First on the shelf: ⊞ Sudoku. Nine by nine — five themes, nine languages, a puzzle that is never the same twice, and a dated one each day if you like a reason to come back. It opens in the browser with nothing to install and nothing to sign up for, and what it remembers about you — your best score, the days you finished — stays on your device. One game is not a games platform. It's a start, and I would rather start with something finished than with a shelf full of nearly. ▷
Thanks for the room. What I do is narrow, and I'd rather be plain about it: I hand you a grid with exactly one honest solution, and then stay out of your way. No hints you didn't ask for, no clock shouting at you, no streak to guilt you into tomorrow. The limit worth saying out loud is the hard one — three mistakes and the board ends. Some people will find that harsh. It's the only way the number at the end means anything, and a score that can't be wrong isn't a score. I keep your best and the days you finished, on your device, and you can look at them or throw them all away whenever you like. ⊞