From showing pesky wannabe friends the door to blocking profile hackers, Facebook came as a blessing for those glued to social networking sites for hours on end. However, what has bosses and parents cursing both under and over their breath these days, would not be the several dating applications on the social networking site, but the games that seem to have the entire generation of Facebook enthusiasts hooked to the site. The current favourite being the Knighthood, the Text Twirl and the Scrabulous come close seconds. Before the city woke up to Knighthood, there were the Vampire, Werewolf, and Slayer applications that had people ‘biting’ and ‘chomping’ away to glory. Somnath Basu, who just completed his post graduation from Jadavpur University finds the Knighthood option pretty interesting. “It’s nothing adrenaline pumping on the lines of an Xbox or Playstation, but it requires some strategy making,” says Basu.

So Knighthood, which requires one to recruit as many ‘vassals’, build castles, marketplaces etc comes as a cool game that can be played on the sidelines of work or studies. Moreover, Knighthood is almost networking-meets-gaming. You play randomly, and can connect to several people at the same time who are playing the game at various corners of the world. “You can play with them too. So it’s all the more fun,” smiles Basu.

“Vampires or the Slayers game were childishly funny. More because, with increasing points one got outlandish names like Hypnotic or Temptress Vampire and funny profile graphics. Also, you could bite, attack and hit your own friends and the losing party was sent wacky defeat messages,” says Souvik Saha, who works with a Bangalore-based MNC.

Games like Knighthood, the Petrol Head or the Plane Crazy games also come with interesting page lay-outs, attractive visuals, and all the makings of an entertaining game. “I have a fetish for planes and Plane Crazy was like virtual satisfaction. It offers you a host of swanky looking and smartly named planes to choose from and race with your friend. It’s also a strategy oriented game,” chuckles Sambudhha Sen, a freelance content writer and a postgraduate from JU. “Knighthood is elaborate. Acquiring weapons, vassals, strengthening your castle wall is all so fascinating,” says Debarati Chakraborty, a mass communication student at the Calcutta University.

And while some are hooked on to the elaborate strategies that make games like Petrolhead or Knighthood, some just love the Facebook versions of the good old Scrabble or Jumbled Words. “Scrabulous is visually appealing. The visuals are colourful and fun, making the mind-game less nerdy than Scrabble is usually thought to be,” says Indrajit Chakravarty, a Virginia-based software developer. Even the humble Jumbled Words gets a makeover and called Text Twirl, yet another application that can be availed by Facebook users. A twitch here and there in the usual rules, makes these interesting.