mini games: one note really is better than none

The Genre of small, easy-to-access sims. Mini games are "one-note" in terms of gameplay, built to be addictive, and often focusing on simple actions and abstracted systems.

[Read: "Engaging Mini-Games Find Niche in Training." T + D, July 2007)

Mini games can be used for (and everything in [brackets] will take you to real, playable examples]:

• editorial (such as [Take Back Illinois]);
• explanation (such as [Binary Numbers], [Dean for America game], or [Running a business]);
• marketing/messaging (such as [Dr. Pepper Speedway Rush], [General Electric's Ecomagination] or [Monster.com Climbing the Corporate Ladder]);
• commerce (where players will play a few free levels, and then buy the full game).

Mini games can sometimes provide an awareness of some more complicated issue, such as fit.

Mini games are often created in Adobe Flash, sometimes in less than three weeks, resulting in generally a lower cost than other genres of sims. The visual style of mini-games is closer to comics or illustration than photograph.

Mini games are also called casual games, or micro-games, and include puzzle games (such as Tetris).

Opposite of complex game and practiceware. Compare with frame games.

Deep Mini Game Example

Go to [Tips On Tap]. Play the great "Go to Bar" mini-game (also check out score your pour and the clean up the glasses if you want).

Now, mini game pop quiz:

1. write what the actions were,
2. what the activities were, and
3. what the business processes were.

(Tips on Tap was developed by Web Courseworks)