Best Facebook Games

Social networking is all the rage these days, especially for businesses who see dollar signs whenever they think of millions of people all sitting around the same website. But, these sites got popular not because of the business potential, and certainly not for their productivity enhancements. Sites like Facebook got popular because they were fun and because they connected us to our friends.

These Facebook games let you do a both at the same time. Just be sure that you understand how to click the "SKIP" button. Most of these games go "viral" by constantly asking you to post messages to your wall on everything from getting a new high score, to wiping your nose. Click "Share" or "Post" every time these games ask you to and expect to see some grumpy messages from your friends.

These Facebook Games will let you unwind after a hard day of brain frying work, or just let you have a little extra fun via your computer and Internet connection.

Important Tip: The makers of most Facebook games have determined that their best chance for success is to act like electronic chain letters. They try and get you to send links, messages, or invitations to 3, 8, 10 or even 20 of your friends. Remember, no matter how tiny they make it, the SKIP or CONTINUE option is always there. Use it to avoid annoying your friends.

1. Farkle - This mindless dice game requires little strategy, no concentration, and is somehow surprisingly fun, especially for late nights when you can't sleep or that I-wish-I-could-nap time after a heavy lunch. Just look for point scoring dice combinations with each pseudo-random roll of the dice.
2. Farmville - At first, it seems like Farmville requires careful planning and execution as you build up your farm. This makes it fun while you are starting out. Eventually, you realize that there is nothing to this game other than playing at the right intervals. Plant something that grows in 4 hours, and you have to log back in after the four hours are up. Or, make your farm disaster free by stocking up on Trees and Animals which require no maintenance. Invite friends, and take snapshots of your farm to post on your Wall.
3. Bejeweled Blitz - Match various colored gems in rows or columns of three and the disappear. The remaining gems fall down into the space the matched up gems leave behind. But, wait, there is more! Match various other patterns of gems to make bonus gems in Bejeweled Blitz. The game seems simple, but its fast pace can be addictive. As an added bonus, with just one minute to play, this one game where you can't lose just because you were "out-geeked" by someone willing to spend hours and hours playing. Understanding the basics is easy, but high-scoring Bejeweled Blitz strategy is much more complicated.
4. Cube Crash - You've seen variants of this simple, but fun strategy game before. Stacks of colored blocks have to be eliminated by clicking on them where there is a group of at least three blocks of the same color. Bigger groupings score higher points, but you must eliminate a certain number of blocks to continue to the next level. Go for the big points and you might not get enough blocks to go on. Focus only on eliminating all the blocks and you could miss out on big points.

5. Scramble - This simple yet compelling game offers up either a 4x4 or 5x5 board of letters. No random die rolls, no being forced to add friends to get more power, just good old fashioned, intelligence versus the board. The object is to type in the words that can be spelled out by combining adjoining letters. Sideways, backwards, up, down, diagonal, it's all good. Be warned, eventually one of your friends will play and make you feel very, very, stupid when they routinely crush your all-time high score.

6. Mafia Wars - Simultaneously compelling fun, and overwhelmingly annoying. Run your own mafia. Decide who to attack, what jobs to do, put money in the bank, by equipment, collect loot, and build properties and businesses. In one way it is a great game. Eventually, like all Zynga games, you realize that success rests entirely in how often you log in. Play every day and you can level up and get money faster than ever. Don't and you fall behind. Not that it matters, because as you go up in levels, the only thing that matters is who has the biggest Mafia. Getting a big mafia means adding total strangers as "friends" so make sure you figure out how to use Facebook's privacy settings first.

7. WordScraper - When the Scrabble people's lawyers came knocking with their cease and desist letters, WordScraper was born. The game is basically the same thing as Scrabble with just enough changes to avoid any legal threats. You get 8 letters instead of 7 like you do in Scrabble. But, the real fun comes from the different special bonus board spaces. There is a Quadruple word score in WordScraper, and if you get bored of playing the same game all the time, you can generate a random board with the bonus spaces in new and often unusual locations.