10 Best Free iPad Games

The iPad game library has grown by leaps and bounds over the last year as more high-profiles titles such as NBA Jam, Infinity Blade, and Final Fantasy III bring console-quality action to the iOS platform. We've rounded up our favorite premium titles in our 25 Best iPad Games story. But as the quality has gone up, so has the price—it's not unusual to find games that cost just shy of $20. Combine rising prices with the ability to download new titles with just the tap of an icon, and you can quickly rack up a sizeable bill. But you don't have to. The App Store still contains a good number of free iPad games that let you adventure, puzzle, sport, shoot, and sleuth at absolutely no cost.

Free gaming, does, however, come with a few trade-offs. Some titles (such as Words With Friends HD ) serve up in-gaming advertising. Some (such as Pro Zombie Soccer Apocalypse HD Lite ) offer a handful of levels for free, but then nudge you to purchase the entire game once you hit the wall. Others (such as Smurfs' Village ) serve up neither ads or trials, but deliver a full game that's accented by in-game purchases that improve gameplay. In the best free iPad games, the gameplay is more than good enough that these hidden costs don't outweigh the benefit of free gaming on Apple's awesome tablet.

We've done our homework and weeded out the stinkers in our search for the 10 best free iPad games. The resulting collection is a surprisingly diverse mix that includes the sports, hidden object, arcade flight sim, puzzle, tower defense, and world-building genres. Best of all, these free games are of such quality that you'll be surprised at how much you get for nothing.

So check out our slideshow and let use know what you think of these selections. Better yet, suggest high-quality free iPad games of your own.

TowerUp! Plus Channels SimTower for iOS – Blog – 148Apps – iPhone ...

So not only does the game hit on some of the touchstones of my youth, but I can play it for free? Count me in!  However, don’t jump in thinking that this is a completely free experience, because while you can play the game at no cost, the quality of your experience can be improved greatly through the purchase of their in-game currency.  This will unfortunately cost you some money, but honestly if it is a quality game, why not give the developer your support?

It has also been brought to my attention that not only does SimTower live on through Tower Up, but there is actually an iPad game from Sim Tower’s original developers that has been available on the App Store for quite some time!  So if you are interested in further expanding your vertical empire, by actually PLAYING SimTower on your iPad be sure to download Yoot Tower as well.  You won’t regret it.

Give both apps a look and let us know what you think in the comments.

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