Tell me the best casual games out there and don't hate

[Menegrothx]

There's also some free games in Facebook if im not mistaken. PopCap games dont require registration/account though. Newgrounds is also a nice site for quick to play browser games, except that it's the complete opposite of PopCap as far as family-friendliness and cuteness goes (club a seal, the school shooting game and beat up Anita Sarkeesian all stirred up quite a lot of controversy).

[nightrnr]

Maybe look into video pinball games or Tempest 2000 (or clone). That always scratches my casual itch.

I don't see these games as in any way ""casual"

Hmm, I guess I don't know what casual is then. I'll remove myself from discussion immediately.

[Anapan]

I'm not sure I fully understand what casual games entail either. I'll fully agree with JT on Popcap winning/owning the franchise part of it, with companies like Gamehouse and Big Fish Games not far behind - all are pumping out engineered and cookie-cutter indie games taylored to meet Casual Gamers' needs by the hundreds every year. I'm going to list some I think fit the genre that I've found to be popular among the people I've met whom I categorized as casual gamers.
My personal favorites are from http://www.thatgamecompany.com/ (Fl0W, Flower, Journey), USC (Cloud), and Banana (De Blob). My niece and I play them all the time over and over - she's better than I am at most of them.
Do Mahjongg and Klondike count?
For Hidden Object games, My parents seemed to spend a lot of time on Amazing Adventures compared to the rest I put on their computer.
More than a couple of my computer repair regular clients spend their on-the-phone time playing either Super Collapse or Peggle - sorta like doodling on a scrap of paper.
Speaking of Collapse; Collapse Puzzle Gallery is kind of like Samegame/Jawbreaker and Nonogram/Picross - all related to Sudoku/Minefield I think.
For word games, Bookworm seems to be very accessible.
For Casino games, Hoyle, and Reel Deal are easily the leaders of the genre, Tho my clients prefer Slingo usually if they're into Slot machines or Bingo over Poker and Roulette.
I've had many requests to put Bejeweled on client's computers.
For a musical rythm-like racing/rockband hybrid game that's sorta pick-up-and-go I'd recommend Audiosurf.
For Flash games, there's too many to list, but the Crimson Room, and Grow series have been entertaining for me.
Here's a good website about the Flash based browser games: http://jayisgames.com/
Some posters mentioned old win32 games - Kye comes to mind - and here's a nice collection of great win32 no-sysreq Puzzle Games. Never forget Ski Free!



Since I'm a problem-solver, these games usually entertain my clients/relatives/friend's wives when they ask me about fun games for their computers/consoles and all of them have gotten good reviews from them. I've also found that an Atari 2600 emulator with a collection of the most prominent freeware games for it tied to an easy-to-use interface will make my clients happy.
edit: oh yeah, I hear good things about Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing, tho I have never played them and don't really know what they are.

[brandman]

...Tetris?

Lol I wondered when that would pop up. If you don't have it already, get a gameboy and the game and fire it up.

[Metal Jesus]

Drop 7 is such an awesome game... I can't tell you how many hours my wife & I have put into that game. http://toucharcade.com/2009/02/09/drop7-number-puzzler/

Also Jetpack Joyride is fantastic as well. The Mission achievements in the game are what make it, plus really solid gameplay.

Also, I am a huge fan of Temple Run, and the new one based on the animated Disney movie Brave is even better.

Also check out 7 Words if you are a fan of word games.

[8bit]

Never forget Ski Free!

This one brings back memories too!

[TheyCallMeTheSwede]

SongPop

[chupon]

Thanks all this has lead me to a lot of new discoveries. I still don't think I know what defines a "casual" game but that's ok.

[BlackDS]

I remember on my windows 95 computer I had this floppy disk that was just a compilation of simple games. it had a tetris clone, a frogger clone, a breakout clone (which I thought was better than the original), and ski free on it. I'd call those casual games.

Are mario games considered casual now?

[Blurz]

League of Legends