File this under: Games as an art form. While I do not often find myself playing Chess (read: I suck at it), I do like to play when I find a game that offers something besides the mere basics. Thinking Machine 4 is just such a game. The authors state that the goal of the piece is not to make an expert chess playing program but to lay bare the complex thinking that underlies all strategic thought.

A cross between a point-and-click puzzle game, interactive art, and a Rube Goldberg invention, Treasure Box is a gorgeous and fun little Flash game that puts you to the task of finding the treasure of a king long since passed. It's a short and beautiful interactive multimedia adventure from an artist with a purpose.

XGen Studios is behind this Flash game that is reminiscent of the old-school arcade games Dig Dug and Boulder Dash. Hired to mine the dangerous planet of Mars, you are given a robotic mining pod and sent off on a mission to bring home the Motherload, a fabled cache of rare and valuable minerals. Dig far below the surface of the Earth to earn money for upgrades and find treasure.

We all need Safeplaces to hang every now and then to rest, relax, recharge, review, rebound, replenish, release, receive, renew, and reward ourselves. So take a break, and take time to take in that which is around you. Smile, giggle, laugh and love. Play.

The Grrr Game puts you in control of a white rabbit, on a quest for carrots, using the arrow keys to move around the isometric pseudo 3D environment. Landing next to any hateful object will cause the rabbit to whip out his gargantuan hammer and whack the smithereen stars out of it, and thus turning it into a lovely object of affection.

A storm at sea has left you shipwrecked on a strange group of islands filled with mysterious gadgets and devices. Use your wits to solve the puzzles and escape it if you can. Archipelago is a point-and-click first-person puzzle adventure created in Flash by the amazing puzzle master himself, Jon May.

Add together stylish pixel graphics, a compelling techno soundtrack, and challenging gameplay that appears deceptively simple, and you wind up with an excellent little action puzzle game called BLiX. This highly addictive game was created by gameLab and is hosted by Shockwave.com.

Gold Miner is a cute and addictive little Flash game that has you mining for gold using just a claw and reel to unearth valuable treasures in a race against the clock. Each level provides a dollar value goal that must be met within the time limit to move on to the next. It's a well produced game with cute, appealing graphics and sound effects.

iSketch is an online multiplayer Shockwave game similar to the drawing game Pictionary, and it works remarkably well on the Web. Players take turns drawing a word assigned by the game. When it's your turn, a basic and simple-to-use drawing interface appears with which to begin drawing. It's very well designed and loads of fun, though it can be terribly addictive so beware.

PixelHugger in the Field of Typography is about defeating the evil Auntie Alias who has mesmerized the Typographic World with her ultra-smooth ways. As a result, many perfectly good pixels lie abandoned in the Field of Typography, and your mission is to rescue as many as you can.

From Homestar Runner comes this hilariously funny game that pokes fun at itself and the text-based adventures and 8-bit graphics of years gone by. Boasting “lush 16-color landscapes,” this game puts you in the shoes of a short-panted peasant named Rather Dashing who sets out on a quest of revenge against Trogdor the Burninator. A fun and quirky classic.

Warthog Launch is an exceptionally good physics puzzle game with gratifying gameplay that feels a bit like bowling. Simply position the Warthog, add grenades, and blast-off. Clear all the creatures on the play field in one fell-swoop to advance to the next level. More fun that it should be, this game is the bomb.

The latest of the point-and-click puzzle adventures to pop onto the Flash game scene is a short little story about a girl who has lost her head... literally. With gameplay very similar to that of Samarost, this game is charming and very enjoyable, the only downside is that it is over way too soon.

Played just like the old plastic game of Battleship that used red and white pegs to record hits and misses, except this Flash version does all the hard work for you. First position your fleet on the board, then all you have to do is click on a square to fire torpedoes.

Best Game award winner at the Flash Forward Festival in San Francisco, Chasm is a point-and-click adventure game that stands head-and-shoulders above the rest of the pack. Containing top-notch production values that rivals many commercial products, the animation is excellent with colors and cell shaded graphics that resemble a Warner Bros. Loony-Toons cartoon. Highly recommended.

The prolific and gifted Ferry Halim has created yet another wonderful game and it plays like a Disney animated short. Think Fantasia and Tchaikovsky's Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies and you won't be far from the Flash magic Ferry serves up in this game: Chrysalides turn to butterflies when zapped by your little magic dew drops as you fall through the branches of a very, very tall tree.

From VectorPark comes this incredibly mesmerizing Flash game of physics and balance. Create an intricate mobile by attaching each piece such that balance is maintained. If done properly, another piece will drop in the water for you to continue with. How far can you get?

The Asylum: Psychiatric Clinic for Abused Cuddly Toys, that's the extended name of this very odd Flash game. And the gameplay is just as strange: through various therapeutic methods, attempt to lead the cuddly toy patients to resolve their traumatic past experiences. If you have ever wondered if someone would ever make a game for therapists, it's time to stop wondering.

The Telephone is a stylish and unique puzzle game in which you embark on an adventure by dialing in destinations. The destinations are 3-digit telephone numbers that you find in each 'level' and which advance you through the game. Each destination is unique in its objective, sound, and interface.

Viridian Room is a place you wish to escape from, but have you the soul to withstand the challenge? Muha-ha-ha-ha-ha! This point-and-click puzzle game was one of the very first escape-the-room type Flash Web games. Nicely done with eerie sound effects.

An odd and addictive little game of violence against stick figures intent on invading your castle. From what I can glean, the gameplay has some depth by allowing you to purchase additional units and upgrades between levels.

File this one under interactive Flash tools for creative expression. Scribbler is just one of many interactive "toys" available at Zefrank.com. This "generative illustration toy" allows you to draw with the mouse in the window, then Scribbler takes over and creates its own drawing on top of what you've drawn. There are even interactive controls that you can set and tweak to your heart's content.