Best Open-Source Games for Android

Open the Games category on GetApkFree and you'll notice something quickly: it leans heavily toward puzzle apps. That's not a flaw in the catalogue — plenty of open-source developers gravitate toward grid-based logic games, and the results are genuinely good — but it does mean a straightforward "top ten" pulled from the category would end up as eight puzzle games and two afterthoughts. This list intentionally doesn't do that.

What follows is ten open-source games chosen specifically to cover different ground: two puzzle games that work in different ways, two tonally distinct roguelikes, three tabletop-strategy games, one genuinely unusual location-based client, and two utilities built for game night rather than for playing a game themselves. If you're after variety rather than ten variations on the same idea, that's what this covers.

This guide draws from GetApkFree's Games category, sourced from F-Droid. Every fact below — what an app does, what it requires, what it doesn't do — comes directly from that catalogue data, not from assumptions about what a game with a similar name usually does elsewhere.

How We Selected These Games

A few rules shaped this list before any game made it in:

• All ten games come from GetApkFree's Games category, sourced from F-Droid — the same catalogue you can browse directly. This article is specifically about open-source games, so the category's external, closed-distribution listings (several well-known mobile games included) aren't part of this list. That's a deliberate scope decision.
• Selection prioritizes genre and use-case variety over repetition. The Games category's F-Droid entries skew heavily toward puzzle apps — more than half of them, by our count. Filling this list with puzzle games would have been the easy path; instead, only the two strongest, most distinct puzzle entries made the final ten, and the rest of the list goes wide into roguelikes, tabletop strategy, and utilities.
• Download counts weren't used to rank anything. Every app in the current catalogue sits at or near zero downloads, so there's no meaningful popularity signal to draw on yet. This is an editorial selection based on what each game actually does.
• Being open-source and F-Droid-sourced describes where a game comes from, not a guarantee about its safety, quality, or how it will play on your device. None of the descriptions below go beyond what each game's own listing states.

With that said, here are the ten games, grouped by what they're actually for.

Puzzle & Word Games

Sudoku

This is a clean Sudoku implementation built around logic-based difficulty and helpful assists. Difficulty here is tied to the logic actually required to solve a puzzle, with assists available when you want them.

Best for: Sudoku players who want difficulty that reflects the actual reasoning a puzzle demands, not an arbitrary number.

Size: 19.3 MB.

Minimum Android version: 7.0.

Wortmühle

Wortmühle is a daily German word puzzle: nine letters, one pangram, entirely offline, with no network requirement to get today's puzzle. Worth being upfront about: this only works as advertised if you actually read German, since the puzzle itself is language-specific, not a generic word game with a German skin.

Best for: German speakers who want a daily word/pangram puzzle without an account or connection requirement.

Size: 3.8 MB — one of the smallest games in this list.

Minimum Android version: 5.1.

Roguelikes

Astro Loop

Astro Loop is described by its own listing as an open-source roguelike shooter that's simple to play, with no ads, no tracking, and fully offline operation — all three of those are the app's own stated claims, not inferred. "Simple to play" is the specific pitch here, stated directly by the app rather than something we're reading into it.

Best for: someone curious about roguelikes who wants a low-commitment, straightforward entry point rather than a deep, mechanically dense one.

Size: 50.8 MB.

Minimum Android version: 7.0.

Infra Arcana

Infra Arcana bills itself as a Lovecraftian horror roguelike — a genuinely different tone from Astro Loop's shooter framing, even though both share the roguelike label. Putting these two side by side in this list is deliberate: "roguelike" covers a lot of different actual games, and these two demonstrate that range rather than repeating each other.

Best for: roguelike fans specifically looking for horror atmosphere over straightforward action.

Size: 58.4 MB — the largest game in this list.

Minimum Android version: 7.0.

Card & Tabletop Strategy

500 - Card game

This is 500, the Australian trick-taking card game, playable against bots or with friends online. If you already know 500 from playing it in person, this gives you both a solo option (bots) and a way to keep playing with people who aren't in the room.

