Each card below is a game we tended for weeks rather than an afternoon. Two are proper farms with deep markets, one is a garden, one a horse ranch, one a sprawling zoo, and one a bright, cheerful farmyard with seasonal stories. They are ranked by how much joy they gave back for the time we gave them.
Start here01A garden game of beds, watering cans and customers queuing at the fence. You start with bare soil, battle weeds and aphids, and gradually unlock honey, a medicinal herb garden, monster fruit and trained gnomes. Trading and guilds keep it sociable, and it plays in a browser or an app.
Planner's favourite02Plain to look at, rich underneath. My Free Farm gives you 32 fruits and vegetables, fodder plants for your barn, cows, chickens, sheep and bees, and a chain of products from cheese to wool balls. Farmers' clubs, a marketplace and 45 levels give the planning a long road to travel.
Estate builder03Goodgame Studios' long-running farm, first released for browsers in 2012, is about steady expansion: more than 45 buildings and upgrade levels, more than 90 products, chickens, cows and pigs, and over 100 decorations. Cooperatives, research and frequent events give the long haul something to aim at.
Sunniest farm04Bigpoint's bright, light-hearted farm is all ploughing, sowing and watering, with a crowded farmyard of chickens, rabbits, goats, sheep, pigs, turkeys, bees and horses, plus odd special breeds. Baking and confectioning, market trading, decorating and a stream of seasonal stories round it out.
Biggest menagerie05A classic zoo-building game with over 300 animals to collect, from red foxes and wild boar to big cats, exotic birds, fish and marine mammals. Build savanna and mountain enclosures, aviaries and terrariums, fill the troughs, clean up, and breed rare species in the breeding centre.
For horse lovers06upjers' ranch game puts the horses first: feed, groom and breed Hanoverians, Arabians, Appaloosas, Quarter Horses and Shetland ponies, welcome new foals, and build stables, pastures and riding areas. Guests stay in lodges and ride, and friends can ride out with you. Browser, plus an app.
