Small games that are fun but completely unchallenging/frustrating.

[Brendan]

I sometimes feel the need to play something completey bubblegummy with little substance that I can pick up and play for half an hour after a shitty day at work and just enjoy. For example I've had one of those hot, humid, rough, frustrating days, I've already snapped at the wife and kicked the cat and I'm going to put my fist through my monitor if something frustrates me.

Does anyone have any PC game recommendations for me? I normally fire up the old ZX Spectrum emulator but it's been a long week so far and tonight I'm in the mood for something different.

[Shiroko]

Well, not much help but vista has a good mahjong... :)

[curst]

Maybe try some of Kenta Cho's (http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~cs8k-cyu/index_e.html) games - they're mostly old-school shootemups but there's an exception or two. I find them trance-inducing thanks to the minimalist art and groovy music. Just try not to worry if you wind up sucking at them.

[JD]

Orisinal (http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/) is awesome for quick diversion.

-Julian

[Nick Walter]

I used to use Gunbound for this until my wife accused me of getting too catass about it.

[tromik]

Crackdown. Even if you take on the missions you should be ok, but just spend time getting agility orbs and scaling large builsings.

Tony Hawk's P8 is great for relaxing, too.

[RickH]

I find Feeding Frenzy soothing. It's like a fishtank with a bit of action.

[John Many Jars]

Orisinal (http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/) is awesome for quick diversion.

-Julian

Whoa! That is a great bunch of minigames!

[MrLipid]

D.N.A. (http://www.merscom.com/arcade/dna/) is a great distraction.

[Michael Fitch]

Greetings:
Here are some of my favorite "quick hit" games, fun and finished in 30 minutes or less:
Nanaca Crash (http://homepage.mac.com/pockyrevolution/nanaca_crash.html)
Xplorers (Settlers) (http://games.asobrain.com/index.html)
Flash Tower Defense (http://novelconcepts.co.uk/FlashElementTD/)

Best,
Michael.

[lesslucid]

"Seiklus" is nice in that, as an exploration game, you just wander around finding things. So there's none of the frustration of trying to achieve something and fail...

...a game that for a long time was my default zoning-out game is Overgod, by Linley Henzell, although it can be quite frustrating, in its own way.

[Enduro_Man]

I've been wasting a good deal of time listening to music while playing Pop Cap's Big Money. There's some strategy to it, but it really comes down to clicking your mouse really fast. The games don't last too long, and it's not very frustrating when you lose. (When a particular game goes badly, you can see it coming from a long way off.) Most importantly, I find the jingly noises of the vanishing coins relaxing.

[McBain]

If only for the sake of your cat and your monitor, I will spare you the snarky reply.

If you have GameTap, I recommend finding a reasonably simple arcade game that doesn't have a lot of cheap shots. "The King of Dragons," for example, is a great one. Just remember to pick the fighter. Pretty damn easy game, and fun to boot.

ZUMA is awesome. I love that game. Loads of fun. I used to have it on my PDA, when I still used my PDA. It's quite easy at the early levels, but gets tough later on. Still, it's the sort of game that really doesn't piss you off in the least when you lose. Shit, I want to go play it right now, actually. I think I will.

And it might not be small, but how about X-Men Legends? I found this game ridiculously easy, but man was it fun. Great beat 'em up. If you ever find the game challenging, just switch Jean Grey + Storm into your team and it'll instantly be a cakewalk. Good times. Disclaimer: I played the GameCube version.

Gonna go play ZUMA now, bye.

[Rimbo]

Any of the classic coin-op games. I have Namco Museum on the GBA, and it hits the spot well.

[Talisker]

Orisinal (http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/) is awesome for quick diversion.

-Julian
Seconded. Absolutely fantastic site.

[jpinard]

My wife and I have started playing a few smaller games for when we need a short/simple diversion as well.
Some of the ones we enjoy(ed):

* Virtual Villagers
* Naval Conflict (Battleship clone with a campaign if you want it) - it's fun.
* Fish Tycoon
* Master of Defense

* Astral Masters is fun, but difficult.

[nabeel]

Spheres of Chaos (http://www.spheresofchaos.com/)

[Enduro_Man]

Emulated arcade games are definitely good for a stress-free quick fix. If you're running them on MAME, you can ratchet down the tension by remembering to head into the operator menu and setting everything to easy, or giving yourself the most number of lives. Yeah, I know you're not stuffing real quarters into your PC, but why have the added stress of seeing GAME OVER every few minutes?

For relaxing time, try breezing through a light gun game like Lethal Enforcers 2.

[Prodigy]

Netstorm (http://www.netstormhq.com/news.php). And it works great under XP too !

[Khelavaster]

Fizzball is Professor Fizzwizzle's second adventure and it's absolutely charming.

A mix of Katamari Damacy & Arkanoid, it's friendly, colorful, addictive and kids will love it. A near-perfect game all around if you can get past the cutesy.

--Khel

[Misguided]

Bejeweled on infinite mode.

[Brendan]

I tried installing Feeding Frenzy but a brief squizz through the EULA scared me off. I just want to confirm, does it or doesn't it install any third party shit I neither want nor need?

