Best Family-Friendly Mobile Games
More games to play together on a phone or tablet.
Read more →Games to Play With Grandparents
Whether you're on the same couch or a few states apart: games that work for a 5-year-old and a 75-year-old, with or without a screen.
The best games across generations have simple rules and lots of talking. Nobody needs to be fast, and a grandparent can win as easily as a child. Below: games for the table, games for a video call, and how to share an iPad game when you're together or apart.
At the same table
With a deck of cards
- Go Fish and Crazy Eights: easy to learn at 4 or 5.
- Memory: spread the cards face down, take turns finding the pairs.
- War: no strategy at all, which is exactly the point for the youngest.
With nothing
- Hot and cold: hide a small object, guide the seeker with "warmer" and "colder".
- I spy, by color for little ones and by first sound for readers.
- Photo hunt: look through old photo albums and find grandma or grandpa as a kid.
Board games like checkers and dominoes work too, and a seek-and-find book on two laps is one of the best games there is.
Far apart: games over a video call
- Show me something: the grandparent calls out "something soft", "something round", "something older than you", and the child runs to find it.
- I spy around the room: turn the camera slowly; the other person guesses.
- Draw the same thing: both draw a cat (or an Oopsie: a square with a face and one silly detail), then hold the drawings up to the camera.
- 20 questions and would you rather: no props, and the video lag doesn't matter.
- The same book: buy two copies of a seek-and-find book and search the same page together.
Sharing an iPad game: Oopsies
Oopsies is our game: a free seek-and-find game for ages 4 and up, on iPhone, iPad, Mac (M1 or later) and Apple Vision Pro. Each level shows an Oopsie to find in a crowd. Grandparents don't need any gaming experience to play: you look, you tap.
- Side by side: one holds the iPad, the other spots. Or take turns, one level each: a level is a single search.
- Far apart: both install it and play the same world. After each level, the victory screen has a Share button that sends a picture of the win, so a grandchild can send one to grandma's phone.
- No pressure: nobody can fail a level, after 30 seconds without a find the game gives a hint, and the stopwatch button on the home screen hides the timer.
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Find every Oopsie of the family.
Find every Oopsie with glasses, or a mustache, or a hat. Count them together, and argue about who has the best mustache.
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Oopsies are feeling cuddly.
The classic: find the Oopsie shown at the top. The easiest place for a grandparent to start.
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Which Oopsie casts this shadow?
Whose shadow is this? A good one to solve together, out loud.
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Only a tiny bit of the Oopsie is showing.
Only a bit of the Oopsie shows. A good one for whoever has the sharpest eye for detail.
Setting it up on a grandparent's iPad
- Install it at home on wifi. It's free, and there's no account to create: the game gives each player a random silly name for the leaderboards.
- Nothing to lock down for purchases. Oopsies has no ads and no in-app purchases.
- Sound: the speaker button at the top right of the home screen turns the game's sound on or off.
- For little ones, Guided Access keeps the iPad in the game: Settings, Accessibility, Guided Access, set a passcode, then triple-click the side or Home button in the game.
- No wifi at the house? It works in airplane mode, and progress syncs later.
Questions about games with grandparents
What games can grandparents play with grandkids over FaceTime?
I spy around the room, a "show me something" scavenger hunt, 20 questions, drawing the same thing at the same time, or reading the same search-and-find book. With two devices, you can also both play Oopsies and send each other your victories.
Is Oopsies safe to put on a grandparent's iPad?
It's rated 4+ and has no ads, no in-app purchases and no chat, so there's nothing for a grandchild to buy or stumble into. Its App Store privacy label says "Data Not Collected", and there's no account to create.
What age is Oopsies for?
It's rated 4+. The Oopsie to find is shown as a picture, so children who can't read yet can play. It isn't designed for 2- and 3-year-olds.
Does it work without wifi at the grandparents' house?
Yes. Oopsies works in airplane mode: levels play offline, and progress syncs the next time the iPad is online. Download it at home first.
A game for both of you
Oopsies is free, with no ads and no in-app purchases, and simple enough for any age from 4 to 104.
Oopsies facts come from the game itself and its App Store listing. Last edited October 16, 2026.
