A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. Historically, the term refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to handheld game console, portable media player or graphing calculator, with and without networkability.[1] The earliest known game on a mobile phone was a Tetris variant on the Hagenuk MT-2000 device from 1994.
In 1997, Nokia launched the very successful Snake. Snake (and its variants), that was preinstalled in most mobile devices manufactured by Nokia, has since become one of the most played games and is found on more than 350 million devices worldwide. A variant of the Snake game for the Nokia 6110, using the infrared port, was also the first two-player game for mobile phones.
Today, mobile games are usually downloaded from an app store as well as from mobile operator's portals, but in some cases are also preloaded in the handheld devices by the OEM or by the mobile operator when purchased, via infrared connection, Bluetooth, or memory card, or side loaded onto the handset with a cable.