[Vic Davis]

Weird Worlds For the Win! +1 Yeah Baby!

www.digital-eel.com

Have a cosmic adventure in 15 minutes and support your local indie as well

[Kirian]

Seconded. Absolutely fantastic site.
Ferry Halim creates the most relaxing games. I found out [recently] that the theme tune to High Delivery and the game itself were dedicated to the children of Beslan.

[Shadari]

I recommend Quake 3. Play against bots... maybe use a mod like Rail Arena or something. Good stuff!

[RickH]

I tried installing Feeding Frenzy but a brief squizz through the EULA scared me off. I just want to confirm, does it or doesn't it install any third party shit I neither want nor need?

Not sure, I've got the XBLA version.

[Ch. Hasslbauer]

Netstorm (http://www.netstormhq.com/news.php). And it works great under XP too !
I can't believe it! People are still playing Netstorm!
I still love this game to pieces. Almost ten years ago, I played this a lot with friends. (Never on the internet though). Fantastic game which had sadly little financial success IIRC. The music is also pure genius, and the setting very atmospheric. It's about flying fortified islands in battle, struggling for magic power sources. The ultimate goal was to capture the enemy high priest and sacrifice him on your altar in order to gain a new weapon for future games.

Is there anybody here interested in giving this a go? I'm not particularly good, I promise.

[Phydeaux]

Have you tried the Supreme Commander demo on "Hard"?

[forgeforsaken]

Orisinal (http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/) is awesome for quick diversion.

-Julian

Yeah I love that site. I wonder how it would work on the Wii browser, I'll need to check it out that way.

[scotthal]

Tranquility (http://www.tqworld.com/) and Rez in Traveller Mode.

[zx81-Amd64]

I could have posted the Battle for Wesnoth thread here instead - it might be a little too big though?

[Kirian]

Cloud (http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/) by Jenova Chen. It's as relaxing as possible for a game. A little hint: the middle mouse button enables free-flight in three dimensions. Such a wonderful, joyous little game.

[Moore]

Symphony of the Night, 1st castle, is pretty relaxing, good music and you cant really die or lose much.

[jpinard]

Weird Worlds For the Win! +1 Yeah Baby!

www.digital-eel.com

Have a cosmic adventure in 15 minutes and support your local indie as well

Thanks I forgot about that. Re-installing it now. Very fun little game.

[Mind Elemental]

I could have posted the Battle for Wesnoth thread here instead - it might be a little too big though?

From all I've heard, Wesnoth is anything -but- unchallenging, for those who don't overlevel on previous maps.

[GlaziusFalconar]

Yeah I love that site. I wonder how it would work on the Wii browser, I'll need to check it out that way.
I imagine it'd work differently depending on the game. Something like The Way Home, which is all pointer movement and mouseclicks, it'd probably be pretty good at. Other games like Friends or A Dog For All Seasons, where you need the spacebar, maybe not so good. I dunno if Wiipera lets you map anything.

--GF

[slantz]

I tried installing Feeding Frenzy but a brief squizz through the EULA scared me off. I just want to confirm, does it or doesn't it install any third party shit I neither want nor need?
Feeding Frenzy is a Popcap game, and (at least if downloaded from the Popcap website,) it definitely doesn't download or install any 3rd-party stuff.

If you go to a questionable 3rd-party portal, though, you may be subject to that site's terms.

[Brendan]

Damn, why did nobody suggest fl0w to me back when I originally posted this?

I found it about a week and a half ago and I'm completely addicted. Just the thing for when you want to put your brain on autopilot and kill half an hour or so.

[TheJare]

Just the thing for when you want to put your brain on autopilot and kill half an hour or so.

Try Every Extend Extra Extreme (XBLA) and you can be on autopilot for as many hours as you want.

[Brendan]

Try Every Extend Extra Extreme (XBLA) and you can be on autopilot for as many hours as you want.

Sorry, only own a PC.

[Prodigy]

I really like Hoshi Saga (http://www.koreus.com/jeu/hoshi.html)

There are three episodes.

[hong]

Minesweeper. I would beat all of you, srsly.

[Tciecka]

I really like Hoshi Saga (http://www.koreus.com/jeu/hoshi.html)

There are three episodes.

Thanks for this!

[Marcin]

Weird Worlds For the Win! +1 Yeah Baby!

www.digital-eel.com

Have a cosmic adventure in 15 minutes and support your local indie as well

I was going to second this, but I see you already grabbed it. It's great short fun with surprisingly high production values.

[Andrew Mayer]

Minesweeper. I would beat all of you, srsly.

Maybe you would now, but at my peak I would have owned you. I had a 3 second best for the small board.

[DavidKaye]

Audiosurf!

Unless you hate music, in which case you have bigger problems.

[Misguided]

Sorry, only own a PC.

It's OK, EEE is about as far removed from "unchallenging" as I can think of. Then again, I only played the PSP version. Not sure if XBLA was different or not, but I couldn't get past the first level and it was seriously headache inducing. Shame too, as a Mizuguchi fan, I wanted to like it.

