Manuel Fallmann's latest offering on his MINDistortion site is a turn-based strategy game against the CPU, or a human opponent at the same computer. The object of Quarkz is to be the first player to reach the number of points designated as the victory condition by adding particles to the...

An unusual Flash game with a variety of gameplay possibilities, Magnetism lets you select the type of game that is right for you. Created by Tyler Glaiel, a 14 year-old budding game developer, Magnetism is a unique puzzle game that features challenges of strategy and skill with an emphasis on...

After playing many "me-too" casual games that offer nothing other than a new skin to old gameplay, it is refreshing when a game comes along that forces you to think differently. And though Mamezo is not the first game to offer such a gameplay mechanic as drawing lines to bounce an object around the play field, it is a game that will provide a unique experience for many.

Another recent production from Rubilon is this odd and yet simple game of timing. Babycal Throw is an action arcade game in which the player attempts to hit walking and running targets by tossing bean-bags up in the air. What makes this game special is the manner in which Rubilon has implemented the scoring and the power-ups.

Rumble Ball is a strategy game of sorts. The object is to score the most points you can by hitting colored items on the play field with a large ball. I was immediately drawn to this game due to its very pretty presentation. The appealing graphics and top-down, pseudo-3D appearance make this game compelling for most anyone to pick up and play.

The Machine is a Shockwave game about a normal computer interface gone awry. The object of the game is to correct the chaos, right the wrong, and make it through to the end. In other words, figure out what to do on your own because the journey is the reward. What I will say is that you will only need the mouse to point, click, and drag.

Unlock is a unique little puzzle game in which you must unlock the secrets of each stage to advance to the next. Some stages are easy, while others are maddening difficult. This game will tease your brain and test your patience and resolve. Another game designed by Uminin of Flash...

This time a Flash shmup from Uminin of the Flash Game Zone in Japan. Moment Zero is a mostly grayscale shooter of exceptional design. Noteworthy features include a lock-on targeting mechanism and multiple paths through the game. From the initial enemy wave you can tell this isn't any ordinary shooter. The...

Park is another point-and-click adventure from the same folks who created the tranquilizing Levers game. This one is easy and a bit short, and yet it will certainly delight those who enjoy the thrill of discovery that this type of game offers.

I have point-and-click happiness to spread throughout the world today in the form of a cube. Not so much a puzzle as it is an interactive narrative that unfolds with each click of the mouse in the appropriate place. See what happens when a mysterious cube falls out of the sky and lands on the ground in the middle of a very round town filled with round things.

la Pâte à Son is an amazing sound toy created in France. This original musical piece and compositional tool was conceived to encourage musical experimentation, and its achievements surpass its goal. Not only is this toy fun to play and experiment with, it is also capable of creating some very beautiful music.

Rodeo is a Flash game that is clever in its simplicity of style and remarkably fun in execution. Created by Mark Vertegaal of Coldtomatoes in the Netherlands, the object of the game is to ride the bull for as long as you can. Click the rider's hat to begin, and then...

Polyphonic Spree did it with Quest for the Rest, and now a band called Mae is promoting their soon-to-be-released album, The Everglow, with a brand new Flash game. The Everglow mixes original music from the band's new album with several short games to provide an entertaining interactive experience. Included is a...

It's always a happy day when discovering that Ferry Halim has released a new addition to his Orisinal line of fine Flash games. Just like Grandma's delicate china reserved for those very special guests, Orisinal games offer game play experiences for discriminating tastes. A Daily Cup of Tea is his latest...

One of the more popular games available for the Nintendo DS, the odd and unique Feel The Magic offers a bevy of bite-sized mini-games that make good use of the innovative handheld's features. The simple premise is that you are a boy who attempts to win over the affection of...

Panzo the Panda bear got more than he bargained for in this Shockwave remake of Pang from Japan. Geru Geru Panic roughly translates to Gel Gel Panic, a reference no doubt to the gelatinous goo that the aliens appear to be made of. Although it may seem odd, you don't need to speak Japanese to enjoy the amazing good times packed into this little gem.

On over at Eyezmaze has just released another addition to his ever-expanding collection of unique and enchanting Flash games. Hatch is an action arcade game that will put your reflexes and hand-eye coordination to the test. To play, put your fingers on each of the keys of the keyboard representing...

