Casual games to play while watching movies?

Hello GiantBomb.com. I have it on good authority that this is a website about video games!

I have three monitors on my desk, which has caused me to get used to playing casual games while watching TV series on movies on a secondary screen.

So far I've usually played Peggle Nights Deluxe. However, I recently got the Ultra Extreme Grand Master of Peggle title (meaning I pretty much did everything worth doing in that game, and then some). This has left me with nothing to play during movies, except for the Solitaire games that come with Windows, but those get a little boring somewhere around the 20000 games played mark...

I'm looking for a good casual game to play. One that does not need your undivided attention. For instance, I do have a copy of Plants vs. Zombies, but that game doesn't really qualify for being a 'secondary activity' since you need to focus quite a lot to play it...

Anyone here know of a good casual game to play that requires only little bursts of attention? I think the most important points are

• The game shouldn't be time-based. I find this rules out quite a lot of games.
• Preferably it takes only a few mouse clicks or key presses to make a move. For instance, Peggle takes but one click of the mouse to play.
• I guess there shouldn't be too much thinking involved in playing the game, either.

Why would you want to play games while watching TV, or a movie?

All I can think of is grinding in MMOs, heh.

Bejeweled is a great casual game.  It's very fun and simple for a puzzle game.

I like to play a game called "watch the movie" when I'm watching a movie.

 i have a game World of goo. it's on steam it's  a puzzle game. u collect goo things that u have to make go up a pipe. u have to work on connecting the goo to each other to build up to a pipe that will collect the rest of the goos.

kind of on topic off topic but it's pretty fun to watch a porn and play. i've done this a couple of times it is great. i was playing cod4 online and watching. u just get two worlds of fun.

You're in the movies

I sort of understand where you're coming from. There are times that my girlfriend will want to watch a show on telly that I'm not fussed about. I'll be half watching it with one eye, and playing Animal Crossing on the DS with the other.

I love how people are telling you how to spend your time.  Do what you want.  

@Snail & other cynics: I'm pretty sure I enjoy the way I watch movies, otherwise I'd not be doing it. While I'm sure it's only possible to pay attention to only one thing at a time, I'm also quite sure that I can play casual games without missing anything important, in most cases. And if I do miss anything, I can just back up a bit and pay attention.

I play Peggle with the sound turned off. I focus on the audio of the movie while playing the game. That way I don't miss any dialogue. It really only fails when suddenly people start speaking in a foreign language, because I won't have read the subtitles. I'm not a neurologist so I don't have any scientific arguments to prove that what I do is perfectly fine, but I do know from experience that I'm able to follow (most of*) the movies/series I watch just fine and, more importantly, I enjoy myself. I'm pretty sure that's all that matters.

Not to mention that there are plenty of movies that are not of such cinematic excellence that they really deserve my undivided attention...
*: On the other side of the spectrum, there have been plenty of cases where the movie I was watching interested/impressed/entertained me enough to keep me focused. The casual games don't start before my interest starts to waiver.

@Bigandtasty: That probably is a best answer, really. I've done plenty of asteroid mining in EVE Online, or grinding for materials in WoW when I played those games. Then again,at the moment I play neither, and I don't think paying the monthly fees just so I can grind, is worth it. ;)

@Out_On_Bail: Indeed. Frankly, I expected better from GiantBomb, though I'm not sure why. SimCity might be a nice idea, though usually when I install my copy of SimCity 4 I want to get all kinds of mods for it and then after two hours of downloading mods I'll have lost my apatite to actually play the game ;). I know the game's playable without mods but then whenever I see other player's creations I'll want to get my hands on whatever it is they're having.



So far I'm slightly surprised at the responses; I'm not quite ready to believe I'm the only one who's ever played Peggle (or similar) while watching movies or TV shows.
Even so, I've gotten some ideas for games to consider - most prominent of which is the consideration to reactivate my EVE Online accounts... I'd been toying with that idea lately anyhow.
Thanks to those who gave their serious contributions!

I'm pretty sure you miss out on movies if you do this often.

I'm not necessarily advocating your simultaneous watching/gaming behavior, but maybe you could try out some turn-based strategy games like Advance Wars or X-Com.

I find sports games pretty good for that, grinding a season of Fifa 09, for example,  is piss easy and can easily be done while watching films.

" All I can think of is grinding in MMOs, heh. "

ADHD much?

Plants vs. Zombies is ideal. It's a tower defense game by the developers of Peggle. Defense Grid and Civilization 4 might also be good.

I have two televisions, a nice high def set and an old thing I still have my Super Nintendo hooked up to. Not to mention a computer in the same area. I find myself "multitasking entertainment" very frequently. Right now I'm posting on Giant Bomb (it's a website) and watching some ESPN. What's the difference?

This seems like an odd choice, but I like me some Fallout 3. You're probably thinking the game is meant to be some kind of sacred immersive experience, but the lack of difficulty and frequent pausing (Pip Boy, VATS, regular pause screen) make it easy to pay attention to the other screen at a moment's notice. I can tell you're looking into more arcade stuff, so this might not work, but it might be worth a try.

So I just had a very specific question on my mind, which I asked the mighty sorting engine:

"good games to play while watching a movie"

Google send me here.

I read the Thread.

Found it to be in many ways amazing.

Felt the need to reply to a soon a decade old Topic.

Created an Account just to do so.

Now I am giving just a wave and ty to the OP for starting this.

And of course to recommend my all time favourites for topical situations, Heroes of Might and Magic (especially III) and Master of Orion II.

Just in case anyone might find this opinion in any way useful or interesting in the course of the next decade.

True story

Cheers

Man, how time has changed. I love you, nine years ago responders!

Actually, a thread on online dating was necrobumped today too. That was about 7 years old, I think.

Seeing how attitudes about multitasking entertainment and online dating have changed on this forum is pretty interesting.

• FTL
• Into the Breach
• Heroes of Might & Magic 3
• Cities Skylines (if you pause)

Gahhhh bless it! Old thread!

I think Rune Scape would be a good game to play.

I'm surprised that "Why are you watching movies you don't actually want to watch?" was taken so cynically. To me, the OP's question sounds like "I compulsively watch movies, but I don't really want to. Does anyone have any ideas for fun things to do while I'm stuck watching movies?" Were they really enjoying these movies they needed to be distracted from?

Try crossword puzzles or Sudoku while watching movies for a relaxed yet engaging experience. Casual mobile games like Candy Crush or 2048 can provide a light distraction without taking away from the movie.