Flow is indeed a lot of fun, wish I'd thought of it before. The same folks are working on a new project called Flower. Not sure if that's coming to PC or not, though.

[KieronGillen]

Another vote for Weird Worlds. Absolutely loved it. In fact, paid it the greatest games journalist compliment and actually went and bought the thing rather than trying to get a review copy.

(And then reviewed it for EG (http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=62260))

It's basically solitaire for the likes of us.

KG

[Misguided]

How does Weird Worlds compare to SAIS?
Oh wow, Dr Blob's Organism is free these days?

[KieronGillen]

I admit, I didn't play the original. Vic!?!

KG

[Wade42]

How does Weird Worlds compare to SAIS?
I'm hard pressed to find a list of differences, so I'm just gonna say "SAIS with 33% more stuff". WW has options for 3 different starting ship types, and 3 different galaxy sizes (larger = longer time limit); not sure if those were in the first.

[Jon Rowe]

I like this orisnal game! Addicting as all crap!
http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/sunny.htm

Great music as well!

[John Many Jars]

I'm hard pressed to find a list of differences, so I'm just gonna say "SAIS with 33% more stuff". WW has options for 3 different starting ship types, and 3 different galaxy sizes (larger = longer time limit); not sure if those were in the first.

This is true --- it's definitely an expansion of SAIS, not a new game.

If you play it a lot, you'll find there sometimes are larger "plots" out there to discover, but not all the time.

[gordonrumble]

Just play Dolphin Olympics 2. I can lose days playing that game. My high score's somethere around 60 million, but there are people who get 200+.

[Lh'owon]

Orisinal (http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/) is awesome for quick diversion.

-Julian


Whoa! That is a great bunch of minigames!


Seconded. Absolutely fantastic site.


Yeah I love that site. I wonder how it would work on the Wii browser, I'll need to check it out that way.

Seriously. Even if you don't want to play the games, load one up in another tab just for the music. Sublime.

I'm utterly incapable of feeling unhappy while playing/listening to those games.

[Misguided]

This is true --- it's definitely an expansion of SAIS, not a new game.

If you play it a lot, you'll find there sometimes are larger "plots" out there to discover, but not all the time.

Is the balance any better than in SAIS?
Success in SAIS largely depended on finding the trader early and obtaining a fast engine.

[Wade42]

Is the balance any better than in SAIS?
Success in SAIS largely depended on finding the trader early and obtaining a fast engine.
Yeah, that still applies. It can be mitigated somewhat by choosing the largest game size, which gives you more time (i.e., leeway to putz around with the slow engine).

[wonderpug]

Even though I've beaten it multiple times, in the past weeks I keep coming back to Warfare 1917 (http://armorgames.com/play/2267/warfare-1917) for a quick diversion. Simple but fun WWI trench warfare game.

[Drastic]

Tranquility (http://www.tqworld.com/) ...
This would've been my nomination, whether almost two years ago or not. The interesting thing about it is, its challenge level is inversely proportional to just how tranquil you are when playing it. You get tense, that means you start thrashing the controls, and it rapidly gets impossible--until you relax again, and zip through an entire set of levels while barely making an effort.

In a way, it reminds me of the pendulum-and-bowl minigame bit of the old puzzle game Heaven and Earth.

[Griddle]

Sorry, only own a PC.
Enjoy, this is totally free, it's the first version the programmer made, and it's very fun to play, nothing more relaxing than blowing some stuff up.

http://www.download.com/Every-Extend/3000-2099_4-10347824.html

[Ed Solomon]

You fuckers, this (http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/crossing.htm) Orisinal game made me cry.

[Cyranix]

I second the Sunny Day Sky suggestion. I keep trying to extend my initial streak; I haven't tried in a while, but I'm pretty sure I got over 500 one time.

If you want a tiny bit of challenge, try Gimme Friction Baby (http://casualgameplay.com/cgdc3/?gameID=2) (Flash, green button to start the game). Launch a ball from the oscillating cannon -- no time limit -- and when friction brings it to a stop, it expands to the nearest edge. The number on a stationary ball decreases when a moving ball collides with it, and you score points for each ball that reaches zero and shatters, freeing up more space. Game over if a ball in motion crosses the dotted line at the bottom.

Only slightly more challenging is Rescue: The Beagles (http://www.16x16.org/download/beagles/rescue_the_beagles.rar) (Windows, directory in RAR, no install required). Left and right to run, up to jump, double-tap up to use a rope if you have any, down to fall, double-tap down to use a parachute if you have any, Z to fire an owl if you have any. The goal is to rescue all the beagles; you can shoot enemies for additional points; you lose a life if you miss a beagle, fall too far, or touch an enemy. Once you've played a few times, you'll get the hang of its flow, and resources won't be so hard to come by. There is a Tetris-like time element, though, in that the landscape scrolls more quickly as you reach higher levels.

[Brendan]

Orisinal (http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/) is awesome for quick diversion.

-Julian

Where do I hand over my hardcore gamer card and swop it for a casual one? I've had more throwaway fun with this page than I have with a major game in a long time.