Game 80: Matter (Tangram)

These days you can find just about any game on Flash. Tangram is the classic Chinese game where you have to combine seven differently shaped pieces to make them match a figure that’s presented to you, which is exactly what Matter is a flash version of. A highly addictive game, and if you're anything like MrSwampy, you'll keep trying to beat your times! Enjoy!

Game 74: Jail Break 2

Stupid cops. If it wasn't for them, I could waltz out of here. Now is the time for sneakiness. And there's no one sneakier than me...

This is Jail Break 2, the game of sneaking about trying to avoid the gazes of your captors, whilst finding a way to escape. Basic but addictive, this is a sure-fire time killer!

Game 63: Boxhead - The Rooms

Use your savvy - and some BIG guns - to stave off the zombie apocalypse in this, perhaps the cream of the zombie-game crop, Boxhead: The Rooms.

This new version focuses on the game's most entertaining activity - blowing up hordes of zombies in a selection of confined arenas (with even more available in yet another sequel), using everything from shotguns, grenades and rockets to chain reactions of exploding oil drums.

Controls:

Arrow keys to move, Space to fire, 0-9 to select weapons, P to pause.

Tips:

Zombies can't get through a seamless wall of barrels (though you can), so sometimes you can "seal off" their entrance point(s) then just pick them off with grenades.

Game 62: Pool Master

Play 8 Ball Pool against the Computer - Play in Practice Mode - Arcade mode - hone your skills. Try to pass the 8 Challenge Levels with various difficulties to become the Pool Master. Have fun!

Game 61: The Cryptic Canvas

Cryptic Canvas lets you guess the titles of 50 movies from clues sprinkled throughout a handsome illustration by Amie Bolissian, and gathered under the theme of "great movies".

Depending on how well you know your recent Hollywood hits, this could keep you occupied for a very short time, or a very long time indeed. But there are some very clever hints as well, and the interface is pleasant enough (the manual zoom feature is a blessing), and the artist commits herself to each gag, so even the brain-coagulatingly simple ones may satisfy you on the "lol" front!

A Note About the Sign-In: Cryptic Canvas asks you for your email address, as a reference so that you don't lose your progress. However, I gave it a fake address, and I was able to quit and resume my game later from the same computer without having to input the address again. So if you want to remain the anonymous cinephile, you can.

Game 59: Electric Man 2

You stand alone in a Street Fighter style arena, pulsing with a halo of electrical energy that glows brightly in a colour of your choosing. It's enough to make even Blanca blush in the only colour he knows. You must fight and defeat all-comers to claim the electrical crown.

All that said, this game really is no match for the likes of the aforementioned Street Fighter, or even Tekken for that matter. You have a nice array of moves including some matrix-esque ones, and the enemies look alright, but things don't really change, they just throw more enemies at you until you finally bite the bullet. Fun all the same though!

Game 57: The Blue Beanie

The Blue Beanie; A Samorostian, headwear-saving adventure from a new kid on the block.

Daphne Lim has made this adventure game with such a lovely mix of care, delicacy and humour that it's difficult not to fall for it. The plot begins with a happy family of white blob people living in a tree and washing their clothes.

Then the youngest has his beanie hat stolen by a big bird and so begins a quest with some nice interfaces, simple puzzles, cute music and pretty settings. If you liked Samorost, you'll like this. So help the little guy out won't ya?

Game 55: Fantastic Contraption

Fantastic Contraption is a physics puzzle game in which the objective in each level is to move all red objects into a rectangular goal area. To do this, you are given a blue rectangular building area and a few different materials in which you can build your device. Standing in your way, however, are a variety of obstacles, ranging from gaping gaps to a sea of circles bent on destroying your red-object-mover-apparatus.

To make your machine, click on the type of material you want, and then click or drag in the light blue "building area" to place it. At your disposal are three different wheels—a clockwise spinner, a counter clockwise spinner, and a regular wheel—as well as two different connectors—a solid "stick" and "water" rod, which can pass through other walls and wheels, but not the environment. Each of these objects has nodes (represented by small, light gray circles) that other objects can attach to so you can create more complicated contraptions.

One nice feature about this game is the keyboard shortcuts. A couple especially useful ones are:

[Shift]+mouse to move items. Note that if you click on a node when using this technique, only that connection will move, whereas if you click on any other part of the structure, the entire device will move. Also, you can use [Shift] click to pan around the level by clicking on the background.

