Chillingo's Parking Mania Free makes the dullest thing you can do with a car fun

Parking Mania challenges players with the most mundane of activities — parking.

Players start with simple maneuvering into parking spaces, but the game gradually increases the challenge with moving traffic and more intricately designed parking lots. Sometimes players will have to navigate through city streets before arriving at the parking lot.

The game features three different control schemes including accelerometer control, a virtual on-screen steering wheel and slider controls. Players are likely to find at least one of these control systems that is to their taste, and the sensitivity and handedness of the controls can also be adjusted as the player desires.

The game monetizes through full-screen advertisements which pop up every few levels. There is a short delay before players are able to dismiss them, so those wishing to progress through the game more quickly may wish to remove them through the $.99 in-app purchase available on the game’s title screen. Players also have the option of purchasing a “Golden Car” upgrade which makes it harder to fail, and there are also two $.99 level packs available for purchase for those who complete the included 60 levels. Players can also buy additional lives with in-game currency earned through completing levels. But there is no way to acquire this in-game currency through in-app purchases. As such, if players want additional stocks of lives, they must actually play the game.

The game’s social features include integration with both Game Center and Crystal’s leaderboards and achievement functionality. Players can also promote the game via both Facebook and Twitter. The game’s Twitter support does not make use of iOS 5’s Twitter integration though. Players have to sign in via a standard OAuth dialog. There is a bug in the implementation of this dialog, making it impossible to cancel out of if players do not wish to sign in to Twitter through the app. It can, however, be circumvented by forcing the app to close or quitting it via the iOS multitasking bar.

At the time of writing, Parking Mania Free is at No. 9 in Top Free Apps and No. 7 in Top Free Games. Its separate iPad counterpart is placed at No. 213 in Top Free iPad Apps and No. 76 in Top Free iPad Games. To follow the games’ progress through the App Store charts, check out AppData, our tracking service for iOS and social games and developers.