What do subways, buses, waiting rooms, and boring meetings all have in common? They are all places where you desperately need a match-three app to keep yourself entertained. When you don't feel like reading or texting, pull out your iPhone or iPad and play a match-three game. They require very little brainpower and make a good distraction when you're otherwise bored or restless. Take a look at our top five picks for must-have match-three games.

#5 – Babo Crash

If you like Bejeweled, you'll love Babo Crash. Essentially, Babo Crash takes the Bejewelled concept and adds several other elements that make Babo Crash, in the words of one reviewer at the App Store, “like Bejewelled on steroids”. As you match similar jewels, you create “superheroes” that come onto the screen and clear multiple pieces away for you. However, if you're not careful you can also create powerful enemies that interfere with your strategies and lose points for you, so you have to be on the ball and stay sharp to prevent these enemies from taking over your screen.

#4 – SteamBalls

In SteamBalls, you try to match at least three balls in horizontal rows, but there's a twist. The more balls you add to a column, the more the position of the balls shifts as you “weigh it down”. In other words, you have to strategize not just where the balls are, but you have to take into account the weight you add to any given column. As a result, the board in SteamBalls is constantly on the move as you add and take away the balls, making it more challenging than your average match-three puzzle game.

#3 – Booooly!

In Booooly!, you match three or four colored faces together to move them off your screen. Move fast, though: new rows of boooolies are added every few seconds, and if they reach the line on the top of the screen, you'll die. However, what really sets Booooly! apart from other match-three games is the multiplayer mode. With wifi or bluetooth, you can go head-to-head with a friend. As you match four boooolies together, it takes them off your screen and puts them onto your opponent's screen.

WARNING: Our number two and number one picks for must-have match-three apps do something new and unusual for the genre: these games blur the line betwen the RPG genre and the match-three or puzzle genre.

#2 – chronoSgear

In chronoSgear, gameplay is essentially a match-three puzzle, but at the same time there's a backstory that's not unlike a Japanese manga. You fight different foes, have the option to run, and you complete tasks for a dangerous gang. In essence, chronoSgear takes the best of the match-three genre and the best of the RPG genre and blends them together into one very fun app.

#1 – Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night

Ever since old-school Nintendo, the Castlevania franchise has been winning fans all over the globe. This Castlevania-themed match-three game is the first Castlevania game for the iPhone and iPad. Imagine something like Tetris set inside the context of a Castlevania plot. Although it's not exactly the same as the original Castlevania, you still collect items, equipment, spells, and honors as you advance through the different levels.

All in all, you'll love these five match-three games, and you'll never have to sit bored in a waiting room again.