Nearly a hundred tiny strange games from one professor, from Ancient Greek Punishment to a pile of broken chess variants.
What it is
Pippin Barr Games is a catalog of ninety-seven small, strange, idea-driven games made since 2011, all on one page. Each entry has a title, a year, a breathless one-paragraph pitch, and tags that tell you what the game is really about: chess, snake, nothing, money, work, the art world, time, philosophy, user interfaces. They are less arcade games than thought experiments you can play, and most of them run in the browser.
How to play
Scroll the list, it is newest first, or use the tag clouds at the top to filter by idea, platform, tool or year. The page suggests its own current top five if you want somewhere manageable to start. Click a title to go to the game. Most open in the browser and many are marked mobile-friendly, some are downloads for a computer, and a few of the oldest were built for a plugin that no longer exists and say so.
What makes it different
The ideas. There are whole series here: a run of chess variations, a run of games about snake, a series of games that are as if you were doing something ordinary like paperwork, games about doing nothing, games about the price of things, a game about going as slowly as possible. Each one takes a single notion and builds exactly enough game to make you feel it, then stops. The pitches are half the fun, exclamation marks everywhere.
Why it is on Bored
Ninety-seven games on one page, each built around a single notion and stopped the moment the notion lands. Browsing the list is its own small pleasure, since the pitches are a genre in themselves, and the tag clouds turn a long scroll into a short hunt for whatever idea you are in the mood for. Send it to anyone who thinks browser games are all the same and let the chess variations do the arguing.
Tips
- Start with the current top five link at the top of the page
- Filter by mobile-friendly if you are on a phone
- The snake and chess variations are the easiest way in, the art-world games are the deepest
- Read the pitches even for games you will not play, they are a genre of their own
FAQ
Is Pippin Barr Games free?
Yes. The catalog is free to browse, with no account, no ads and no cookie banner, and the browser games are free to play.
Does it work on a phone?
The catalog does, and games tagged mobile-friendly do. Some games are desktop downloads and a few old ones need a plugin that phones never had.
How many games are there?
Ninety-seven at the time of writing, from 2011 onward, with new ones still being added.
Do I need to install anything?
Not for the browser games. A few are desktop downloads and are marked as such.
Reviewed on
Fun
Bored
Funny