iPad mini Noob question: how to exit an app on iPad

iOS is nothing like android lol most games on quit suspend and you can resume by relaunching. If its left a while it will quit. Neither consume battery power.

You don't need to use the home button you can five finger pinch if guestures are enabled

 

Five finger death punch! \m/\m/

In order for an app not to suspend when you hit the home button, it has to do one of a few things; either play music (Pandora, Rdio, Spotify, Amazon Cloud Player), use GPS (Navigon, Google Maps), or request extra time to close down cleanly.

If an app doesn't use any of the special multitasking APIs to enable the above features, it gets suspended in RAM the second you hit the button or use the gesture.

[Edit]
Apple even includes comments in AppDelegate.m specifically pointing out to developers which method to use to suspend their game so they know where to save state before being backgrounded.

 

First either press the home button or use a five finger inward pinch to go to the home screen then either double press the home button or swipe up from the bottom of the screen with five fingers. Now you will see a line of apps hold your finger down on anyone until they start shaking, then press the little red minus symbol on the ones you want to quit.