A quick glance at the top ten games on Facebook is depressing – all variations on the same theme: time wasting clicking games that offer players customization, but no game. Waiting four hours does not make a game in my book. Café World, Pet Society, FishVille? Fishville?? Come on!
Luckily, there are some games which give you a bit of a challenge, and here are my top five:
1: Bejeweled Blitz. Taking one of their classics, with Blitz PopCap really hit on something. A 60 second game is perfect – you can fit a minute in anytime and it’s so short you’ll never get tired of it. Facebook gives it a competitive edge, as you can share your scores and join weekly scoreboards.
2: Word Challenge. Race against the clock to make as many words as you can from different combos of seven letters. It doesn’t sound amazing, but with friend scoreboards and a well designed points system, it’s pretty hard to stop. Anagram lovers will have a field day.
3: Brain Buddies is a a competitive brain trainer, with four 60 second game areas to play through. Each area tests a different type of intelligence, so it’s no use being good just at logic and no good at visual puzzles.
4: Pathwords. More words? Yes, but this is a goody. There’s a grid of letters, and you string them together where possible to make words, then the whole thing drops down, Bejeweled style, opening up new possibilities. It takes a while to get the hang of, but it’s very addictive.
5: Traveller IQ Challenge. More of a quiz maybe, but it’s fast paced at least. Faced with a map of the world, how closely can you pinpoint cities and places of interest? Really exposes your geography skills, but you’ll learn as you play!