Casual games for the treadmill

February 19, 2008 11:12 PM

I have a computer (macbook pro) next to my treadmill. Please suggest some casual games I could play while exercising.

The WGA strike has put a kink in my "watch TV while walking away the pounds" plan, so I'm looking for games to play while on the treadmill. Requirements:

1. Works on a mac, either online or off
2. Casual, nothing I'd have to devote my life to. Can play a session in 45 minutes or less.
3. Requires little to no keyboard use. I have a mouse handy but typing is difficult at speed.
4. More strategy than intensity. If it requires intense concentration and focus, I'm likely to fall off the treadmill.
5. Interesting enough to make me forget I'm doing something healthy.

Examples I've found so far: Desktop Tower Defense and its relatives; Bejeweled; Peggle.

Free or paid, online or offline. Thanks for your suggestions.

posted by mmoncur to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Freeverse's Big Bang Board Games - it's a $25 suite that includes checkers, chess, backgammon, reversi (Othello), mancala, tic-tac-toe and four-in-a-row (Connect 4) with options to play against the computer or against other players over a network -- something I will admit I've never worked out how to do without fiddling my firewall, but I enjoy playing backgammon against the computer.
posted by Dreama at 1:22 AM on February 20

Bookworm or Seven Seas are also good.

I'm afraid I'd get hooked on Peggle.
posted by heeeraldo at 1:40 AM on February 20

nethack
posted by ericales at 1:58 AM on February 20

<environmentalist> drive less walk or cycle more </environmentalist>

I'd spend more time on Puzzle Pirates if I had a better laptop, and inclination to play computer games.
posted by singingfish at 2:20 AM on February 20

<environmentalist> I drive a Prius about 5 miles a week, and I live in Utah so the bikes will remain in the shed another month or two. </environmentalist>

Puzzle Pirates looks good. The board games might be good too. I did my time with nethack 20 years ago so I'll skip that one.

Keep the suggestions coming!
posted by mmoncur at 4:03 AM on February 20

One game I have been enjoying recently that iI think would fit the bill is Azkend. It is a tile matching game with a lot of twists. I found it engaging enough to lose time when I finally got myself to glance at the clock again. A demo is available.

In general, the Mac Game Store would be a good place to browse. They have a good variety of games, casual and more. They also have a collection of links in their Cool Stuff for free webgames that are generally of good quality if you would like to be on the frugal side.
posted by Animus at 5:48 AM on February 20

Many games at Kongregate.
posted by GPF at 7:05 AM on February 20

Do you like classic games, like card games or board games or whatnot? Yahoo! has about a million of 'em. I've found that the combination of low-stress gameplay and actual human opponents is a good combination for this kind of thing.

Or, if you like artsy Flash stuff, Orisinal is great.
posted by box at 8:05 AM on February 20

Fancast has full episodes of a lot of TV shows. Vintage, current.
posted by hulahulagirl at 1:14 PM on February 21