Calvin’s Hub

“Ang Pinaka” (loosely translated to The Most) is a weekly TV show in QTV that features top 10 of just about anything. A couple of weeks ago, they aired the 10 most popular Facebook games of today.

They probably gauged which games to include based on the popularity among Filipinos and its monthly active users. Too bad some of the comments of the interviewees are kinda off which makes you wonder the kind of research they did for that segment.

Anyway, Here’s the list if you’re interested or didn’t / couldn’t catch that episode.

10. myFarm by playSocial & take(5)social (1,411,869 monthly active users)

I don’t play this game but basically you just take care of farm animals and raise plants in your virtual farm. There’s a better farm game out there besides this one’s still buggy to worth trying.

9. Kidnap! by Context Optional Inc. and Rapp (1,508,018 monthly active users)

This is an odd game where your main goal is to kidnap as much friends as you can. You start with 4 kidnap methods but learn more as you become successful in your kidnap attempts. The game looks nice and loads quickly but it’s still a pointless game for me.

8. Vampire Wars by Zynga (2,657,959 monthly active users)

It’s one of the popular Wars type of game where the objective is to invite friends to your clan, do missions, learn abilities and fight. It sounds cool but don’t get hooked because there’s a better one.

I don’t play this game because I’m already playing the best Wars game in Facebook (number 2 below). But if you’re really a fan of Vampires and such then I’m not stopping you.

7. Restaurant City by Playfish (5,252,446 monthly active users)

This is a flash game where you take care of your restaurant, designing the layout, buying items from the money you earn. You get more staff and bigger space by reaching a certain score from the number of food served.

It’s cool at first but when you reach level 27, there’s nothing else to do other than redesigning your place, learning all menu and completing all awards. The graphics is good but the game tends to slow down some PC’s.

This game should be number 6 now.

6. Lil Green Patch by Ashish Dixit and David King (4,765,469 monthly active users)

Just like myFarm, you get to plant crops and stuff with this game but the difference is you will also be helping a cause at the same time. The game’s sponsor will contribute money to save Rainforests whenever this application is used. Sounds lame. Hehehe.

5. YoVille by Zynga (8,071,689 monthly active users)

YoVille is another game from Zynga but this time it’s geared toward the kids and young teens. It’s The Sims ported to Facebook. You get to decorate and buy things for your pad. Buy clothes for your character by earning coins by working at what they call the Widget Factory.  There are also mini-games here to play with your friends.

I have no intention of trying this game out. Nice graphics though.

4. Farm Town by SlashKey (9,285,107 monthly active users)

What’s up with people wanting to be virtual farmers? This is the third farm game in the list and it’s just like any other farm games but this one offers you a lot of things to do and unlock.

The game is still in beta and I got turned off with the graphics and its menu setup. Would’ve been nice if it looked good. I also didn’t like the way it always connects to the server.

3. Pet Society by Playfish (11,275,551 monthly active users)

From the makers of Restaurant City comes another Flash game. It’s similar to YoVille but this time you’re taking care of a pet. You can also dress it up, buy things and decorate its house and have it compete with other pets.

Just like Restaurant City, it tends to get boring if the only thing you can do is earn money, redecorate and amass trophies. Graphics nice!

2. Mafia Wars by Zynga (12,286,566 monthly active users)

Now we’re talking. This is the game that sits on top of all War games. Forget about Vampire Wars, Fashion Wars, Naruto Wars, Mob Wars, Bride Wars, etc. Mafia Wars is the reason why I signed up in Facebook. Hahaha.

This is the first game I played in Facebook a few months ago and I’m still playing it now. They also just launched Mafia Wars Cuba expansion for a breath of fresh air for old-timers. There’s absolutely a lot of things you can do here but I’m gonna stop now.

Just try it out and remember to choose Maniac as your class. Thank you Zynga!

1. Texas Hold’em Poker by Zynga (13,383,379 monthly active users)

I’m not surprised that Texas Hold’em Poker is the number one game in Facebook based on its monthly users. Zynga did a really great job in creating a place for a quick game of poker with real people.

I also like its feature to create a private table for you to invite your friends. And you can also look for your friend and watch him play or join the table that he’s in.

Based on this list, it’s clear that Zynga and Playfish are ahead of the pack when it comes to developing games for Facebook.

What’s Missing?

Here are the games that I think are missing from the list which probably need more exposure:

• Bejeweled by PopCap Games (4,157,779 monthly active users)
• Word Challenge by Playfish (3,312,656 monthly active users)
• Barn Buddy by TheBroth (2,032,534 monthly active users)
• Happy Farm by Five Minutes (1,076,200 monthly active users)
• Rock Legends by Serious Business (978,764 monthly active users)
• Scrabble by GameHouse (659,891 monthly active users)

I’m thinking that Facebook is a profitable platform that can also give a large amount of exposure if you’re planning to create an online game. Facebook without its games is like getting a cheeseburger without the burger.

You might also be interested in:

• Top 10 Facebook games for August 2009
• Top 10 Facebook games for August 2010
• Top 10 Facebook games for October 2009
• Top 10 Facebook games for October 2010

Filed under: Gadgets n' Games