by Julie A. Wein

Created on: October 14, 2010   Last Updated: October 16, 2010

Facebook, like MySpace, offers free games to all its members. There are hundreds of games to choose from, ranging from farming games, to mafia games, to cooking games. Some games are more popular than others and here are the ones that are the most addictive:

Farmville: In this game, players run their very own farm, complete with crops, trees, and animals. In addition to the farming activities, each player can own a bakery, a winery, or a spa. Once one of these businesses have been obtained, players can begin to make and sell their own baked goods, wines, or all the potions and lotions one would find at any decent spa. Players can send gifts to neighbors and help each other with construction projects. Farmville players can choose to have a chicken coop, a horse stable, a pigpen, a nursery for baby animals, or a dairy farm for their cows. Players can earn ribbons by achieving certain milestones in the game. Farmville is the perfect game for anyone who would love to work on a farm but doesn’t want to quit his or her day job.

FrontierVille: From the creators of Farmville, Frontierville allows players to own a homestead where they can raise animals, construct buildings, and grow crops. While Frontierville is similar to Farmville in some ways, it has its own unique features. Frontierville provides players with a spouse and child to live on their homestead. The game offers up new goals for players each time a current goal is completed. For example, certain buildings have to be constructed before a player can have their virtual spouse join them in the game. Through another series of events, players can acquire a child when certain conditions are met. As players progress through the game, goals become more challenging. Many of the game’s goals involve players having to visit their neighbors and help those neighbors out on their homesteads. Players are encouraged to send gifts to their neighbors and buildings cannot be constructed unless the player either receives materials from neighbors or purchases them using horseshoes, which each player acquires one of every time they advance to a new level in the game.

Mafia Wars: The popularity of the TV show The Sopranos, and the movie The Godfather, most likely inspired the creation of Mafia Wars. In this game players join each other’s mafias and work together to pull off crime sprees in many different locations throughout the world. Any mafia can attack any other mafia and the members are expected to participate in the war. Mafia Wars is constantly evolving and boasts thousands of levels for its players to work their way through.

These are the top three most addictive games on Facebook, but many more games can be found on the site. With such a wide selection of games, there is something that appeals to almost every gamer on Facebook.

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