Can you torque the talk? In this unusual Flash adventure game your spacecraft crash lands on an alien planet, and to escape you must observe the culture and learn a new language to communicate with the inhabitants of this alien world. Remarkable in its originality and design, as well as its gameplay.

It shouldn't be surprising that from the world's smallest website comes the world's smallest games. From British game and Web designer Alan Outten comes this very tiny website, only 18 pixels wide by 18 pixels high, yet it is packed full with games such as Pong, Pacman, Footy, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pinball, and others. Everything old is new again.

As the days get shorter, so do the starry nights get longer with the winter solstice fast approaching. Capturing the essence of these calm and peaceful nights is Ferry Halim's beautiful Starry Night. The Flash game is a work of art, and of exemplary casual game design.

Another game from SKT, this one introduces magnetic control over the environment in the form of a bunny with a electromagnet for a head. The premise of Magnet 2 is a bit odd, but the gameplay formula works brilliantly. Each level presents different objects and obstacles where you must maneuver the magnet to attract the objects into the goal. Press ...

Just one of several games created by Takahiro Miyazawa of skt-products.com in Japan. Goki Dash is a Pac-Mac style Flash game where you control a cockroach that eats up green dots while avoiding the roach-eating gecko. The play field is larger than the game window, so there is a little more ground to cover than what meets the eye. To help you keep t...

Madness. Not really a game, and yet I had a lot of fun playing with Just Letters, a Flash Communications Server application. Basically, there is a white board with lots of English alphabet letters on it that you drag around to form words, sort into colors, or what ever you like. Problem is, there are many others all doing the same thing.

A new game by the multi-talented Ferry Halim, High Delivery elevates Flash game design to new heights of artistic expression. Armed with a small fan propeller, the object of the game is to blow air at the always upward floating balloon to influence its movement. By moving the dangling bottle to within range of the falling blossoms, they are thus ca...

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.

This is a brand new Flash puzzle game by Tonypa, called NeliNurk. The object of the game is to locate rectangles on the play field by clicking each of four corners of the same color.

From Orgdot, a media lab based in Oslo, Norway, DNA Factory is a Flash game that features stylized pixel graphics with a biotechnology theme. Gameplay consists of aligning the 4 base chemicals of DNA into symbol pairs using the arrow keys on the keyboard.

Craziest is the story of a girl in love with Scrabble, and how it influenced her life, her beliefs, and her destiny. The Flash movie tells the tale of her brush with fate and the mother-of-all Scrabble scores. Engaging, creative, entertaining, humorous and original, and possibly only slightly disturbing. Wow, that's a lot of adjectives for an 8-minute movie.

Mudcraft is a real-time strategy game playable in any browser with the Shockwave plug-in. Mudpeople gather dirt and water to make more Mudpeople, and they build huts to protect themselves from the rain. If caught in the rain, they melt and must be revived with more dirt. Gather resources to complete the objectives for each level. Delightfully dirty.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the classic Infocom text adventure created by the late Douglas Adams, the BBC has put together this wonderful Flash re-creation of the game complete with illustrations and a graphical interface! Yes, it is still the same great text adventure, and now there are pictures to help you envision the wacky way-out worlds of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and get you across the galaxy safely.

Audiogame est musique interactive by Frenchman marc Em. This Flash ‘game’ is a collection of works incorporating feats of multimedia genius. Combining audio and video elements with interactivity and motion graphics, marc Em draws you into each of his creations as conductor, director, performer, and player. The entire project has evolved over the last 2 years, and Audiogame continues to be a work in progress. As dynamic as the compositions it contains.

An irresistible, fast-paced action Flash game where the objective is to kill the required number of pacmans (or is it pacmen?) within the time limit. You ‘kill’ a pacman by jumping on it, Mario-style. Simply hop from one pacman to the next without falling to the ground. Simple and addictive.

The tree of Vanilla grows rapidly and becomes difficult to manage and balance if not cared for properly. Like the tree it's named after, Vanilla is a deliciously refreshing and original game from Eyezmaze that is simple to pick-up and play, but difficult to beat. The objective is to see how high you can make the tree grow before it tips too far towards either edge of the play field.

