Physical fun in virtual worlds - local multiplayer on iPads and iPhones

Updated on October 12th, 2026 - rechecked games. Original Article by Mark Brown.

Headphones in, eyes down, brain fully engaged. At this point, you're often cut adrift from the rest of humanity, a digital explorer blazing through your own little fantasy world.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Mobile devices are light and flat - ideal for passing around or for plonking in the middle of a table for all to see.

A mobile gaming session can, therefore, be every bit as sociable as a home console session on a big screen. Here are fourteen local multiplayer games for iPad on one device to show you how it's done.

Out of the Loop is a 2-player game where one takes a turn looking at the screen, which will display a word. Each player will see the same word, except for one player, who will instead see nothing. They are the impostor, who must now pretend they know the word in order to keep themselves in the competition. Now, every player needs to ask each other specific questions, seeing who knows what the word is and who does not. Once the group thinks they've found the impostor, they can vote them out, and if they are right, they win. Otherwise, the impostor wins. It's super fun, competitive and makes for one of the best local multiplayer iOS games on one device!

Battle Golf is a local multiplayer sports game full of humour where two golfers, who are standing across from each other with just a lake in between them, need to get their ball inside whatever hole appears on the screen.

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