Congrats on your sexy new Android-powered device!

Whether you’re an iOS veteran testing the Android waters with a Nexus 7 tablet or a non-techie that just ended up with a Samsung smartphone because that’s what the Verizon store recommended, you’ve now joined the ranks of hundreds of millions of other Android users.

You’ve probably already downloaded apps for Facebook and Twitter, something for music and photos, maybe a chat app... but let’s be honest. You’re going to spend a lot of time playing games on this thing.

This is where IGN comes in. With more than 100,000 Android games on the market, there’s undoubtedly a few for you, whether you just want to kill some time with a simple word game or own every console and have always thought all mobile games were just too casual.

So, let me explain - no there is too much. Let me sum up. Here’s the scoop on Android games:

Controllers

Casual gamers won’t ever need to consider a dedicated controller for Android gaming. Touch screens work just fine for... just about everything. In fact, more and more game makers are finally figuring out how to build intuitive and fun games built from the ground-up with touch in mind.

Serious gamers might want to consider a controller.

But if you’re a core gamer that simply can’t abide touch controls? As you wish. You should consider grabbing an Android controller. Plenty are available, and for now there isn’t a clear must-have option. It boils down to how much money you want to spend, how big and heavy the controller can be, and which games are support.

We’re big fans of the MOGA. It’s small, light, and feels great. At $50 it’s a little on the pricy side, but you get what you pay for. Curious gamers should check out our full review.

Other controller options:

GameKlip - ($20)

Use your existing PS3 controller for Android gaming.

SteelSeries FREE - ($60)

A great, but pricy option. Cost is the only real downside.

Nyko PlayPad Pro - ($40)

A slightly more affordable option from Nyko that is still totally competent.

Five Must-Download Games

Enough foreplay - let’s talk about the games! You can’t go wrong with any of these five excellent choices. All five can be nabbed for just $7. What are you waiting for?

Cut the Rope - ($0.99)

Don’t be fooled by Cut the Rope’s friendly graphics or cartoony, candy-loving mascot Om Nom. This is a serious puzzle game.

Each of the game’s 250+(!!) stages give gamers a devilish new puzzle to solve. Casual gamers can satisfy themselves just by poking, prodding, and yes, cutting each level’s gadgets until they successfully get the candy into the eagerly awaiting mouth of Om Nom. But more serious puzzle gamers will get hooked trying to collect each stage’s three optional stars in the process.

Cut the Rope brilliantly keeps gamers on their toes by introducing new gadgets and gameplay twists. Gravity-flipping switches, candy teleporters, moving fans, and plenty more keep the puzzling gameplay fresh.

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Plants vs. Zombies - ($0.99)

Popcap’s Plants vs. Zombies has grown into a bona-fide cultural phenomenon over the years, but it wasn’t always this way. PvZ started out as “just” a super-fun, accessible, polished lane defense game with a demented sense of humor.

It’s simple enough for hesitant gamers to jump in and have fun, but ramps up slowly and steadily until you’re furiously tapping to keep zombie football players at bay with perfectly-placed plants.

PvZ has come to every game platform under the sun, but it arguably feels most at home on mobile. Placing plants and collecting currency feels great on a touch screen, and the bite-sized stages are perfect for killing time.

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Bad Piggies - (Free)

Rovio’s Angry Birds might get all the attention, but its spin-off Bad Piggies is actually the better game. The brilliance of Bad Piggies is that players get to invent the solution to each puzzle instead of just discovering it.

At the beginning of each stage you build madcap vehicle to house your pig using parts like soda bottle rocket jets, umbrella parachutes, and toilet plunger “grappling hooks.” When built right, these vehicles will satisfyingly trundle through the obstacle-laden path to the goal. But failure will put a smile on your face too, thanks to the Disney-esque cartoony explosions and alarmed piggy expressions.

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Kingdom Rush - ($1.99)

Even though Kingdom Rush can at times be frustratingly tough, you’re all-but guaranteed to keep coming back for more. The game’s pop culture-laden humor, wealth of secrets & character upgrades, and completely fair balance will keep you coming back for more.

Kingdom Rush’s big secret (besides simply being super-polished and smile-inducing) is in its spot-on balance. You will lose some tough stages multiple times, but you always have an answer to whatever challenge the game throws at you. Packs of smaller enemies slip by you? Use more artillery. Flying enemies trip you up? Next time try more archers. It's a game that teaches you how to win, one level at a time.

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Rayman Jungle Run - ($2.99)

In any of Rayman Jungle Run’s 70+ levels you’ll swing over dangerous spikes, hover past bottomless pits, wall-jump into the sky to collect hidden medallions and plenty more - and you’ll do it all with a single finger. Jungle Run’s ingenious one-button controls create an exhilarating, fast-paced, skill-based platforming experience without dumbing things down. It’s a perfect example of how to do a touch-screen platformer right.

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Jungle Run also deftly recreates the gorgeous and whimsical visuals found in its console big brother. The cheerful music, fantastical painterly visuals and perfect controls make the it the best mobile platformer available on Android.

