World Domination

Somehow I tore myself away from Toulouse and Xplorers to play something new (to me, anyhow). I usually try to steer away from the plethora of cheap games out there, like those on RealArcade. It's too easy to spend that "expendable" $20 on one, two, ten, or twenty addicting games. These would include such classics as Bejeweled and probably Tetris, even though plenty of free Tetris clones exist.

My new love is called Lux. It's based off of Risk rules, is graphically pretty, and customizable. The default install comes with a handful of maps, and each map theme can be altered to "auto generate" a map based on the size you want. So, within my favorite theme (the Castles one), you can play the default map (gigantic), or play a quick, 5 minute version with only a small amount of territories. It's small, portable, and addicting. Sure, we've all seen a lot of Risk clones, but for some reason, this one maintains my attention. You get 20 plays for free, after that you'll have to register it, for $25. Registering gets you access to a bunch of new maps and the ability to make your own. The program self updates and grabs new maps when you tell it to.