and TW (triple word) spots on the board. Just when your opponent is pulling ahead, a triple word may be all you need to turn the tables! An iPhone version is also available and Internet connection is needed to play.
Purchase Words with Friends HD | $2.99
#2. Plants vs Zombies
The title may sound a bit scary, but it’s quite an adorable and incredibly addicting game. It’s basically a tower defense game where you protect your house from the zombies by planting various plants in front of it. Start with planting sunflowers that create sunshine. Collect the sunshine to purchase other plants with other special flowers to defeat the zombies. Some plants will shoot, eat, or even explode when a zombie is nearby. As the levels progress, the zombies get stronger and more difficult to beat. Strategize which plants to use and save your brains!
Purchase Plants vs. Zombies HD | $9.99
#1. Angry Birds
Angry Birds is a hilariously amusing casual game where the birds seek revenge on the pigs that devoured their eggs. To start, simply catapult the birds and knock over all the pigs and their dwellings to advance to the next level. Each bird also has its own unique power. Some can fly super fast, some can be set off like a bomb, and some can be split into 3 birds. When the bird is in the air, simply tap on the screen to release the special power. Discover new birds as you unlock the levels.
Purchase Angry Birds HD | $4.99
Great list, Daynah! My nephew LOVES Plants vs Zombies!! He’s 5. Should he even know about zombies at the age of 5??
I think my number 1 Must Have App is Netflix. I’m loving that thing!
@Cali, the funny thing is, I think kids pick up these games faster than me. haha Plants vs. Zombies is quite adorable and addicting!
Of course 5 is okay to know about zombies. The earlier the better; the earlier they learn, the more familiar they’ll be and the better prepared they’ll be when the inevitable zombie apocalypse strikes. Knowledge is power! You might want to show him your preparedness episode too, soon.
Good morning, Daynah. I’m waiting on a few months’ further development of the iPad form factor before purchasing one. Shamefully, I admit that in terms of gaming, I never made it past Tetris or Space Invaders for Unix. (*blush*) Happy Thursday!
@Robert I was never much the gamer.. not until I got the iPod Touch. I had a Nintendo DS, but the games were quite expensive, so I stuck with my Big Brain games. The low prices of the apps in the iPhone app store only fed my gaming addition…
I like your list. I’ve played the heck out of P&Z. And ;my almost 5-year-old daughter loves it too Cali.
My wife has done Diner Dash on the pc, and I think just downloaded it to the iPad. I did get sucked into it on the pc, so I’m sure it’ll be good on the iPad too.
On your recommendation, I donwloaded “We Rule.” I love Civ, so it might be right.
One question – no Sudoku? I play a LOT of “Enjoy Sudoku.” This app is a wonderful electronic version that teaches you how to play better. There’s a free version, but for $1.99, no reason not to get the unlimited play version.
@Will Thank you! I started playing Plants vs. Zombies on the website and got hooked! I had to get it for the iPhone, and then the iPad. There’s just so much more finger-tapping fun with the iPad version.
There’s so many fun Diner Dash games too. I like the new one called Diner Dash: Kaboom! I think the iPad game edition is a bit harder since there’s way too much to do. Talk about multi-tasking to the max!
We Rule is a lot of fun. We Farm just launched today so you may want to check that out too! I’ll add “Enjoy Sudoku” to my list to try out. Thanks for the recommendation.
Plants vs Zombies is okay. But once you beat it, it’s not all that fun anymore, IMO.
I like FieldRunners more and I keep playing it (which I don’t with P&Z).
That’s very true. I was much more excited to beat the game the first time around. There are the Achievements to finish up which can be challenging as well.
I haven’t tried FieldRunners yet, but I will soon. Thanks for the suggestion Bob!
We Rule is fun and addictive, unfortunately it is also broken. I got up to level 26 before I had to give up because it would unexpectedly crash and, worse, has a memory leak error that forces you to restart your iPhone and still remains broken. I can’t recommend it for that reason.
I watched the first episode of twit.tv’s iPad Today and Leo mentioned the same thing about the crash. He’s at the highest level (30). From what I have seen, it definitely looks nice.
@Ryan Yea, the game crashes because it uses a lot of memory – lots of animated objects. There was a recent update for the app, so hopefully that fixed the memory leak problem. It’s still addictive nevertheless.
Did you get an iPad recently or thinking about purchasing one? 
Haven’t gotten one yet. Was waiting for the iPhone 4 but with the issues with the phone, I might as well get the iPad.
@Kristen We Rule is addictive, but it does have its flaws. Connection problems, crashes, and server overload were definitely some of the issues. The latest updates seem to have helped though. But I usually play late at night when no one is on the servers too.
I still put it on my recommend list because no matter what sort of problems they had, the company stayed transparent and gave us frequent updates. They also replied quickly to emails from frustrated users.
While not a true iPad app, the game Real Racing for iPhone runs great, and is a blast to play on the iPad.
http://firemint.com/?page_id=304
This looks fun! Thanks for the suggestion Shannon!
Great selection…i love Angry Birds, it is really nice and addictive…
iPad is fantastic as a gaming tool, but besides that is awesome as a reading, productivity or learning device as well ..you gotta love it:)
Here are some nice suggestions for some of the best free games for the iPad http://ipadappsplus.com/ipad-apps/best-ipad-games/ that one might find useful that one might find helpful
My kids love Plants vs. Zombies! It’s a little weird, but amusing and addictive. There is an iphone app for that too, but it’s easier to see on the ipad.
By the way, I have to add that the app, “Talking Tom Cat” although not technically a game, is cute and a great short diversion with friends or kids–and it’s free.
Daynah,
Great list – I have one thing to mention about Angry Birds though, the App is more expensive then the iPhone version (which I can understand), but the iPhone version actually has more boards and gets updated ages before they do anything with the iPad app. The games are also identical (well current iPad version and previous iPhone version), which I think should be noted as a shame on you to the developer. At least Plants vs. Zombies comes with more stuff so the added price for the iPad version is worth the money. I feel that some of these developers are looking at the iPad version of their games as the wicked step child that has been forgotten.
Ok, remember my last comment in the Google Fonts blog? With this, I’m going to have to bring in a 7 year old puzzle ringer to help me find the “GO” button. But sometimes I like puzzles better than video games, as they help keep my mind sharp, & believe me, I can use all the sharpening I can get. It’s all I can do to find the light switch in the middle of the night, thank the Lord of the Rings this switch has only a one or zero mode…..”B”
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