cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/40448411

Hi, I have a primary school girl who wants her share of gaming on the family android tablet.

While finding open source or commercial games with no ads that boys like is doable, I haven’t been able to find the kind of games a girl wants:

  • with cute graphics
  • where you care for dolls or pet
  • no ads or subscriptions, no endless DLC.

Do you have any recommendations for android games that fit the bill?

The image is a screenshot of cry babies, a game that she’d like to play very much but constantly nags you to buy new content.

  • Mighty@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 months ago

    here’s a neat trick:

    EVERY GAME IS A GAME FOR GIRLS

    oh and also: android games for “primary school children” are just scams 99.99% of the time. buy games, don’t do ad-based games, no micro-transactions.

  • calcopiritus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    I don’t think they do actual games for kids anymore, they are money-traps most of the time.

    I’d search instead for old console games and play them on an emulator on Android.

    It might be very confusing for a child if she has never played on a console though, since no touchscreen support and having buttons on the screen instead.

  • cuuube@lemmy.worldEnglish
    21·
    2 months ago

    I strongly believe that different games are like different subjects in school: it does not depend on gender, but rather how that person thinks and what types of tasks they enjoy.

    That being said, I would highly recommend Stardew Valley. (Minecraft and Terraria are pretty great too, although, I don’t know if I’d consider them ‘cute’).

  • kora@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    Currently next to my partner who is playing/using a app called Finch thats a mix between Sims decoration and a habit tracker, and of checks all your boxes. The artwork is adorable.

    That said, all of the games I play are for girls, because I am a girl

  • A_Very_Big_Fan@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    Bloons Tower Defense 5/6 are great for kids. They do have microtransactions but they don’t nag you to buy anything, and everything is easily obtainable just by playing. Also, nothing that you can buy is “content.”

    If you’re able/willing to download ROMs and emulators, the first handful of generations of Pokemon games are great for touchscreen/mobile. My favorite was always Pokemon Emerald (GBA) but you can easily emulate all the games up to about X2/Y2 (DS) on any modern Android device. (I use “MyBoy!” for the GBA games, but PokeMMO is good for combining both the DS and GBA games into more of a mobile game experience rather than an emulator experience, if that makes sense. Everything is just easier, and probably a lot more accessible for a primary school kid.)

    It’s also worth noting that girls like a lot of the same kinds of games boys like. 🤷‍♀️ Just give her as many good options as you can find and let her decide what she finds fun. Me and my sister had a blast playing CoD Zombies on our aunt’s tablet when we were kids.