Ebul is an unusual "sandbox" platform game involving a crocodile pilot, his birdpal sidekick, and a blocky-looking landscape where the blocks themselves are at your command. Run, jump, and move various blocks across two-dozen levels of retro-feeling goodness in an attempt to recover items to fix your broken airplane.

What do you do when you find yourself under attack by enemy forces? You could cry, you could pray, you could break out the tambourine and try to get them to give peace a chance... or, if you're one of the mice in Nob Studio's clever puzzle/defense/strategy title, you dig up an ancient, mysterious war machine, man it with your mousey comrades, and tromp your way across fifteen levels to ultimate victory.

Cap'n Goldgrubber is retiring and giving you fourteen days to find and dig up enough treasure to live the rest of his days in comfort. Succeed and you share in the wealth. Fail and it's a one way trip off the edge of a plank. What follows is a set of orienteering puzzles. Each day takes you to a different islet with numerous buried treasures and one "secret" treasure hidden therein, and the only way to find the very expensive bonus treasures is through following lists of cryptic clues.

Not a lot can be said without spoiling the fun of playing Srdjan Susnic's entry into our CGDC#8. What you should know is that ZOO Director is a truly traditional sandbox gameplay experience. Your aim is to rise above the rank of humble Zoo Novice to claim the glorious title of Zoo Director, by creating and maintaining your very own zoo. Sounds simple, but this quirky little game quickly reveals its challenges.

Remember those choking-hazard-tastic plastic maze toys you would get as a kid, usually as a dinky prize for something? Relive those happy memories in Sand Trap, a puzzle where you rotate a box to pour the sand trapped within into a pail. It's another fine HTML5 game from Gopherwood Studios, and a runner up in our Casual Gameplay Design Competition #8.

Once upon a time, there a was a young llama with a dream. A dream and $200 adorably clutched in his hoof. With that hoof-ful of dollars, he would take the wretched turf left to him by his father and become... KING! King by plagiarizing all the neighboring cities, but still. In A Llama, A World and a Plan, a building simulation from StefanT, you can become a Lama glama and make your every ungulate wish come true.

Ah, another perfect day. Sitting on a cliff. Letting the breeze blow through your bright pink hair. Then you hear the distant rumble of some kind of black hellspawn chasing your boyfriend. Well, just put out your hand and fly away with him in [Together], One Mr. Beans's entry in our 8th Casual Gameplay Design Competition that took third place overall. It's an experimental game of exploration and heart gathering with a loose narrative threading it all [together].

Have you ever wanted to run your very own tile factory? Of course you have. But manual labour is so yesterday; these days we use electronic tiles to program our conveyor belts and other machinery into delivering our orders safely to their goals! All you have to do is puzzle out what goes where in this simple but tricky game that placed second overall in 2010's Casual Gameplay Design Competition #8.

In Submachine 4, there was a note mentioning thirty-two chambers filled with sand. Somehow, you've gotten teleported into this subterranean world. Do you need to escape? Or is there some higher purpose that's summoned you here? In addition to the obvious sand, Submachine: 32 Chambers evokes the exploration mood associated with sandbox games. There's no obvious goal at first; you need to figure that out yourself. Submachine: 32 Chambers was fully worthy of its prizes, and you won't want to miss it.

We're pleased to announce the next Casual Gameplay Design Competition! For CGDC #8, we are asking that you design a game around our theme, SANDBOX, and you may use any browser-based technology platform you are comfortable with (Flash, Unity, Shockwave, Javascript/HTML5, etc.)! Please read the official competition announcement for all the rules and details.