[Command]+mouse (or Ctrl, for Windows users) to delete items.

[Space] to start or stop a test.

Game 47: El Laberinto Esférico

Barcelona's Nacho Rodríguez puts his award winning flash animated character, Mr. Coo, in his first game, an adventure puzzler called Mr. Coo: El Laberinto Esférico ("The Spherical Labyrinth").

El Laberinto Esférico has a fun animated style like Pink Panther meets Ren and Stimpy, and a surreal imagination along the lines of Bill Plimpton with a bit of Salvador Dali.

The game starts out in an endless labyrinth, where you start the moment Mr. Coo falls to his death—but then he has a dream that turns into a "choose your own" path style of point-and-click adventure. You have several paths you can take, and each path has several different versions you can experience depending on a choice you made earlier. You usually wind up back where you started, and must repeat again. And so the game goes, a bit in circles, but finding a new path, puzzle, or a new ending is part of the fun.

Remember to click "English" at the start if you can't read Spanish!

You only have to watch the first scenes twice, from the 3rd time you die you get a shortcut version.

Also if you enter any correct password, you get this shortcut path.

Game 43: The Goat in the Grey Fedora

I give you, The Goat in the Grey Fedora. A strange and offbeat point-and-click adventure with a black and white film noir atmosphere. This is a superb 3D type graphics mystery, with tremendously atmospheric audio (from the moment "a dame walks in and asks you something totally bizarre"). The downside is that it takes ages to load and the first two real puzzles are bit complicated compared to everything else. That aside, it really is a fantastic game. In my opinion, this is best played full screen, so hit that little ol' maximize button.

Mouse click to select items or menus (or click the "Use" symbol of an item in the inventory then drag it onto the main screen).

The game gives every item three options (usually "Look at/ Examine", "Take", and something else) for a reason - make sure you don't miss any.

Game 39: Zilch

There's something wildly addictive about dice throws. It feels like there should be a skill to it. There MUST be a skill to it. Why do we keep failing then? Why haven’t we got 'the knack'.

String together a sequence of dice throws. Pick when to bank the points. Build your score up as quickly as possible. Break the 10000 mark first. Hope your opponent fails. There's even going to be a play online option at some point.

Like the brutally addictive 'real world' game Yahtzee - you WILL lose days to this!

Follow the on screen instructions, but all you need is your trusty mouse to win at this one.

Don't get cocky... if the comp gets a couple of 1500 scores on the trot it can all go pear-shaped.

Game 38: Electric Box

A new, creative puzzle game has surfaced, and it rocks: A little gem from Candystand that's called Electric Box. The premise is quite simple, and I'm sure you'll agree: You've got some power at point A, so get some to point B. There are many tricks and gadgets you will have to use to win, like doodads that give power out, or things that take it in.

Electric Box is quite a pleasant sight; Its chain-reaction gameplay makes me want to play all night. Enjoy.

Game 35: Shadez - The Black Operations

In this real time strategy game you are "the General of a mercenary force hired by the governments around the world to fight the wars they don't want to fight." Excited yet?!

Rather than the A-Team you control a beautifully rendered army of soldiers with an increasingly powerful arsenal of weaponry. As you choose your troops and artillery wisely, they stream from left to right across the misty, Vietnam-esque landscape battling whatever approaches from right to left. With enough scope to keep you involved for hours on end, this could be another job-destroyer. Don't blame me.

Have your clicking finger at the ready and unleash hell. Click on the various options across the bottom to pick troops, arrange air strikes, roll in the artillery and more. All in the name of death... War is an expensive business!

Plan for the future... just having missiles doesn't mean you have to use them... but as long as you have them, then you can use them if things get hairy. Don't think the opponents are gonna hold back!

Game 34: Shift

¿Is the floor the roof? ¿ɹoolɟ ǝɥʇ ɟooɹ ǝɥʇ sı ɹo? And whats with that in game timer? Find the answers to these questions and more in this original puzzle platformer. Guide your mystery man through a plethora of mazes that take your sense of perception to the limit in this frustrating and boggling game!

Just like Portal brought a new way of looking at puzzles, Shift has done something similar. You have to consider both the black and the white sections as places that can be accessed and used to your advantage.

