You know the feeling - you're stuck in a waiting room for a while longer than expected, and there is absolutely nothing to entertain you. The television is playing some awful program, and none of the magazines even nearly take your fancy. It would be ideal if you had a games console at hand, but instead, you've just got your phone, and the only game you've got on there is a badly updated version of 'Snake.'

Pokemon Go Encourages Players to Get Outside

At times like these, when you have just a little bit too much time to kill, are incredibly frustrating, but when you've got an arsenal of great handheld games at your disposal, they can turn from sheer frustration into opportunities for great gameplay. These are some of the best handheld boredom busters around.

Slot Games

When you know that tomorrow morning you're going to be stuck on a commute, with just a few minutes hopping between buses, it's great to be able to pull out a list of the best Slot machines to play. Get a few downloaded the night before and watch your commute melt away as you fill those annoying pauses with exciting gameplay. Games like these that don't involve multiple save points are great for when you're on the move.

You can load one up, play a few spins, and pop it back in your pocket a couple of minutes later. With the recent explosion in interest around casino-based games, there are plenty of different themes to choose from. Themed slots games can combine that instant gameplay with the longer objectives of completing collections of cards, for example. So while you're killing time on the commute with quick spins, you are also working towards achieving a bigger goal. It sounds like a winning formula to us!

Games on the Move

There’s a lot of praise to be sung for the mobile games that get you moving. Whether it's just enough motivation to get you to walk to work instead of taking the bus, or a carrot on a stick that gets you out of bed and off on the run in the morning, these are rare gems to be appreciated. Pokemon Go was probably at the forefront of this movement, and since, there have been a handful of successful games that work around the same premise.

Those that have been living under a rock for the last few years might not have heard of Pokemon Go, so here's a little synopsis. All of us are familiar with the old Pokemon games for Gameboy and how your avatar gets to explore the pokemon world and try to complete his Pokedex as he goes. Pokemon Go makes you the avatar, and the whole world is your playing field.

To complete your Pokedex, you need to get outside and find where the little critters are hiding. Naturally, water pokemon are more likely to be found near large bodies of water, or when it's raining. Rare pokemon appear only sporadically, and it's crucial to catch them while they're there! You'll probably remember the viral videos of people trying to catch legendary pokemon around major cities from a couple of years ago. Whatever the goal for your Pokedex, it's a fun way to get you off the couch and out into the great outdoors.

Longform Games

Many mobile games take the form of quick, couple of minute sessions, but recently there have been a few that challenge consoles for their long-form gaming ability. A brand of particular note is PikPok, who has recently introduced a collection of 'Rival Stars' games, where, entirely for free, you can create and run your own sports team. Whether it's football or horse racing, or several other options in between. The apps are free to download, of course, with the possibility of paying real money for special currency.

Many games make it so difficult to get ahead that you're forced into parting with your cash to make progress, but PikPok has created a game where, with a little patience, it is possible to achieve goals without spending a dime. Their games feature short term daily goals, the kind that you can blast through on the bus, to slightly longer level-based goals, which might take a couple of days. One of the most charming aspects of the gameplay, though, is a full game length storyline that sees real character development of the non-playable characters and is an exciting addition to the mobile gaming format."