Pingus - ★★★★★

On the surface, one might say that Pingus is yet another Linux-inspired rip-off of another game. Well, you'd be right, but you'd be wrong! It's not just another rip-off (I'm looking at you, SuperTux). Pingus takes the game Lemmings and gives it a penguin-y twist, and gives the players a casual gaming experience that is captivating and intuitive, with quality as good as, if not better than, the original it was modeled after. The premise is simple: penguins are dropped out, and you have to guide them back to their igloo. You have to dig, block, float, and otherwise maneuver your penguins towards their exit, while keeping them from walking blindly off the edges of cliffs and cratering into the hard-frozen ice below.

It's simple, it's casual, and it's a bit of a copy-cat, but it raises the bar in terms of casual open-source gaming. Honestly, if you just want a fun game that you can enjoy for a few hours, this is your game.

Downloads

Available in the Ubuntu Software Center