Arrow Keys to Move

Space to Jump

Shift to Shift

P to access pause menu

Game 33: The Animator v Animation Game

The Animator v Animation Game takes the fun, desktop battlefield antics of the Animator v Animation episodes and turns it into a fully interactive fighting game! 

You can play as either the animator or animation (after unlocking the latter), each trying his best to eliminate the other player. Your arsenal is composed of common drawing tools found in the animation environment. Each tool has a slightly different effect depending on which character you play. For example, the line tool allows the animator to fire "arrows", but if the animation grabs it it becomes a staff. As the animator you control the cursor and have two objectives: torture the stick character, and preserve the timeline at the top of the screen. Your arsenal is weak compared to the animation's weapons, but they're flexible and give you a wide range of freedom. As the animation, your goal is to attack the cursor and, secondarily, the timeline. The stickman's moves are much more destructive than the animator's, though your target is much more difficult to hit. Playing as the animation can be overwhelming at first, as this character uses a dozen keys for movement and attack. With a little practice, however, it becomes second nature.

The Animator v Animation Game preserves the grin-inducing fun of the episodes and makes it completely interactive. It's any desktop warrior's dream come true!

Game 31: Mirror's Edge 2D

When, oh when, will 'real' games developers realise the joy of flash? What's that you say? Flash Portal? They did gone made a flash game of Portal... and it was brilliant, you say? Great stuff. Well here's another one, the 'hotly anticipated... etc... one to watch... etc...' Mirror's Edge creators have quite literally 'jumped' onto the bandwagon by calling in Brad Borne (not to be confused with Jason Bourne), creator of the brilliant Fancy Pants Adventures, to put together a 2D version for all us slathering netaholics.The results are exciting to say the least. Like in it's 'big game' counterpart you take the reins of delivery girl Faith - the acrobatically excellent and depressingly alluring pixellated princess, whose job it is to free-run (Derivative of the French sport of Parkour which sees its subscribers finding the most graceful and off-kilter ways of getting from a to b... with the emphasis on its being free, so anything goes) across the rooftops picking up satchels and tokens. The music is ace too, so off you go - take to the skies.

Use the left and right arrow keys to run. Hit the down arrow when running to slide, or when still to duck. Use 's' to jump, hold it to jump longer and/or further. If you jump at a wall and press the up arrow key Faith will run up the wall some. There are a few other tasty little tricks but we'll leave you to unravel those.

Keep running... the main fun in this'un is to just see how good of a flow you can gather before the inevitable slip.

Game 27: Climate Chaos

Rabbits are blue and red, seals enjoy sea shells, and foxes make successful hotel owners. Those are just a few of the lessons we learn from Climate Chaos, an adventure game set on a group of small islands. The main character is Blue Rabbit, who, like your average rabbit, equipped with a digital camera, sets out on a quest to help the natives of the various islands to solve their problems with the local weather. Upon your arrival on the island, you are greeted by the island's hotel's owner, who advises you to check in. You can take that advice, or you can talk to the locals first, to get a feel for the game. Some people will only appear after you have checked in, so don't forget to do that. From there, it's up to you to follow the storyline. 

A brief tutorial at the beginning introduces you to the intuitive controls as well as to the nicely done symbolic language that is used throughout the game. With just 3 icons, Dancing Seal tells you that he loves the sea. The system is vaguely reminiscent of Tork, though it aims to make communication easy as opposed to making it part of the riddles. Give it a go, I'll bet you enjoy it!

Game 26: Boomshine

Boomshine is a new take on the chain-reaction action pioneered by Omega's Every Extend. The goal is to remove a given number of the colorful, floating dots moving around the screen. Simply click the mouse to trigger an explosion; any dots that come into contact with the resulting circle will also explode, although after about 3 seconds each explosion will shrink and vanish. Every level increases in demand for the number of dots that must be removed, from level 1's laughably easy 1 out of 5 to the formidable 55 out of 60 in level 12. You'll want to make your first explosion count, because that's all you get. After setting off the chain-reaction, sit back and watch the explosions play out and, if you've removed enough dots, advance to the next level.

It would be a stretch to call Boomshine relaxing—watching those dots float by milliseconds after your chain-reaction begins to shrink is a little too agonizing for relaxation—but it is certainly refreshing, and a nice, albeit simple addition to a rapidly growing category of casual games. Enjoy!