Best for: people who already play 500 and want it on their phone, solo or with others online.

Size: 15.5 MB.

Minimum Android version: 7.0.

CBG -- Clavierhaus BackGammon

CBG describes itself as the complete GNU Backgammon engine, covering play, coaching, rollouts, and career modes, entirely offline. The coaching and rollout modes in particular suggest this is aimed at players who want to actually improve, not just play a game against the computer. This is the one app in this list with a real prerequisite worth knowing up front: it requires Android 12.0 or newer, the strictest requirement of any game here, so it's worth checking your device before you try to install it.

Best for: backgammon players who want a full-featured engine — coaching and analysis included — not just a digital board.

Size: 37.4 MB.

Minimum Android version: 12.0 — check your device meets this before installing.

Navy Fleet Battle

Navy Fleet Battle is described as the classic Russian sea battle game, playable solo or with a second player. If "Battleship" is the name you know this genre by, that's the closest reference point — grid-based naval combat, playable alone against the game or against another person.

Best for: fans of grid-based naval combat who want either a solo game or a two-player match on the same device.

Size: 2.0 MB — the smallest game in this entire list.

Minimum Android version: 8.0.

Something Different

Diadem

Diadem doesn't fit neatly into any of the categories above, which is exactly why it's here on its own. Its own listing describes it as a "next-gen GO Map" — a client for connecting to a Diadem Map covering your area, with a stated feature list of connecting to any Diadem Map, a modern UI, strong performance, ease of use, and being fully open-source.

There's an important prerequisite here that needs to be stated plainly, not softened: Diadem is a client only. It doesn't generate or host a map itself — you connect to a "Diadem Map" backend that's hosted by a third party, and the app's own listing is explicit that those third parties are responsible for how they collect and store your data, not Diadem or GetApkFree. If you don't already have a specific Diadem Map to connect to, there's nothing for this app to do on its own.

Best for: someone who already has, or knows of, a specific Diadem Map they want to connect to — not a general-purpose location-based game on its own.

Size: 4.0 MB.

Minimum Android version: 6.0.

Game-Night Utilities

Boardgame Pal

Boardgame Pal is explicitly a companion tool, not a game in its own right: dice, a score counter, a starting-player draw, and similar functions for physical board games, described as fully free and ad-free. If you're mid-game-night and need a die roll, a running score, or a fair way to pick who goes first, this replaces a physical die or a scrap of paper rather than replacing a board game.

Best for: in-person board game nights that need a phone-based dice roller and scorekeeper, not a digital game to play.

Size: 12.1 MB.

Minimum Android version: 8.0.

Eve Game Tracker

Eve Game Tracker focuses on one specific job: tracking results for card games, with named support for Skat, Poker, Durak, Gambio, and Uno, plus the ability to add custom games beyond that list. Its stated feature set covers a stats view, persistent player names across sessions, an option to disable games your group doesn't play, and data export/import. We're repeating that feature list exactly as the app describes it — nothing here can speak to what export format it actually uses or how well it interoperates with anything else.

Best for: a regular card-game group that wants a running record of who's actually winning across sessions, for any of the five named games or a custom one you add yourself.

Size: 2.3 MB.

Minimum Android version: 10.0.

Comparison Table

App	Best for	Size	Minimum Android	Screenshots
Sudoku	Logic-based Sudoku with assists	19.3 MB	7.0	4
Wortmühle	Daily German word/pangram puzzle	3.8 MB	5.1	4
Astro Loop	Accessible roguelike shooter	50.8 MB	7.0	3
Infra Arcana	Lovecraftian horror roguelike	58.4 MB	7.0	5
500 - Card game	Australian trick-taking card game	15.5 MB	7.0	8
CBG -- Clavierhaus BackGammon	Full-featured backgammon engine	37.4 MB	12.0	8
Navy Fleet Battle	Solo or two-player naval combat	2.0 MB	8.0	4
Diadem	Client for a third-party Diadem Map	4.0 MB	6.0	5
Boardgame Pal	Dice/scorekeeper for board game night	12.1 MB	8.0	3
Eve Game Tracker	Tracking card-game results over time	2.3 MB	10.0	6

How to Choose

There's no single "best" game here — these ten cover different genres and different occasions, so the right pick depends on what you're actually looking for.

