I found the list of games yesterday, and frankly, it's pretty mind-boggling and intimidating.

Besides quests, the crypts and ice fields, and the bathhouse, what games would you recommend I play (and why those in particular)? Or, if it's more applicable, which ones should I start with?

play random whenever you can, and safe crack and stargazer are both daily like the bathhouse, so i'd add those to your list.

then i'd start with whatever has an achievement prize item/title you want; barring that try a few and play whatever you find most enjoyable. i like 2048 but there's no cash prize, just the achievement, so there's not much replay value there once you reach 2048. i also like caliph's tomb (solitaire), subeta tiles, and tubular tiles (mahjong). if you do major drill's quests, he can have you play a few games as tasks; i think his options include 2048, leviathan harpooning (battleships), divine disks (mastermind), subeku, and some others.

: Okay, I can work with that. Where do I find out the prizes and titles? I think the titles are in the achievements list, but I haven't found item rewards listed there. Maybe I just missed them?

if you see an achievement with a star, you can click on the star and it'll show you the reward; if it's a title it should say "title: ___" and if it's an item it should show you the item + name - e.g., "a drop in the bucket" has for 10k points and title: bright eyed for 15k points

otherwise reflection and mind reader and some others have some randomly obtained non-achievement prizes like books and beanbags; i'm not sure if there's a full list somewhere, but i think that's all of them (it also has some old event prizes, because using "play" pulled up the playing card set p: )

: Ah, okay. That helps, thank you!

Some achievements come with item rewards. Most games (apart from 2048) give out some sP when you play, and some give out special items as well (like Reflection gives books and some other items). SP-wise I think Caliph's Tomb gives the best payout (20k per game), but since games in general tend to give far less cash than quests, I always recommend playing the games you actually enjoy. ...or that come with achievements you really want, if that's your thing :)

I like Caliph's Tomb and Divine Discs myself, and I try to play Mystic Spindles because you can use it to gain intel for your pets (or books, which are great), but because it's super repetitive I get bored with it easily ^^

: Thank you for the advice!

I think the advice here is great, I'm just gonna pop on to say - be sure to play some games for enjoyment too haha.

I really love Cybill Sledding, it's probably my favorite game here. I also like Matlal's Jewels, which is a Bejeweled clone if you're into that.

Other than that, check out Bones. You can play once a day, and there is a strategy that will guarantee a win for you, so you can get a prize from it once a day ^^

burrero basket bonanza is one of my favorites. you can make some pretty quick sP with it, too - a score of 2,500 or more will earn you 25k sP, and you can send a score up to 10 times per day. completing games of caliph's tomb also earns you... uh... it's either 10k or 25k up to 10 times a day.

I think that the return on restocking is high enough that if sP is your goal you should make it your 'game'. You can restock all day though nothing stops you and games themselves are limited to ten plays, so play games first because they're fun and if you get some sP, hey bonus!

: The others have been also suggesting that anything beyond 1 or 2 options are ones I should play for fun, and yes, that's definitely important. Thanks for the advice! Is there are strategy guide for Bones around?

: Maybe I'll give that a try, then. Thanks!

: Some sP is nice, but I'm not playing just for that. I end up with enough items to deal with just from doing quests, so I don't really need or want to increase my numbers...O.O Thanks, though--it's something I may look at later.

the strategy for bones is to pick however many bones will leave a remainder of one more than a multiple of four. that's kind of a convoluted way of saying it, but it's very straightforward.

so if the game starts with 28 bones, pick 3 bones, because that will leave 25, which is 24 + 1.

now, however many bones the opponent takes, you just have to take however many more will make that number 4; so if bonesy takes 1 bone, you take 3 bones. if he takes 2 bones, you take 2 bones. if he takes 3 bones, you take 1 bone.

(or just count by how many bones are left, it's the same thing; so if there are 14 bones, take 1 to leave a remainder of 13, and so on.)

if your first move was correct, this will always ensure there are at least 2 bones left on your last turn. you then just have to pick however many bones leaves only one remaining bone for the opponent, and he will be forced to take it, and you will win.

: Thanks for that! It sounds pretty easy, so I'll probably give it a try. :)

Caliph's tomb is 20k for a perfect game ^^

I think it will also depend on what games you prefer in general and what you find you're good at.

I enjoy Balloon Sweeper and Tubular Tiles quite a bit because I enjoy Minesweeper and Mahjong and I'm good at it and can get the games done in a reasonable amount of time. Some of the games recommended here I avoid like the plague because I stink at them.

I'd actually advise trying each game at least once, seeing how it goes, and whether it fits your personal skills and how much you feel like replaying it.

: I believe someone else mentioned that point, but thank you for reiterating it.

: Thank you for the advice. I guess it's entirely true you have to be reasonably good at something to bother playing it, let alone what you like.