Published: April 3, 2008

It’s 4 a.m., and you have five more pages to type before your first morning class. While the right thing to do would be to work hard and try to produce a worthwhile paper, what will really happen? You’ll most likely stay up all night and finish the paper in five minutes because you spent the rest of the night playing Web games. I can’t help you write a better paper, but I can suggest some fun Web games to help you kill time during the dark hours of late-night cram sessions.

If you ever grow tired of my hand-picked selection of time wasting wonders, remember that these are just a tiny sample of Web games in the wide world of the Internet, which holds endless Web games, social networking sites and blogs that can potentially distract you from completing your bachelor’s degree until the end of time. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my horse to make sure that he landed that big movie deal.

Blueprint
www.mousebreaker.com/games/blueprint/play.php

In this puzzle game, you guide a ball to a target by using various ramps and contraptions. What’s unique about this game is the attention that must be paid to the physics necessary to make the ball act correctly. When dropped, it will bounce accordingly in terms of height and direction. Levels vary from incredibly simple to so hard you would need to be an astrophysicist to complete them.

Shape Wars
www.kongregate.com/games/Stuv/shape-wars

The easiest way to describe “Shape Wars” is that it’s like the classic arcade game “Asteroids” on crack. This game seems to have borrowed heavily from the Xbox Live arcade game, “Geometry Wars.” In “Shape Wars,” you play as a lone spacecraft fighting off alien ships that shoot across the screen. The bright neon colors and various shapes make this a feast for the eyes, and the tight controls make the game one that you’ll keep playing again and again.

Racehorse Tycoon
www.addictinggames.com/racehorsetycoon.html

In this laid-back game, Racehorse Tycoon has the player manage and race a horse in order to win as much money and fame as possible. Choose your horse, a jockey, a trainer and even what kind of vehicle you use to transport your horse with. Managing a horse has more twists and turns than one might think. Factors like dealing with your trainer’s drug problems or trying to land a movie deal for your horse are both present in this addicting simulator.

Japanese Arrow Golf
http://tinyurl.com/22wewa

Yes, you read that correctly, “Japanese Arrow Golf.” The Web site is in Japanese, so don’t expect to be able to read the instructions. But the premise is simple; you are a cat with a bow and arrow that has a rope attached to it. When you shoot the arrow, you fly along with the arrow and try to reach the target in the level in as few shots as possible. The controls are easy when you get used to them. Just click the mouse, pull back and let go. Your cat will soar through the air and will be one stroke closer to being on par.

Flash Elements TD
www.novelconcepts.co.uk/FlashElementTD

This is one of those Web games that you can’t stop playing, but you’re not exactly sure why. The basic premise is that you are inside a giant maze, building turrets to stop wave after wave of approaching monsters. Every monster that you destroy earns you money that you can use to buy new turrets or upgrade those that you have already built. Every time a monster makes it to the end of the maze, you lose a life. The first two dozen levels are easy, but the game becomes nearly impossible around level 34.