6 essential Super Bowl party apps for less than $1

Throwing a Super Bowl party can be tricky, especially if you have a mixed group of die-hard football fans, bandwagon viewers and those who only came for the snacks and commercials.

How do you keep everyone happy, entertained and fed? We’ve compiled a list of timeless apps that will help you make the most of your Super Bowl party, whether you’re attending or hosting.

For Serious Fans and Party Hosts

NFL Mobile (Free, with in-app purchases)

For the most serious Super Bowl fanatic, this is the most obvious choice. NFL Mobile is rated the #1 Top Free Sports app on Google Play, providing game alerts, player updates, fantasy league info and up-to-date stats, as well as live streaming across a wide range of platforms. It also offers livestream of CBS and NBC playoff and Super Bowl game coverage and highlight videos from your favorite team. NFL Mobile is compatible with Android TV, Chromecast and other similar screencasting options for VOD, however livestream has some restrictions.

• Pros: Wide range of coverage and viewing options and TV Network affiliation to ensure you see what everyone else will be talking about at the water cooler on Monday.
• Cons: NFL app does not permit output from phones for live games via HDMI, Chromecast, Miracast or any other screen sharing options due to rights restrictions. Data usage rates apply to app and content, so you will probably need unlimited data if you plan to watch videos or live stream games.)

Game Day Recipes (Free)

For serious party hosts and tailgaters, Game Day Recipes is packed full of traditional and unique game day snack recipes. Browse by category or alphabetically, bookmark your favorites and add ingredients to the integrated shopping list. Plus, submit your own delicious game-day recipes! Bonus: this app is not just for the Super Bowl, but for all your sport-related party snacking needs.

• Pros: Shopping List
• Cons: Lots of ads. However, an ad-free version is available to purchase for $1.99.

The Super Bowl Trivia Challenge ($0.99)

Super Bowl Trivia Challenge offers both single-player and 2-4 player Party Mode. This is a simple, clean and fun quiz app that is compatible with Android TV. In Party mode, each player gets their own unique question to answer on their turn.

If there are more than 4 people in your group, form teams and answer together! There are no in-app purchases and content is family friendly.

• Pro: Simple design. Questions are not too hard, not too easy.
• Cons: The correct answer is not revealed after a player gets a question wrong.

For Bandwagon-ers and Casual Tailgaters

Football Livescore (Free)

This is diet version of the NFL mobile app, not affiliated with the NFL. Football Livescore provides a Super Bowl countdown in addition to live scores, provided by the fan-driven sports sharing platform ScoreStream (yay crowdsourcing!) that allows fans to track scores from thousands of games across the country.

Stats are included from the NFC and AFC championships, along with a wealth of Super Bowl History facts to study for your game-day quiz. Tap SBowl History to see the final score of all previous Super Bowl matches. Once there, tap on the final score of any game to find details about the host city, stadium, mid-game scores and most expensive commercial stats, plus National Anthem, coin-toss and half-time show performers.

• Pros: Quick-glance stats and history.
• Cons: None found.

League Football (Free, + optional in-app purchases)

Don’t know much about football, but kind of want to learn? Do you learn best with hands-on experience? League Football is the perfect game for you. Learn basic football strategy through trial and error by drawing plays on the screen and watching them play out.

Set and run custom plays by drawing your own plays on the field with straightforward tap and drag player controls. The games start with a simple 2-on-2 match-up.

With every victory you can earn more players, strength, agility and speed to be applied to individual players. Compete in Beginner, Amateur and Elite circuits as you increase the size and stamina of your team.

For a relatively simple lay-out, this app packs in plenty of fun and just enough strategic complexity to keep it interesting.

• Pros: Overall design. Sound FX.
• Cons: Ads. They aren’t crazy excessive compared with many free game apps, however some don’t offer a “skip ad” option and require watching an occassional 30s ad to keep it free.

Why it’s better than Stickman Football: Quieter. Lighter. You can run custom plays, and it doesn’t require profile info or a Google Play Games download to function.

Superb Owl (Free)

Technically titled “SuperbOwl 2015 Game,” this is a timeless bare bones game that’s as addictive as Angry Birds without all the fancy trappings and graphics. Tap the screen to make your Superb Owl fly through some trees without hitting a branch. That’s it. And that’s more than enough.

• Pros: Everything
• Cons: Time lost with family and friends because you’ve totally figured out the pattern now and can definitely beat this game if you just try one… more… time.

With an app menu like this, all of your guests will surely find their zone wether they’re a fanatic, foodie or friendly neighborhood gamer. But we aren’t the only ones who know how to throw an awesome Super Bowl party. Be sure to let us know your favorite game-day apps in the comments below!