Brilliant Little Flash Games

Yet another reason to love the internet. Quick but interesting little one-off flash games. Really more diversions than games, these addictive little gems fill a void left open by giant uber platform games which require months of otherwise productive time to complete. Flash games give you a short but stimulating fix, without the withdrawal.

Albino Black Sheep (www.albinoblacksheep.com) is a great place to find flash games. Like anywhere, a lot are wastes of time, but some are truly inspired. Here are a couple all-time favorites.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/hapland

Hapland is a brain boggler. By clicking around the environment and doing things in the right order at the right times you aim to light two torches and open a portal. Why a portal? Don't know. It's never really explained. But the fun is in getting there.

And these I love. All of them. Their creator calls them "Grow" games, and there's a bunch of them.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/grow
http://shingakunet.com/school/0000002190/special/19024701/0285/index.html
http://www.eyezmaze.com/eyezblog_en/blog/2005/09/grow_cube.html#monster
http://www.eyezmaze.com/eyezblog_en/blog/2006/06/grow_ver2.html#monster

This is just a sampling. There are many others, but you have to be resourceful to find them all. It's hard to describe them if you haven't tried one. But in essence, each game starts with a selection of items. You select the order in which you add each item into the game, one at a time. As you add new items, earlier items begin to level up, or "grow". As they advance they begin interacting with each other. So the order you add items is very important. In fact, there is only one correct order. After you've added all the elements, the game will show you how far each item advanced. The goal is to get every item to max out its advancement. You can use this end screen, along with the way elements interact with each other as clues to the proper add order. All the "Grow" game use this same premise, but each twists in very inventive ways. Really the best way to learn about them is to try one.

You'll likely be up till three in the morning like I was when I first discovered them a couple years ago. It's worth it.

NOTE: Some of the grow games end up further down the page than you can see initially. You have to scroll down to find them.