The social gaming craze has been felt worldwide. The rapid proliferation of social media platforms like Facebook has enabled casual game developers to design and build social games with shared user experiences hosted within the framework of the Facebook application. In fact, many would consider Facebook’s social games to be one of its biggest wins alongside its impressive Facebook Marketplace portal.
According to Coherent Market Insights, the global social gaming market was worth $17.4 billion in 2019 and by 2027 it is forecast to be worth $57.44 billion at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.1%.
What’s great about social games on Facebook is that it requires very little gaming expertise or skill. You don’t need to be a proven sharpshooter or strategist to conquer these classic casual titles. If you’re sitting here wondering what all the fuss is about, we’ve put together five of Facebook’s most successful social games of all time that we implore you to try when you’re looking to unwind and have fun.
Candy Crush Saga
Candy Crush Saga was on the lips of every social gamer in the early 2010s, when the developer King unleashed this multi-coloured tile-matching game on the Facebook platform. A decade later, this addictive free-to-play game has become one of the legends of the puzzle social gaming genre. It proved so popular on Facebook that King opted to develop separate native apps for Android, iOS and Windows mobile gamers.
Top Eleven – Be a Football Manager
This football management sim is a must-have for football fans. It also has the face of the ‘Special One’, José Mourinho, emblazoned all over it, which only adds to the awesomeness that is Top Eleven – Be a Football Manager. Though it doesn’t quite have the bells and whistles of the likes of Sports Interactive’s Football Manager series, Top Eleven certainly has enough to keep you on the hook. Watch your team play in 3D, build your squad and stadium, and grow your club into a behemoth.
Zynga Poker
Zynga Poker is comfortably the most played poker social game on the Facebook platform. It’s considered one of the most notable free apps for Texas Hold’em, which allows people to compete for bragging rights risk-free at the tables. Released way back in 2008 around the peak of the online poker boom, Zynga Poker was considered the most popular poker room on the planet in 2011, when it had some 38 million active players. It’s still hugely popular today, with weekly jackpots and leaderboards driving that competitive spirit among casual card sharks.
Songpop
Music fans unite – Songpop is one of the most addictive casual social games of all time on Facebook. It’s a game that puts your musical knowledge firmly to the test. Go head-to-head with friends or loved ones in a race against the clock. You’ll compete across different musical genres, battling to guess the name of the tune as quickly as possible. The quicker you guess the tune, the more points you rack up. New songs are added almost weekly, which helps to keep things fresh.
Farmville
Experience the weird and wonderful life of a farmhand in Zynga’s agriculture-related sim, Farmville. Released in 2009, you’ll be tasked with tending to your very own farmland, attempting to plough the land before planting and harvesting your very own crops to maintain your farm’s sustainability. FarmVille was so popular that Zynga even released FarmVille 2 more recently, which has a more contemporary user interface, but we thoroughly recommend starting with the original.