All categories

Game categories

A category exists on this page only when there are games inside it. That rule sounds unremarkable and matters enormously. Plenty of game sites build a page for every category name they can think of and leave half of them hollow, so visitors keep opening doors onto nothing. Here a category with no games has no page at all, which is better than a page that opens onto emptiness.

The figure printed under each category name is counted from the live catalogue when the page is built, so it is a number you can audit by opening the category and counting the cards. It is not a figure written down to look impressive.

Grouped by mood, not by manufacturer

Nobody opening a games site is thinking in studio names or release years. What is in their head is a mood: wanting to think, wanting something undemanding, wanting speed. Our grouping follows those moods. Kids and casual sit together for winding down, puzzle and brain-training for when thinking is the point, racing and driving for when the answer is speed.

One game can appear in more than one place

Most games are several things at once. A block-stacking game that rewards planning ahead is also a thinking game; a jumping game measured in timing is also a game of skill. Force each title into exactly one category and anyone approaching from the other direction fails to find it even though it is right there. So games appear wherever they genuinely belong.

Reachable from every page

The categories this site looks after are listed in the footer of every page, so you can jump sideways from anywhere without coming back here first. And if you would rather not choose at all, the wheel on the front page draws from this same set.