Gaming is an area that fascinates many, but a lot of people are put off by the seemingly high price tags attached to it. Now, we’re not going to deny that you can spend a fortune creating a high-quality gaming rig. There’s no question that a really good monitor can set you back hundreds of dollars, but the key thing to realize is: you may not need one.
Many, many games can now be played on small screens and even mobile devices like tablets and smartphones. We’re not talking about the vast triple-A titles that you might think of immediately when someone says gaming – those still play best on big screens on the whole – but that doesn’t mean the world of gaming is closed to you. Plenty of amazing options can be played on pocket-sized gaming systems. Let’s look into this further.
Browser Game Options
First of all, if you’re keen on browser games, you might think you at the very least need a halfway decent laptop, but you might be surprised. In actual fact, a lot of browser games are specifically designed to let you play them from any device, scaling down beautifully to even the smallest screens.
This involves very complex programming at times; developers have to figure out how to compress menus, resize buttons, and retain enough spacing to keep the game seamless for all players. Even so, given that a huge number of gamers are now using mobile devices – with about 55% of adults playing on a smartphone or tablet at least once per week in 2024 – this has been a high priority for developers, and they’ve certainly achieved it with surprising skill in many cases.
If you want an example of this, look at games like casino slots, where you’ve got a whole myriad of options, all of which are specifically designed to play beautifully both on vast, expensive monitors and tiny, low-end smartphones.
Part of the reason that these are well-suited for this kind of flexible gaming is that they involve very simple gameplay, meaning developers don’t have to cram too much into the small space.
On the whole, casino slots will need a “spin” button, a fold-away menu for extra information, and the rest of the space can be given over to the game’s theming and ensuring that it looks good. Work still needs to be done to ensure all the different elements resize well, but otherwise, the games translate far more easily than more complex titles.
And of course, that offers players the flexibility to recreate this kind of experience – fun for the whole household, even the pets.
Many other browser games work well in the scaled-down approach demanded by mobiles and tablets. When they’ve been well-designed, they’ll translate effectively to any screen size and still be playable. The advantage of this approach is that you have a plethora of great games at your disposal, without having to fill up your phone’s memory with a ton of apps. For players who love variety, browser games that are compatible with mobile devices are definitely the way to go, and you can totally kick the need for an expensive monitor to the curb.
App Choices
Of course, a lot of games are also available as apps, and these are pretty much guaranteed to work well on mobile devices, although you may find that there isn’t a desktop-based equivalent if you want to scale up your screen size at some point – which can limit your playing options. Even so, gaming apps are immensely popular. The number of mobile games available on Google Play and Apple currently sits close to the 700,000 mark.
And even non-gamers will have heard of many of the most popular titles in this category, with options like Candy Crush commanding global attention and awareness. Like slots games, these options tend to be simple, making use of minimal buttons to ensure they are compatible with the mobile space – but they are no less compelling and engaging for that. Indeed, titles such as Candy Crush have broken traditional gaming barriers and attracted whole new audiences to this world.
So, we’ve pretty conclusively demonstrated that you don’t need a high-end monitor – or indeed, any monitor – to enjoy gaming. That said, if you want to play one of the big-name games like Grand Theft Auto, Fortnite, or any of the recent releases from the Final Fantasy franchise, you will need a decent screen to make the most of the beautiful graphics, and to give yourself the space for the game’s interface.
Overall, then, if you want to eventually play the bigger, more complex titles, you will need a decent monitor – but don’t let the requirement be a barrier to entering the world of gaming altogether, because there are lots of great titles that can be enjoyed from a simple smartphone or basic tablet.