Asklemmy

I’ve bookmarked all the game suggestions in this thread myself, but haven’t tried any of them yet other than Sudoku. I have the Sudoku.com app.

Badland is a good time-killing game. Having headphones and playing with sound adds to the experience. Not sure if I paid for that one or not.

Minesweeper is a classic one that I don’t think requires internet connection.

Slither.io requires internet but is also a decent time killer.

Airline Commander is one that I’ve downloaded but haven’t tried yet. Airplane simulator that looks interesting.

This is just going through my Games folder on my Home Screen and thinking of which ones I’d play in your situation.

Download a textbook on a topic you're interested in and read it, see how much you can learn by the time you land

Airports are near cities. Go do tourist things in the city.

Go outside and sit with the smokers.

Smokers talk. Everyone's equal in the smoke pit. You can meet some really interesting people that way.

A few hours of secondhand smoke won't kill you. Otherwise humanity would have gone extinct in the 70s.

Last time I was stuck, I downloaded the Lemuroid emulator and went on to explore retro games. Phantasy Star IV was quite rad.

This is the perfect moment to write a short story

Pretty sure your username is how you kill 20 hours.

Is starting a conversation with someone an option?

Brotato, if you are using an android device.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brotato.shooting.survivors.action.roguelike

Put an alarm and sleep.

Do lots of drugs

Fuck, I could use 20 hours where there's nothing that could guilt me into feeling I could be spending my time better than gaming. Go find a nice comfy couch somewhere and just veg man, enjoy your freedom from responsibility for 20 hours. Won't happen often.

If you could get a rubix cube or something at the airport, (which seems plausible) could be a lot of time spent on learning how to do it if you download instructions beforehand.

Learn Chess!

Lifelong pain at a mediocre level guaranteed!

Super neat game though.

If you truly didn’t enjoy Stardew Valley, then never mind ignore this. If you felt like it had potential but it just didn’t grab you, I’d suggest giving it another shot. It hooks some people immediately but it is a bit of a slow burn for others. It’s beloved by its cult following for a reason. But again, if you didn’t like it then that’s totally legit.

If you like puzzle games, The Witness is another exceptional PC game that was impressively preserved in its entirety when it came out on mobile. The visuals are stunning (though you may not get the absolute best experience on a small phone screen, but still) and it’s got a well-earned reputation for being one of those fully-suck-you-in-lose-track-of-all-sense-of-time games.

Read webtoons!

Buy a fat book.

Talk to people? Does the airplane have a bar? Even if you don't drink there's probably people there willing to have some conversations.

If you can get an emulator on your phone you can play old games. Nealy endless hours of fun to be had. I recommend lemuroid and Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past.

Learn chess

I probably sound very traditional but… talk to someone? Make some friends? Call someone?

It won't kill the full 20 hours, but 2 great mobile games that I like without the gambling bullshit: Vampire Survivors and Siralim Ultimate. The first one is free, so just try it. The second one is a monster training RPG where you can make sick combos and synergies.

If you’re an iPhone user and intrigued by mobile games, go subscribe to Apple Arcade for a month. There are a ton of fantastic games without the bs freemium shit. Monument Valley and Alto’s Adventure (and their respective alternative titles) are great starters. I’m also a big fan of Good Sudoku which will teach you techniques to get better at solving them.

I’m sure you can get a lot better recommendations on current Apple Arcade games from social media or hopefully here on lemmy.

I rarely play mobile games, but here's one that I quite like when I need to kill time or be active while media is in the background: Auralux 2.

I initially thought that the game wasn't properly weighted for difficulty, but then found that I just needed to adapt my strategy. I can complete most levels in 2-3 minutes, though some might take 4-7 depending on how it breaks (I play on the fastest setting after getting good at it on normal speed).

I pick it up when my partner pauses to get a snack, go to the bathroom, or take an important call. I can set it down as soon as she's ready because there's no real stakes; I'm really just competing with myself to score faster and faster "best" times. I also play it while listening to podcasts if I can't be physically active (or when I'm lazy).

I play on iOS. Not sure if it's on Android.

Duolingo. Then start texting your family in the new language that you learned that you forgot how to speak normally because of the delay time warp.