Plenty More Winning Choices

With more than 100,000 total games on the Google Play store, there truly is something for everyone. The great thing about the five picks above is that you can’t go wrong with any of them - they’ll provide hours of fun for gamers casual or hardcore, young or old. Below we’ve put together a list of more Android gaming greats that probably won't appeal to everyone, but you might want to give a shot.

This isn’t a comprehensive list of Android greats (if it was we’d be keeping you here all week), but it is a great starting-off point to fill your phone or tablet with even more gaming goodness.

Word Games

Words with Friends - Zynga’s social, turn-based take on Scrabble is incredibly addictive.

Hanging with Friends - Same social turn-based addictiveness found in WwF, now applied to Hangman.

Spelltower - Letter blocks fall from the top of the screen into a well, Tetris-style. Spell words to eliminate them.

Boggle - One of the original word games now available in digital form, courtesy of EA.

Puzzle Games

Triple Town - A match-three puzzler with a twist. Your matches build homes, castles and more.

Zookeeper DX - Swap blocks to make matches, Bejeweled-style. Plenty of play modes will keep you busy for hours.

Puzzle Craft - Complete puzzle minigames to earn resources that help you grow and nurture a village.

Flow Free - Puzzle minimalism at its best. No fancy sound or graphics, just hundreds of tricky line-drawing puzzles to solve.

Action / Arcade

Super Hexagon - Notoriously hard. You’ll play for hours, never lasting longer than 30 seconds.

Funky Smugglers - Funky airport security fun. Remove smuggled grenades and other dangerous objects all to a fantastic funk beat.

Fruit Ninja - The quintessential time-killer. Slice fruit with your finger. Avoid bombs. So simple. So zen. So brilliant.

Flight Control - draw lines from plane to runway to help them land safely. Easy... until there are dozens of planes landing at once.

Endless Runners

Temple Run - Swipe up, down, left and right to avoid obstacles in arguably the biggest endless runner of them all.

Into the Dead - Tilt to avoid zombies in PikPok’s atmospheric first-person runner.

Punch Quest - Jump button? Who needs a jump button? Rocketcat’s take on endless running just has TWO punch buttons.

Canabalt - Perhaps the original endless runner, Canabalt is still fast fluid fun.

Gravity Guy - Floor giving way? Swap gravity to run on the ceiling in Miniclip’s addictive runner.

Shooters

Modern Combat 4 - A compelling Call of Duty clone on your phone? Inconceivable!

Shadowgun - A sci-fi cover shooter from Madfinger Games.

N.O.V.A. 3 - Gameloft’s take on Halo-style sci-fi FPS action.

Dead Trigger - Freemium zombie blasting with plenty of weapons and stages.

Dead Space - EA’s mobile dead space spinoff is more than a cash-in. Creepy, intense fun.

RPG

Final Fantasy III - Square’s FF III port is pricy, but this is the full jRPG 3D remake.

Chrono Trigger - If you never played this all-time great, now is the time.

Magicka - Mix and match elemental magic to make your own spells.

Chaos Rings - Square-Enix’s biggest original RPG adventure to hit mobile yet.

Knights of Pen and Paper - Play as a group of kids... sitting around a table playing Dungeons & Dragons. Super cute, super fun.

Adventure

Machinarium - Machinarium’s puzzles can be maddeningly hard, but the incredible artwork makes up for any frustrations.

Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery - A monumental achievement in art and design. A must-play for the soundtrack alone.

The Room - Creepy, clever, and wholly unique. Who knew little puzzle boxes could hide so many challenges?

Broken Sword - The mega-hit 90s adventure game redone and enhanced.

Parting Advice

Amazon vs. Google

Google Play isn’t the only place to grab big Android games. Amazon also offers more than 50,000 apps. This is a much smaller selection than Google, but virtually all of the biggest and best games are available in both marketplaces. So poke around both and feel free to use whichever appeals to you the most.

One feather in Amazon’s cap is its free app of the day promotion. Every day a paid Android app is available free-of-charge. Nice!

Free Doesn’t Always Mean Free

There are free games, then there are “free” games. Most free Android games fall into one of three categories 1) those that are truly free - just download and enjoy! 2) Those that are free but supported with ads - can be annoying and battery-draining. 3) Games that claim to be free but will eventually force you to pay up to have fun.

It’s this third category you need to look out for. There’s nothing wrong with a game offering a free demo but then asking you to pay up to experience the full game - developers have to make a living, after all. But gamers just need to keep in mind that often paying $1 - 5 up front for a high-quality, lengthy mobile gaming experience is often a better option than downloading a bunch of sketchy free alternatives that may or may not end up asking money from you anyway.

Watch for sales!

Finally, patient Android owners can take advantage of some pretty crazy sales to grab great games on-the-cheap. Big games go free on Amazon on a regular basis as we mentioned earlier. Additionally, around big holidays like Christmas, companies will drum up buzz with big game discounts.

How big? A while back to celebrate 10-billion app downloads a variety of games were available for just 10 cents . Great games for just a dime are pretty darn hard to beat.

There are too many great Android gaming options to list them all here, but hopefully this will help serve as a starting-off point for new Android owners. If your personal great Android game pick wasn't included, leave a note below to help out your fellow gamer!Justin Davis is the second or third best-looking Editor at IGN. You can follow him on Twitter at @ErrorJustin and on IGN