If you want a puzzle you can pick up and put down, Sudoku offers a classic format with genuine difficulty logic behind it, while Wortmühle is the pick specifically if you read German and want a daily word puzzle instead of a grid.

If you're after a roguelike, the choice comes down to tone: Astro Loop for something simple and approachable, Infra Arcana if you specifically want the horror atmosphere of a Lovecraftian setting.

If you want tabletop strategy, 500 - Card game is the pick if you already know the game, CBG is the deeper option for backgammon players who want coaching and analysis on top of just playing, and Navy Fleet Battle is the lightest and smallest of the three, good for a quick solo or two-player match.

Diadem only makes sense if you already have a specific Diadem Map to connect to — it has no function without one, so it's not a general pick for "something different," it's a pick for a specific existing need.

And if it's actually game night you're planning for, Boardgame Pal replaces the dice and scorepad for whatever physical game you're playing, while Eve Game Tracker is for the group that wants to know who's actually been winning across Skat, Poker, Durak, Gambio, Uno, or a custom game you've added, over time.

Before Installing

A few practical steps worth taking before installing any of these. Confirm the file is genuinely trustworthy first — our guide on how to tell if an APK is safe covers checking the source, developer, and file integrity. Once you're looking at what a specific game requests, our guide on how to evaluate APK permissions explains how to judge whether a permission request actually makes sense for what the app does. And if you haven't sideloaded an APK before, our step-by-step installation guide walks through the process from download to first launch.

Browse More of the Catalogue

These ten aren't the entire Games category — it also includes a large cluster of additional puzzle games beyond the two featured here, along with entries this article deliberately left out of scope. If none of these ten quite fit what you're looking for, the full GetApkFree app catalogue is worth a browse.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best open-source games for Android? There's no single answer — it depends on what you're in the mood for. This list covers ten genuinely different picks: two puzzle games (a logic-based Sudoku and a daily German word puzzle), two tonally distinct roguelikes, three tabletop-strategy games, a location-based client, and two game-night utility tools.

Which open-source Android games work offline? Astro Loop, Wortmühle, and CBG are all explicitly described as offline in their own listings. The other games in this list don't make an explicit online/offline claim either way in their catalogue descriptions, so we're not asserting one for them here — though it's worth remembering Diadem specifically needs a connection to reach its third-party-hosted backend, as covered in its own section above.

Which games support multiplayer? 500 - Card game supports playing with friends online in addition to bots, and Navy Fleet Battle supports a two-player mode on the same device. The other games in this list are not described in their catalogue listings as supporting multiplayer.

Does Diadem work by itself? No. Diadem is a client only — it connects to a Diadem Map hosted by a third party, and has no function without one. If you don't already have a specific Diadem Map to connect to, there's nothing for the app to do.

What Android version does CBG require? Android 12.0 or newer — the strictest requirement of any game in this list, so it's worth checking your device before installing it.

What games does Eve Game Tracker support? Its listing names five specifically: Skat, Poker, Durak, Gambio, and Uno. It also supports adding custom games beyond that list.

Final Thoughts

None of these ten games is trying to be a universal answer to "what should I play." What this selection shows instead is how differently "game" can be interpreted in an open-source catalogue — from a logic puzzle to a horror roguelike to a tool that isn't a game at all but makes an actual board game night easier. Pick based on what you're actually after, check the prerequisites above before installing anything that needs one — CBG's Android version, Diadem's third-party backend requirement — and take the same install precautions you would with any APK from outside the Play Store.