Puzzles

Games

I used to be a fairly hardcore gamer back in the day - now I tend to like games I can pick up, play for 15 - 30 minutes and put down again:

• Sodoku (its like crack, people, I'm sorry)
• YoHoHo! Puzzle Pirates (used to subscribe, but now just play casually for free - a massively multiplayer online puzzle rpg of sorts)
• Alchemy (no pun intended - PopCap games are just too damn fun)
• Uplink (a hacker sim of sorts, but puzzly by nature)
• Settlers of Catan (not really puzzle-ly, but super-awesome)

Interactive Fiction

Along with this, I have a very strange love - Interactive Fiction (for normal people: text adventure games). I don't even just like the puzzle-based ones (like Infocom's Enchanter series... which did like, although I didn't quite beat Spellbreaker). I like a whole variety of story-driven and puzzle-driven IF. Here is a smattering of my favorites:

• Photopia by Adam Cadre (barely any game left in it... more story than anything)
• Shrapnel by Adam Cadre (disturbing, but memorable)
• All Roads by John Ingold
• Savior Faire by Emily Short (awesome settling and puzzles)
• Slouching Toward Bedlam by Daniel Ravipinto and Star Foster (only part way through, but fantastic)
• Enchanter Series by Marc Blank, Dave Lebling, and Steve Meretzky (not much good storytelling, but memorable puzzles and exploration)
• A Mind Forever Voyaging by Steve Maretzky
• Vericella by Adam Cadre (not even half way through, but this one is so frustratingly fun)

As an IF fan could tell... I mostly use Z-machine based games. If you have a Mac like me, get Zoom. Download... play... mighty good.