The ay Store is loaded with mindless distractions to fill your down moments, but you don’t have to play something dumb or monotonous. You can still put your mind to good use by playing an on-the-go puzzler, luckily, Android has plenty of great options available.

’ve picked 15 of our absolute favorite puzzle games out right now, which range from inventive spins on the match-three formula to strategic navigation games, challenging physics tests, mystery-filled boxes. And don’t forget the snowman-rolling simulator, subway system-builder, bonsai tree-snipping game. It’s a broad mix of options, you’re sure to find something uniquely designed to tease your brain.

Subway transit maps often look like a mess of squiggly lines, but there must be some method to the madness… right? You’ll find out quickly in Mini Metro, a game that looks like those familiar maps actually puts you in charge of creating your own working, ever-exping transit system.

It starts off simply enough with just a couple of stations (each represented by a shape), which you’ll connect with train lines. As ridership increases, new stations pop up with anxious passengers, you’ll need to figure out how to link it all together without stations becoming overcrowded. You’ll earn extra lines, train cars, bridges the longer you can hold out, the game’s 15 maps are based on real-life city layouts.

Mini Metro ($5)

previously had Hitman Go on this list, which is still worth a look (alongside the newer Deus Ex Go), but the best of Square Enix’s mobile bunch is surely ra Croft Go. Based on the iconic heroine of the Tomb Raider series, this perfect-for-mobile puzzler turns her action-packed quests into a turn-based navigational game, in which you’ll overcome environmental hazards. 

Moving one space at a time on board game-esque terrain, you’ll surprise-attack enemies, flip switches, evade obstacles, solve brain-teasers that block your path. ra Croft Go includes more than 100 puzzles, with more promised, does a really impressive job of translating the Tomb Raider allure into a smart, take-anywhere challenge. 

ra Croft Go ($5)

It might be most seasonally appropriate for winter, but A Good Snowman is Hard to Build is actually a great puzzle pick for any time of the year. This clever little game challenges you to build an array of snowmen across a large garden, each matching the traditional three-ball design from large up to small. Accomplishing that, however, is not always an easy task.

You’ll need to roll the balls around each area to get them into formation, but rolling a ball over fresh snow only makes it larger— if you have the wrong-sized balls, you can’t finish the snowman. Figuring out the order of when to roll the balls where to roll them to is the real challenge, A Good Snowman is Hard to Build packs in plenty of warmth personality to offset any frustration. 

A Good Snowman is Hard to Build ($5)

une is a difficult game to classify. Bonsai tree simulator? Oddly relaxing arcade game? Tactical gardening action? une may not fit as neatly within the puzzle genre as some others on this list, but that doesn’t stop it from being one of the most original uniquely captivating games you can play on Android.

Each stage begins with you pulling up a tree from the soil, then watching as it grows into the light— then quickly trimming excess branches to maximize its ascent. The 48 levels provide different kinds of hazards, from excess shade to wind other obstacles, you’ll need to experiment with placement snip selection to overcome each challenge. It’s a true one-of-a-kind.

une ($4)

’ve seen games that are inspired by comic books characters, but what about a game that plays with the structure of a comic book? That’s what Framed offers, as this noir-soaked tale of a man woman on the run challenges you to solve the logic puzzle at play on each new page. Your job is to rearrange the panels to get the fugitive safely ahead to the next run-in.

Each panel shows a different event, they influence each other, so you must figure out how each panel’s happenings can ultimately lead the hero to safety. You’ll drag drop the panels around the screen watch the action play out, then make modifications based on what results. It’s a compact, but very inventive touch experience.

Framed ($3)

If you’ve ever made shadow puppets, contorting fingers limbs to depict images on a wall, then you might get a kick out of Shadowmatic. The premise is much the same, only here you’ll rotate rearrange odd-looking objects until they show something familiar on the wall. Move the janky shape around enough you might see a rabbit, or a teapot, for example.

It’s a concept that works wonderfully on a touch device, giving you the feeling of manipulating real objects in front of a flashlight. Of course, it gets much tougher as multiple objects are provided, adding an extra layer of difficulty in discerning the solution. The free download offers a taste, with a $3 in-game purchase providing 100+ total puzzles, extra objectives, more. 

Shadowmatic (Free)

Touch devices offer a sense of tactile interaction that a gamepad or mouse cannot, that’s put to good use in The Room, a much-loved mobile original. In this first-person adventure, you’re tasked with solving a selection of 3D puzzle boxes, each of which is loaded with things like locks, codes, hidden doors, dials, other brain-taxing mechanisms.

And it’s never just one solution: the challenge is finding which approach unlocks the next opportunity, so on so forth—all while you rotate the box, focus on clues, seek out curious details to explore. It’s very haunting atmospheric, as well, with great graphics cleverly designed boxes. And if you dig the original, The Room Two The Room Three further exp upon the premise.

The Room ($1)

Credit Two Dots for showing how a simple premise— a free-to-play one, at that—can be exped out into something truly challenging engaging. ke the original Dots, this puzzler is all about connecting circles: you can draw a line between nearby ones of the same color, that clears them from the board. In each stage, you’ll need to remove a certain number of each listed color. 

It doesn’t take long for the concept to evolve. nes become boxes, then you have bombs, fire, anchors in play, all while maintaining that accessible approach. Two Dots has loads of content—more than 1,000 stages as of this writing— gorgeous design outside the minimal game boards, it’s a great freebie option. And sequel Dots & Co. delivers even more fun. 

Two Dots (Free)