Big Fish Fridays -- Natalie Brooks: Secrets of Treasure House

Natalie Brooks: Secrets of Treasure House is part point and click adventure, and part hidden item puzzle. Follow Natalie as she returns to her late Grandmother's home and begins to uncover secrets that will change her life forever! Along the way you'll consort with smugglers, search a museum storage closet, and even spy on the chief of police. Can you uncover the truth before the city demolishes your family home in favor of a new highway?

Big Fish Friday: Doggie Dash

If you've always wondered what it would be like to work in a pet salon, Doggie Dash won't help a bit. On the other hand, if you've dreamed of a pet-themed version of Diner Dash, this is it! Featuring cameos by Flo herself, Doggie Dash will have you scrubbing, grooming and styling like a pro!

Big Fish Friday: Coffee Rush

Part match three game, part food service, Coffee Rush is the perfect blend for coffee lovers and haters alike. Match ingredients to fill orders, then don't forget to deliver the coffee and collect the money too! How many recipes can you earn?

Big Fish Thursday? Jojo's Fashion Show

I'm posting a Big Fish Game on a Thursday this week because tomorrow is the Blog365 official day of rest. It's the one day this year where participants are not supposed to blog, so I'm doing all my Friday stuff a day early. So don't expect a game tomorrow. Well, at least not here anyway.

So, here's today's game; Jojo's Fashion Show. Match fashions to eras, styles, colors and patterns and then march your models down the runway to earn points and bonuses. Earn even more by creating combos. If you do well enough, you'll beat your rival, Claudio Maximo, and regain your status as a top designer!

Big Fish Friday: Monster Mash

Monster Mash is a fairy tale take on the traditional tower defense game. There are a few curveballs though -- you have a team of builders who can only build or upgrade one tower at a time. They also collect bonus tokens which can produce effects like damaging all monsters on the map or making all of your towers fire faster. In addition, there is a little girl running from each wave of monsters. If she makes it into the village safely, you've effectively gained another life.

Big Fish Friday: Magic Seeds

Magic Seeds is another gardening game, but in this one your goal is to cross plants to create new ones. It seems the game's creators are a little fuzzy on the logic of DNA, since you can do things like cross a sunflower to another sunflower to produce tomatoes, but that doesn't stop the game play from being fun and engaging. See if you can discover all of the different types of plants, while keeping your bank account in the black and fending off pests of course.

Big Fish Friday: Farm Frenzy

So you start with a duck, or maybe a few. Ducks lay eggs. Eggs can be processed. Processed eggs can be baked into cakes. Cakes can be sold on the market for quite a bit of cash. But if the ducks don't get fed, there won't be any eggs. And if the bears get em, you can just forget it! That's the concept behind this week's Big Fish game: Farm Frenzy!

Go-Go Gourmet

Part hidden object game, part Diner Dash-like service game, Go-Go Gourmet is the type of game that will appeal to a wide variety of audiences. Your Grandfather has retired and left you his restaurant. There are a few problems though -- the place is a dump, you have no money, and you need to learn to cook. Take jobs in increasingly complex restaurants, learn skills and recipes and earn the money you'll need to remodel the old place. Bon appetit!

Big Fish Friday: The Sims Carnival SnapCity

Kind of a mix between Tetris and a Simplified Sim City, all set to music from The Sims, The Sims Carnival SnapCity is a fun diversion that any puzzle gamer can appreciate. Place puzzle-shaped zoning divisions in your city to create the perfect balance of residential, commercial and industrial properties. Be sure to pay careful attention to those bonus grids to add special structures. Make sure all of your zones have good access to transportation, or they'll become run-down. And don't forget to quell disasters like tornadoes, riots and even alien invasions before they wreak havoc on your helpless populace.

Big Fish Friday: Garden Defense

Of course, I can't make it an entire week without posting a Tower Defense game... This time it's Garden Defense, which has a few little twists on the genre. At the start there are two sets of towers available, gadgets and plants. The gadgets can be moved at any time, with only a short period of non-functionality afterward. Handy for shooting at the start of the maze and then again at the end. Plants can't be moved at all, but they do self-upgrade and spawn new plants, so you can populate your entire maze without having to continuously buy new plants. Of course, there are also all kinds of ways to improve your arsenal as you continue through the game. All in all, Garden Defense is an interesting and fun take on tower defense!

Big Fish Week: Wedding Dash

If you're a fan of the Diner Dash style of games, you'll love Wedding Dash. You play a wedding planner who has to put together the perfect day for one couple after another. Keep track of their tastes so that you can order the proper food, cake, flowers or honeymoon, then take charge of the reception. Make sure all of the guests are seated where they prefer, avert disasters like swarming bees and angry bridesmaids, and keep the food coming! Before you know it everyone will be on the dancefloor and your job will be done, for this event anyway!

Big Fish Week: Alice Greenfingers

Today's Big Fish pick is Alice Greenfingers. It may not look like much, but this little gardening game combines the art of gardening with the science of marketing to produce a fun and profitable business! Not only do you need to manage your garden, keep your plants watered and harvest everything yourself, but you also need to run your own vegetable stand, keep an eye on market trends and price your flowers, fruits and veggies appropriately. How will your garden grow?

Big Fish Week: Kudos Rock Legend

Kudos Rock Legend recreates the experience of putting together a rock band and propelling it through obscurity and into stardom. Choose band mates that will not only get along, but also bring unique talents and characteristics to your group. Make sure you have the proper equipment and staff. Write new songs, practice the old ones and hone everyone's musical skills. Book gigs at a variety of venues and promote, promote, promote. But don't forget to give everyone a little free time or your friends will become cranky quickly! Will your band have what it takes to hit the top of the charts?

New Feature: Big Fish Fridays

Yeah, I know... This is a blog about FREE games, but I'm a sucker for a free trial. My favorite site to go to for free trials of downloadable games is Big Fish Games. They release a new game daily and they're usually top quality offerings. I've been downloading there for years and I'll continue to do so as long as they still offer what they do. So, in homage to Big Fish, I'm starting a new feature here on Featured Games: Big Fish Fridays. Every Friday I'll post the link to a game from the Big Fish catalog. You can go and download the trial and play for an hour free, or just go ahead and buy the game.

So why am I talking about this on Monday you ask? Well, to kick off the new feature, I've decided to dedicate this entire week to Big Fish. So every day this week will be a Big Fish Friday... Yeah, I can do that. It's my blog.

Today's game is Aveyond. If you like RPGs, you're going to love this one. Yes, the world is two dimensional and the graphics are pixellated, but the game is amazing. Gather together friends to aide you through your quest to seal the Demon Portal and save the world. The whole game is about as non-linear as it gets, with plenty of options for how you want your story to go.