Monkey Slide shines with glistening golden bananas, twinkling shooting stars and cute adorable monkeys all sliding down a pole. Your task is to get all the monkeys to safety while avoiding all the bombs. Games don't get much cuter than this, nor more beautiful. An Orisinal production.

The disappearing cursor game was created in Flash by Tom Pennock and released to the public just a few days ago on his site, BeatsTelevision.com. It's a game with a modest design and lofty expectations on the player. There are at least 12 levels where you must navigate the cursor with the mouse from point A (Go) to point B. The concept sounds easy, until you actually give it a try.

A creative play on words gives this game a poetic name and purpose, while a poem at the beginning of the game gives it soul. And yet it's the haunting imagery of men of straw being eaten by a murder of ravenous crows, and then coming alive to thrash and swipe for their lives that gives this game its magic. A beautiful work of art disguised as an enjoyable game. Or is it the other way around?

Warthog Launch is an exceptionally good action strategy 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 playfield in one fell-swoop to advance to the next level. More fun that it should be, this game is the bomb.

Og Og Alive is an original concept action adventure game of life back in the stone ages when days were spent foraging for food and protection. Play as either male or female Og Og, and pay particular attention to the hints they give as you adventure through the game. This excellent and unsual game is part of the Game On initiative of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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.

C'est bizarre. From Paris, France, Yamago.net is a talented bunch of Flash and web folks that serve up games and cartoons, and multiplayer environments. Many of their games are very strange, like the one I've highlighted here: Sick and Famous.

From VectorPark.com 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?

Bubbles is a clever and addictive arcade game in which the objective is to collect bubbles to score points while avoiding spikes that can burst your own bubble. The problem is that the more bubbles you collect, the larger your bubble becomes, which makes navigation a bit trickier. A grooving soundtrack and numerous power-ups make this game a lot of fun.

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.

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.

Micro Life is a real time strategy game (RTS) that is quite easy to play, and it has a lot of charm to compensate for the relatively light challenge it presents. Accessible to all ages, this game is one part simulation, one part strategy, and one part Insaniquarium all rolled into one.

Another puzzle game, this time from the Netherlands. This one is a new spin on the Rubik's cube genre, if there is such beast, and it's called Sloyd (I think they could have come up with a better name, although I have no idea what Sloyd means in Dutch).

Not a game per se, but definitely fun to play with. Infinite Wheel is a series of Flash movies by Jim Johnstone that borrows samples from various 'Dub' artists and presents them in a virtual playground in which you click, drag, and mouse-over the unique and compelling interactive controls to create your own dub music mixes.

From Popcap comes this cute, strange and addictive, action strategy Java game called Insaniquarium. Originally developed by Flying Bear Entertainment, Insaniquarium won the Innovation in Game Design award at the 2002 Independent Games Festival (IGF).

A lot of thought and design went into developing the Anti-Bush Online VideoGame. It's a mix of SouthPark brashness with old-school 2D side-scrolling fun. Everyone should play it, if for no other reason than to see just how George Bush has failed us as our president. The Emperor has no clothes! We must get rid of him before it's too late.

A wonderfully bizarre and strangely fun interactive narrative by Jakub Dvorský of Amanita Design. Samorost is the granddaddy of all Web Flash point-and-click adventure games. It is full of clicky puzzles and beautifully rendered scenes mixed with animations and various gadgetry. The number one game in the Best of 2004, and now it even has a sequel.

While on the subject of Pacman, several months ago there was a posting on Slashdot games about a Japanese programmer who re-created Pacman entirely in an Excel spreadsheet. Upon reading the story I was both amazed and curious, so I downloaded the zip file from the site linked-to in the story. And it really was Pacman, right down to the cut scenes b...

Here's a Flash game about gene sequencing from the UK which is surprisingly fun to play. The controls took me a couple of games to get used to, then I caught on to it quickly. It's all about constructing genes by piecing amino acids together in the proper sequence. A very odd premise on which to build a game, but it works quite well actually. Be ...

The first in the series of Grow games to be created by On of Eyezmaze from Japan. Such attention to detail went into every aspect of the game, from its animation and sound, to its graphics and gameplay. Grow is a very simple game to play, and a delight to watch the magic within it unfold.