It seems like I keep running into this term, "casual games." Apparently this is a burgeoning industry with the advent of more advanced handheld devices (like cellphones). There were even two keynotes (Trip Hawkins of
Digital Chocolate, and Robert Tercek of PeopleJam and GDC Mobile) regarding causal games at the recent Game Developers Conference.
Basically, any simple (hopefully addictive) game that's quick and easy to learn falls in the category of a casual game. Two of my favorite examples are Atlantis Sky Patrol (from Big Fish Games) and Insaniquarium (from PopCam). [Side note: It seems like I remember playing insaniquarium before it belonged to a company... did I just dream this?]
I don't where I read it, but I vaguley remember reading a quote somewhere that had something to do with casual games, and it said something similar to this, "If you don't think you're a gamer, it's just because you haven't found the right game!"[Another Sidenote: Basicially, these are the the types of games I would like write during my free time (if I had any!)
