# So, casual games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [July 14, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983 "2009-07-14T14:55:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/1 "2009-07-14T14:55:06Z")
I’ve read a bit over the last couple years about casual games, and I’ve been trying to find good ones. The ones I remember are: Monster’s Den Desktop TD Pro Popcap games like – I went to their site and couldn’t find the games I liked any more. Oasis Plus I played some real obscure ones that might qualify as casual games, like DoomRL. I figure that even the full roguelikes count as casual games because the system requirements are so low, but that’s only once you get past the learning curve. OK, so I probably just geeked past any casual gamers, but the other day I downloaded the demo for a game called Artists Colony. For X amount of money you could play the rest, and the production values were good. Some of the game values were, too, kept me going for 90 minutes. But I thought it would get to be too railroad or one track or so, events happened regardless where the pieces were. Seemed like on the site I found that game on there were heaps of games. My question is which of this pay to download generation of games are worth playing? I’ve already wrote this once, this software is a pain in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/2 "2009-07-14T15:42:47Z")
Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook will _eat your life_. It’s totally free and doesn’t even require a download, if you’re at work, if you know what I’m sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/3 "2009-07-14T20:26:50Z")
I generally don’t get into casual games because they’re generally short on content, highly repetitive, and not that much more than you could get from many java games available for free online. But… some have gotten me interested: [Plants vs. Zombies](http://www.popcap.com/games/pvz/?icid=plantsvszombies_HP_DL_1_8_19_08_en) Puzzle Quest Puzzle Quest: Galatrix Bookworm Adventures Dice Wars Rogue-like games are not casual. There is no precise definition, but the further you get from something your gradma might play, the less casual it is. Unless your grandma is Nanny Nerdlinger from Nerdvania, Geekistan, she isn’t going to ascend in Nethack. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/4 "2009-07-16T13:24:04Z")
I can’t see any of my elderly female relatives playing Desktop TD Pro or Monster’s Den, either. I think I must be looking for something other than a casual game. What I’d like is a management, strategy, or dungeon crawl game that’s quick to play. Something like Settlers of Catan, but I haven’t played it a hundred times. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/5 "2009-07-16T14:22:21Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Dice Wars There’s also [kDice](http://kdice.com/), a Flash-based multiplayer version of Dice Wars which ate my free time for a good number of months. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/6 "2009-07-16T17:58:03Z")
Quick Quack at [pogo.com](http://pogo.com) is a horrid time sink. And Boomshine…don’t get me started on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/7 "2009-07-16T18:16:00Z")
Try [www.onemorelevel.com](http://www.onemorelevel.com) Tons and tons of free, good, quick games. Whatever you do, don’t play DiceWars or Shopping Street or Onslaught… You will lose days of your life… ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/8 "2009-07-17T02:31:20Z")
Plants Vs. Zombies is excellent. I highly recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/9 "2009-07-20T14:54:06Z")
I checked out Dice Wars at the onemorelevel site, and it was OK. I’d played Shopping Street before and will try to remember Onslaught, thanks Sateryn76. Is Plants vs Zombies really that much better than other tower defence games? Seems like there’s a billion of those. I mentioned TD Pro, but I’ve also played Protector and Bloons, various versions. Are there any builder casual games? I know Shopping Street sorta is, anything closer to the old Impressions games like Pharaoh and Zeus? ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/10 "2009-07-20T14:58:41Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > I checked out Dice Wars at the onemorelevel site, and it was OK. I’d played Shopping Street before and will try to remember Onslaught, thanks Sateryn76. > > Is Plants vs Zombies really that much better than other tower defence games? Seems like there’s a billion of those. I mentioned TD Pro, but I’ve also played Protector and Bloons, various versions. > > Are there any builder casual games? I know Shopping Street sorta is, anything closer to the old Impressions games like Pharaoh and Zeus? Have you ever been able to beat, say, the third level on the third city in Shopping Street? I cannot, and it drives me crazy… ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/11 "2009-07-20T18:44:40Z")
[http://jayisgames.com/](http://jayisgames.com/) is an excellent review/portal site for casual games. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/12 "2009-07-20T20:56:21Z")
My name is jayjay, and I’m a Hidden Object obsessive. (“Hi, jayjay!”) Big Fish is my god. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/13 "2009-07-21T16:08:37Z")
[QUOTE=Dave Hartwick] Is Plants vs Zombies really that much better than other tower defence games? Seems like there’s a billion of those. I mentioned TD Pro, but I’ve also played Protector and Bloons, various versions. [/quote] I can’t speak to any other tower defense games, but I downloaded the demo to Plants vs. Zombies, and played through it three times. Suddenly I found myself, _mirabile dictu_, paying money for a Pop Cap game. And since they give you a license to install it on five computers, my wife has also been playing it and we’ve had a lot of esoteric conversations about garlic placement and zombies with pickaxes. So, I’d say we’ve gotten $20 worth of enjoyment out of it. I’m thinking I might actually pay for Bookworm Adventures next. After all, Mass Effect 2 isn’t coming out for forever, and Puzzle Quest: Galactrix turned out to be stupid easy while it isn’t crashing. ---
**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/14 "2009-07-21T16:42:36Z")
[http://www.playauditorium.com](http://www.playauditorium.com) - a great flash game with music and colors! ---
**Author:** ![straggler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@straggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straggler)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/15 "2009-07-21T17:17:46Z")
Plants vs Zombies, you say? There went two hours of my life. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/16 "2009-07-21T18:21:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Plants vs Zombies, you say? > > There went two hours of my life. Two hours? Did the power go down just on your block, or is your whole neighborhood blacked out? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-casual-games/502983/17 "2009-07-21T18:24:47Z")
I never even downloaded the demo for Plants vs. Zombies. I have not yet played a tower defense game that I enjoyed or wasn’t bored with, so I know I’m going to hate this one.