Casual gaming's greatest hits.

The Game Room
1

Way back in the Dark Ages when I first played Soleau games, I didn’t know I was casual gaming. William Soleau has a lot to answer for, getting me hooked on playing simple, repetitive games right on my desk top. This here is a list of the games that drew me in further and further. If you’re into casual gaming, please give me your top 10 (or 5 or 20)

Mice Men
Balloon Challenge
Crusher Castle II

When I left behind DOS games, the first place I stumbled upon was Popcap. I can’t find the original version of Seven Seas but this version is exactly the same except for the improved graphics.

Seven Seas was fun but I could play it or leave it alone. It wasn’t until Rocket Mania that I got that first taste of MUST MAKE IT TO NEXT LEVEL craziness that kept me playing for hours without realizing exactly how much time I’d wasted.

I actually thought that my Rocket Mania playing was just a tiny bit obsessive but that was before I played Zuma, the first casual game I every spent money on. And then, when I finally, finally finished the last, invisible space level, I deleted it from my computer because, well, it was friggin crack in pixel form.

Never a fan of hidden object games, I didn’t think I’d rank one in my top fun list, and yet here are two.

Pure Hidden is here for its imaginative games and gorgeous visuals.

And Mortimer Beckett and the Lost King. Enjoyed that one so much, I went searching for more Mortimer Becketts.

And finally, the game that I am obsessing over right now. I think it straddles casual and non-casual gaming in a Sims/Age of Empires kind of way, Virtual Villagers: Tree of Life. As soon as I finish this, I will be looking for the others.

O.K., now you!

2

Bejeweled and Bejeweled Blitz are always good contenders. I can play it for hours and days in a row and then never touch it again for months. But the next time I do, Im instantly addicted for the next few days again.

3

I think Tetris has got to be the king.

4

Uh, Plants vs Zombies. The end. :stuck_out_tongue:

5

Peggle, most definitely.

I’m also weirdly fond of the Emily-Delicious games. I love the little storylines. Delicious 4 had a nice little feature, instead of cut scenes, the “story” was animated with the in-game characters.

I had a lot of fun with Build-A-Lot 1 and 2. I was obsessed with “exceeding” the goals. For example, I would decide that all houses must be painted.

One game I though was surprisingly good was Totem Tribe. It was a free-for-one-day download, and I didn’t expect much. It mixes building troops with hidden objects, with an occasional puzzle thrown in. The hidden objects weren’t what I expected - it’s searching for 30 shells, or 30 crystals. I got quite obsessed with the game, and lately I’ve been wanting to play it through again.

Finally, I have to mention Deep Quest, which is a blatant Starcraft rip-off. It doesn’t have nearly enough levels (only 10, I think.) Still, Starcraft rip-off! Yay!

6

No-one’s gone for Puzzle Quest yet? Player v. computer Bejewelled with RPG elements?

For shame, people - it’s the game that the iPhone was made for.

7

Pocket Tanks is a good one.

I’d also recommend the sites Armor Games, Gamedesign, and Orisinal.

You may never be productive again.

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Nethack

9

Minesweeper.
Don’t even deny it.